Qi Shu Fang Brings Chinese History to America

On August 31, 2001 George W. Bush sent a congratulatory letter to Ms. Qi Shu Fang of Woodhaven saying, “Artists who draw on the traditions of their ancestors help to ensure the continued vitality of the arts in America”.   Another letter was sent by Hillary Rodham Clinton congratulating her for being selected as a recipient of a 2001 National Fellowship of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Qi Shu Fang is the President of and performer in the Peking Opera Company of which the company’s mission is to “foster a deeper cultural understanding between East and West”.  Performances have taken place in all parts of the country making history by staging a critically acclaimed complete performance of The Women Generals of the Yang Family at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway.  Just last year, the Peking Opera Festival took place at Flushing Town Hall where Ms. Qi had the leading role.

“I have been performing Peking Opera all of my life,” said Ms. Qi . “Having studied martial arts I created a stir in Beijing when I acted the lead role in ‘Three Battles with Zhang Yue’e.’  In Japan I am known as one of that country’s most beloved Peking Opera star.”

It was in 1988 that she and her husband moved to New York City and established the Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company.  Her husband, Ding Meikui is the Vice President and Managing Director who was born to a family with four generations’ experience in Peking Opera. He has traveled throughout the United States promoting Chinese culture and the arts to the American public.

This year the Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company will be hosting the Peking Arts Festival which will take place at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, September 20^th.  Of the large cast, 80 will be coming from China.  “It will be composed of three shows,” Ms. Qi said. “The first will be martial arts.  That will be followed by a love story about a princess falling for a younger man giving him a gift of a special sword.”  The third show, “The Three Inch Lotus” points toward history with the subject of feet binding to make women’s feet small in order to marry into an upper class family. 

Wanting to keep introducing Chinese culture to the United States and this show will be free to the public. The performance will be in Chinese with English subtitles.  Tickets are purchased through the Skirball Center. 

“Next year,” said Ms Qi, “I will be having the lead role in the Peking Opera Festival.”  

MUMMENSCHANZ IS A MASQUERADE OF JOY

Mummenschanz is celebrating their 40th anniversary with a show at the NYU venue of Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Trying to describe the type of performance is almost like giving a verbal description of how to tie your shoelaces.

To make it easier I will give you their description. "The ordinary becomes extraordinary as common materials of everyday objects - wires, tubes, fabrics and different shapes spring to life as fantastic characters".  You will see 30 sketches of playful, colorful creatures.

Non-verbal mime-masque theatrics with a cast of four includes Floriana Frasseto, the co-founder, who has been with the company since it originally performed in Paris in 1972.  We all wish we were able to move that well as we age.  How they do it is the awesome part of this and you can't help but laugh as well. 

The actors are clad in black as about half of the sketches focus on the lit up costumes.  You will view the creatures, characters, or whatnot going across the stage so it appears that there are no actors with them.  At other times actors are inside the "creature" and move about to create the sketch.  Okay, as an example...each of two actors were onstage "dressed" to focus more on their head than the rest of the body.  Why?  The eyes and other parts of their head were tubes of toilet paper.  This captured a love scene between the two by using the toilet paper. As I said, it's difficult to describe....you know...like..."you had to be there".

There are even times when the "character" comes off the stage and into the audience.  One of the funniest was this huge "ball" that kept approaching the edge of the stage with some reluctance and then simply rolled into the audience and on top of a few folks.  

What is so fabulous about Mummenschanz is that it's not limited to any type of audience.  All of the kids in the audience were awe struck....you could hear them.  Standing ovations and a few curtain calls.  Mummenschanz is a masquerade of pure joy.

Performances will be running until January 6, 2013.  Check it out at www.mummenschanznyc.com