Event 3: Chinese American Culture Night

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of acting in UCLA's Chinese American Culture night (CACN). At UCLA, a Culture Night is composed of a play that discusses an important theme within a particular community, while simultaneously being interspersed with cultural performances. For CACN, these cultural performances included traditional dance, hip-hop dance, lion dance, and Wushu.

While theater isn't what one typically thinks of in the conventional sense of art, I realized through this experience that the performing arts integrates many of the same concepts that we have examined in this class, concepts that are not necessarily more prevalent in conventional art forms like paintings and sculptures. Notably, theatrical productions embody C.P Snow's concept of the two cultures of science and the arts. Although in the context of this production I operate only from the artistic side, the technical, scientific aspect of the play lent itself to truly elevating the production value of the play and even helping to emphasize the artistic messages of the play.

(Picture 1 - Detained at Angel Island)      

Technological aspects like lighting and sound work hand in hand to emphasize what the observer, the consumer of art should focus upon. In picture 1, you can see a dimly lit stage and wall in the background. In this scene my character was distraught as he came to grip with the possibility that he might be entrapped on Angel Island, an island where Chinese immigrants were detained upon when they attempted to come to America. This year's play focused upon illegal Chinese immigrants of the past as its central theme, so the lighting was not only aimed at expressing my character's personal sentiments, but also aimed at illuminating and capturing the plight of Chinese immigrants - the central, artistic theme of the play. Additionally, the sound of wind and the sea played in the background to add to the eeire feeling of the detention center. In picture 2, my character whispers a revelation that foreshadows a potential plot twist. Without mics, without science and technology, I would not have been able to whisper loud enough for the audience to hear. Even in the simplest of things, technology aids in the production value of theater.

(Picture 2 - Whispering a Secret)

(Picture 3 - Wushu) 

In the Wushu performance (Picture 3) and the hip-hop performance (picture 4), we see that the projectors have projected a different color onto the background, once again aimed at reflecting a different mood. The yellow background in the Wushu performance is aimed at mirroring the high energy of the performance, while the red background in the hip hop performance is aimed at mirroring the sad emotions of the performance and coincidingly, the emotional plot twist in the scene that preceded the performance. Additionally, we do see actual art - in the conventional sense - in CACN. The wall in picture 1 is filled with poems of past Chinese detainees and manually scarred and weathered by students to create a dramatic wall that reflects the movement of the plot, of the artistic message. Additionally, the dancers' shirts in picture 4 are long rags that have holes that were manually created and resemble prison attire.

Picture 4 - ACA Hip-Hop

All in all, performing in CACN was an incredible experience and surprisingly, it also opened my eyes to how technology is integrated into theater. I'd recommend everybody to attend a culture night if they get the chance.