Actors rehearse for the stage drama "Gunshot" shown in Beijing in April 2014. (Photo : www.news.xinhuanet.com)
The country’s theater industry has expressed concern over the critical shortage of playwrights and dearth of original scripts during the national drama forum held on June 3, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to China Theater Association, many theaters are in desperate need of ingenious plays, which have been in short supply because of the scarcity of writing talent. The group said that the situation has become a "new normal" in the country's performing arts industry.
The report said that theater companies in some western provinces in China could not find a single playwright to work for, while in Jiangsu Province, only 49 playwrights work for 68 theaters.
Zhang Fuxian, a widely respected figure in Chinese drama, said that the reason for this is that most theaters are only interested in nurturing their performers, leaving behind the young writers to look after themselves.
The report said that some directors also outsourced scripts and treat original scripts written specifically for their troupe as worthless.
You Changping, director of Liaoning People's Art Theater, said that many writers felt overlooked and undervalued, which discouraged the few young writers to join today's theater.
You also observed that performing arts have become very profit-driven these days, which resulted in plagiarism and poor imitations of successful works. He said that most theaters are chasing fast money, while promising talents were ignored because the scripts were taken for granted.
Yu Rongjun of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, also a noted playwright, said that writers' benefit packages are also small compared with highly acclaimed performers.
Zhou Yuyuan, deputy chief of the National Theater of China Revaluation, remarked that good, well-written scripts have been taken over by extravagant stage design and flashy performance, which give the public "a diet of cultural fast food," not art.
Zhou claimed these works do not exert a good influence on the audience and do not raise the value of Chinese drama.
Zhou warned that the shortage of playwrights could result in a crisis for Chinese literature and arts, as he noted that playwrights are not treated as regular writers unlike in the past, and they were often less favored in national awards.
Zhou suggested that a change on the present personnel structure in theaters could help writers gain some attention.
You Changping, on the other hand, said that funding and awards for young writers can help nurture and encourage them to work, as well as allow them to develop their craft and produce works of critical value. He added that drama schools should also establish training bases, in coordination with theaters, when young playwrights can learn from experienced mentors.
