A still from the play “Tea House”.
Photo by Li Chunguang
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre. Around June 12, around the anniversary of the academy, Beijing Renyi launched a series of activities by combining online and offline.
In the past 70 years, Beijing Renyi has staged more than 300 works of different styles from ancient and modern Chinese and foreign styles, forming a distinct artistic style, leaving behind the creative spirit of Beijing Renyi, creating classics one after another, and nourishing generations of audiences.
curtain rises curtain
The People’s Theater, the Palace of Art
On June 12, at No. 22 Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, the curtain of the Capital Theater opened again. The 70th anniversary feature film was first released. Experts and industry insiders discussed the theme and pursuit of artistic creation. “Tea House” was broadcast live in high-definition… The 9-hour live webcast activities were rich and colorful.
Huo Zhijing, vice president of Beijing Renyi, said that in order to review and summarize the glorious history of the theater’s development and show the artistic achievements of “producing people, producing plays, and producing high-quality products”, Beijing Renyi has planned the theme of “The People’s Theater, the Palace of Art”. The 70th anniversary of the establishment of the hospital series of activities.
From June 5th, Beijing Renyi has launched a series of activities such as online push and guided tours of classic plays, script readings, and real-time live broadcast of the anniversary party. “Ruan Lingyu”, “Birdman” and “Seagull” 3 episodes of script reading activities have been launched one after another. Classic plays such as “Thunderstorm”, “Cai Wenji”, “White Deer Plain” and “Wotou Guild Hall” are broadcast online. The main actors in the play will give a guided tour of the play and introduce the background and creative experience of the play to the audience. Netizens left messages one after another: “Beijing Renyi shares the best plays to the public for free.” “Classic is a classic, and it lasts for a long time!” The academy celebration event set off an upsurge online and on social media, with a total of 140 million views.
In addition, Beijing Renyi also held a symposium to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the academy, held special academic seminars, renovated and upgraded the drama museum, published “Beijing Renyi Actors Talking About Performance”, and launched special documentaries “National Memory – Beijing Renyi” and “Archives”. ——Looking Back at the Seventy Years of Renyi” and “I Learn to Perform in Renyi”, show the audience the construction and development of Beijing Renyi in various forms.
The curtain rises and falls, “Dragon Beard Ditch”, “Cai Wenji”, “Thunderstorm”, “Tea House”, “The First Floor of the World“… A series of plays are staged in turn on the stage of the Capital Theater; The vicissitudes of life, the vicissitudes of the times, the beauty and warmth of human nature, spread out into a picture scroll of the times. In the past 70 years, Beijing Renyi has created a series of classics that people are familiar with, formed a drama genre with distinctive artistic characteristics, explored the theoretical system of drama with Chinese characteristics, left Beijing Renyi’s creative spirit, and established Beijing Renyi. Unique position in the field of Chinese drama. Wang Wenguang, secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Renyi, said that the theater is committed to creating “a theater for the people, a palace of art”, and the central keynote of “singing for the people and walking with the times” has always run through the development of Beijing Renyi.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Beijing Renyi has portrayed the spiritual atmosphere of Chinese literature and art with a series of plays and performances. Ren Ming, dean of Beijing Arts and Crafts, said: “In the past 10 years, we have been striving to inherit the excellent tradition of the theater, adhere to the creative concept centered on ‘people’s nature’, ‘national character’ and ‘time nature’; Have the creative spirit of “reverence for art” and “keep improving”; adhere to the realistic creation path of Beijing art.”
rooted in the people
to life, to the people
On June 12, 1952, the Beijing People’s Art Theater was officially established. Lan Lanye, a Beijing-based artist performing and directing artist, became the first batch of actors at the beginning of the establishment of the academy. “In the formation of Beijing’s performance style, it is very important to attach importance to the profound accumulation of life.” Lan Lanye once said. Going to life and going to the people has become the philosophy that Beijing Renyi has always upheld.
Beijing Renyi is the theater of the “people”. From the factory to the countryside at the beginning of the establishment of the institute, to today’s in-depth community, Beijing Renyi’s most vivid creations and most vivid performances always come from life and from the people. Over the past 70 years, with the joint efforts of generations of literary and art workers, Beijing Renyi has adhered to the position of the people, shared the breath with the people, shared the destiny with the nation, and kept pace with the times. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Beijing Renyi has adhered to the people-centered creative orientation, went deep into life and rooted in the people, and took the creation and production of excellent works as the central link to actively promote the prosperity and development of my country’s dramatic art. In the past 10 years, Beijing Renyi has performed 3,649 performances of 87 Chinese and foreign plays, including 56 major plays, 1,951 performances, 31 small plays, 1,698 performances, and 413 performances of 41 plays at home and abroad.
At the same time, Beijing Renyi has initially constructed a public drama matrix of “performance + exhibition + popularization + education”, insisting on popularizing drama. Relying on platforms such as Juyin Theater, Drama Museum, and Capital Theater, Beijing Renyi has deeply cultivated the popularization of art in various forms such as tour exhibitions, lectures, creation and rehearsal, and script reading. To cooperate with performances and artists to commemorate the birthday, hold nearly 100 tour exhibitions at home and abroad; develop “Theatrical Eternity”, “Theatre Art Class – Face-to-face with Everyone”, “New Play Creation Sharing Session”, “Salute and Inheritance – Mass Drama Public Performance”, “Script Reading” ” and many other self-owned public welfare brands, and held hundreds of activities; at the same time, it actively linked with grass-roots organizations and jointly launched the “Love Culture Community” activity with the locality. It has trained nearly 400 leaders of drama popularization projects in 17 streets, benefiting from More than 500,000 people. Beijing Renyi has also established a “renyi drama education base”, and has carried out in-depth cooperation with many schools to systematically carry out drama education through teaching, tutoring and arranging plays, establishing a drama curriculum system, and masters entering the campus. It has entered more than 30 schools in the past ten years. School.
Cao Yu, the first president of Beijing Renyi, once said: “Beijing Renyi is with the motherland and with the people.” The development of Beijing Renyi is inseparable from the leadership of the party and the government, the love of the people, and the care of all sectors of society. “Continuing to write a new chapter of Beijing People’s Art, we must inherit the creative spirit of Beijing People’s Art, love the people and love art.” said Pu Cunxin, chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association.
Inheritance and innovation
Rehearse classics, attach importance to originality
On September 2 last year, Beijing Renyi Beijing International Drama Center, which took more than two years to build, welcomed its first audience. At night, the Beijing International Theater Center is radiant with lights, echoing with the simple and heavy Capital Theater. The new rows of “Sunrise”, “Thunderstorm” and “Wild Field” were staged one by one, and the scenes that were hard to get a ticket appeared again.
Over the past 70 years, Beijing Renyi has continued to innovate, inherit and develop. In terms of theater construction, in 2012, the Beijing Renyi Art Creation Center, which integrates creation and production, was put into use. In 2015, the Juyin Theater, which was unveiled and put into operation, has become an important cultural venue after several years of operation. In 2021, the Beijing International Theatre Center will be completed and put into operation. Beijing Renyi will add two modern professional theatres including Caoyu Theatre and Renyi Small Theatre, becoming the only state-owned art troupe in China with 5 theatres.
In terms of repertoire creation, Beijing Renyi continues to rehearse and retain classic repertoires, so that the works are often performed and new. On the one hand, it attaches importance to originality, continues to explore and practice the nationalization of dramas, and strives to create new Beijing-style works. In terms of talent training, Beijing Renyi is based on the needs of talents under the multi-theater operation mode, and insists on taking multiple measures simultaneously. Feng Yuanzheng, vice president of Beijing Renyi, said that in recent years, the theater has always paid attention to the construction of talent teams, cultivated talents with scientific systems such as performance trainee training classes and young actor training programs, and retained talents with institutional mechanisms such as performance reform, and the talent team has flourished.
It is worth mentioning that Beijing Renyi promotes the improvement of the art production mechanism, refines the art committee system and production process, improves the incentive mechanism, and improves the quality of the repertoire. Ren Ming said that the new pattern has further stimulated the vitality of artists and artists in artistic creation, developing through inheritance and innovation through keeping the righteousness, and Beijing Renyi has climbed to a new artistic peak.
Mo Gaoyi, member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department, said that Beijing Renyi should further strengthen the sense of responsibility and mission to do a good job in the literary and artistic work of the new era, adhere to the people’s supremacy, strive to write the people’s epic in the new era, adhere to the pursuit of art, and unremittingly climb new heights. The peak of literature and art of the times, carry forward the glorious tradition, continuously improve the creativity and influence of the theater, strengthen the cultivation of talents, and create more artists with both virtue and art. To promote the construction of a national cultural center, make greater contributions to enhancing the spiritual strength of the people, and release dazzling brilliance in the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations.”