Welcome to Taipei!
After about ten days in the south of Taiwan covered in vast countryside, we had arrived in the city of Taipei. I was excited to experience even more culture, things to eat and another puppetry festival!
Our first stop was our performing venue! We were excited to perform "A Chance Shadow Part II: Lorca" at The Close to You International Puppet Festival. The Festival was in its third year led by their fearless leader Pei-yu Shih, Artistic Director of Flying Group Theatre. Pei-yu Shih, describes her festival on her website as being romantic. " While walking around those strange but familiar alleys in the city with an adventurous mood, the bliss on the corner would appear naturally, and this is the original idea of Close To You International Puppet Festival. In the third “Close To You” Festival, it will still be very romantic." The festival is romantic in the sense that it is intimate. You get an up close and personal view of the performances by seeing them with only 25 other audience members. You also get the opportunity to rediscover, or for me discover, Taipei. I got to walk the streets of the city and simultaneously get a tour.
There are nine shows in the festival from around the world: Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Israel. There are three tours total and three shows within each tour in three different performing venues throughout the city. This is also known as from Damiet van Dalsum's puppetry festival in Dordrecht, Holland as a walking tour, which the festival is modeled after. Each show is no more than twenty minutes in length. When a show finishes the audience walks to the next performance. There are three different audience groups walking around the city at the same time and transitioning from show to show! I applaud Pei-yu Shih for her organization of the festival. It ran like clockwork!
The goal of the festival is to have a dialogue between the local and the global: artist are explorers. They transform cities into a community through art. Not only do you get to see three unique shows in one tour, but you also get to see the city as you walk from venue to venue. It also helps a city express itself and brings about opportunity for civic pride. The festival is just as much about the city and the people as it is the performers. It is a community event.
After about ten days in the south of Taiwan covered in vast countryside, we had arrived in the city of Taipei. I was excited to experience even more culture, things to eat and another puppetry festival!
Our first stop was our performing venue! We were excited to perform "A Chance Shadow Part II: Lorca" at The Close to You International Puppet Festival. The Festival was in its third year led by their fearless leader Pei-yu Shih, Artistic Director of Flying Group Theatre. Pei-yu Shih, describes her festival on her website as being romantic. " While walking around those strange but familiar alleys in the city with an adventurous mood, the bliss on the corner would appear naturally, and this is the original idea of Close To You International Puppet Festival. In the third “Close To You” Festival, it will still be very romantic." The festival is romantic in the sense that it is intimate. You get an up close and personal view of the performances by seeing them with only 25 other audience members. You also get the opportunity to rediscover, or for me discover, Taipei. I got to walk the streets of the city and simultaneously get a tour.
There are nine shows in the festival from around the world: Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Israel. There are three tours total and three shows within each tour in three different performing venues throughout the city. This is also known as from Damiet van Dalsum's puppetry festival in Dordrecht, Holland as a walking tour, which the festival is modeled after. Each show is no more than twenty minutes in length. When a show finishes the audience walks to the next performance. There are three different audience groups walking around the city at the same time and transitioning from show to show! I applaud Pei-yu Shih for her organization of the festival. It ran like clockwork!
The goal of the festival is to have a dialogue between the local and the global: artist are explorers. They transform cities into a community through art. Not only do you get to see three unique shows in one tour, but you also get to see the city as you walk from venue to venue. It also helps a city express itself and brings about opportunity for civic pride. The festival is just as much about the city and the people as it is the performers. It is a community event.
We arrived at our performing venue at the Sonnentor Cafe. The food was delicious and we loved the atmosphere! The Sonnentor Cafe (日光大道健康廚房), is a cafe and restaurant chain with three branches across the city with its rural chic interior and “green” attitude. The shop had designer furniture and oil paintings by local artists that the audience could peruse before entering the performing space.
We were taken to the restaurant's back dining room where we set up our stage and an audience of about 25 people. In the process of setting up we did bleed for our art (Spica stubbed her toe on a table and had to be rushed to the hospital) but all was accomplished! The show must go on! The following day, and without a hitch, we had our first performance!
We performed over the course of five days and each evening we performed three times. Even after performing the show 15 times we still felt like we were making new discoveries. It was such a rush to be able to perform, set up the space, and then do it all over again before the next set of audience members arrived. We could not have done it without the festival's incredible staff and volunteers. They were with us every step of the way from set up to strike! Thank you Pei-yu Shih for inviting us to the festival! We hope we can come back for another year of the Close to You International Puppet Festival!
You can find out more about the festival on their website:
http://www.closetoyoufestival.com/
For more information about our adventures during the day in Taipei, Taiwan go to Margot Fitzsimmons' Travel Blog:
http://gomargotgo.blogspot.com/
We were taken to the restaurant's back dining room where we set up our stage and an audience of about 25 people. In the process of setting up we did bleed for our art (Spica stubbed her toe on a table and had to be rushed to the hospital) but all was accomplished! The show must go on! The following day, and without a hitch, we had our first performance!
We performed over the course of five days and each evening we performed three times. Even after performing the show 15 times we still felt like we were making new discoveries. It was such a rush to be able to perform, set up the space, and then do it all over again before the next set of audience members arrived. We could not have done it without the festival's incredible staff and volunteers. They were with us every step of the way from set up to strike! Thank you Pei-yu Shih for inviting us to the festival! We hope we can come back for another year of the Close to You International Puppet Festival!
You can find out more about the festival on their website:
http://www.closetoyoufestival.com/
For more information about our adventures during the day in Taipei, Taiwan go to Margot Fitzsimmons' Travel Blog:
http://gomargotgo.blogspot.com/
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