衛武營國家藝術文化中心 National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)

The story of The Old Suitcase is inspired by a picture book, uses the concepts of Creative Drama and object theatre forms, through physical movement and sound effect, with humorous and vivid and inspiring performances, to bring the power of imagination. The stories of Taiwanese immigrants and the culture of the military village are used to lead the audiences into a magical time journey of creativity, poetry and memories intertwined with objects, light and shadow, puppetry, music and other elements.

The story starts with an old suitcase, which moved into the military village with the owner through war and flight, it had encountered many incredible stories, unforgettable friendship and memories in the journey of life, until the old red brick military village was demolished. Through the experience of the old suitcase, it tells the passage of time, and shows the imagination and meaning of "home", and the unique immigrant history, culture and spirit of inclusiveness of Taiwan are brought to the children.

Inspired by The Memorial of an Old Suitcase: A Portrait of Military Village, co-published by National Museum of Taiwan Literature and Taiwan Interminds Publishing Inc., authored by CHENG Ruo-shiun, illustrated by SUN Hsin-yu.

  Creative and Production Team  

Dramaturge｜KENG Yi-wei

Director / Playwright｜LU Yi-hsin

Costume Design｜TSENG Chi-ting

Stage Design & Shadow Puppet Artistic Design｜LI Chieh-chi

Music Design｜Mojo WOO

Light Design｜LIN Ping-hsin 

Puppetry & Object Theatre Design｜RUAN Yi

Production Manager｜LU Yi-lun

Cast｜Kazuma KISE, LIU Yao-chung, HSU Chiu-li

  Team Introduction  

About New Visions New Voices Theatre Company

New Visions New Voices Theatre Company is selected as Taiwan Top team by National Culture and Arts Foundation. Our works are rich in genre and with diverse content, such as Animated Musical Theatre, interactive technology, oral history, environmental theatre and museum theatre. It is a representative theatre company of children and teenagers Theatre in Taiwan. We have been invited to perform in festivals and international projects. The troupe is dedicated to use the theatre as a way for social service and action, and is dedicated to cultural equality, theatre for children and teenagers, and senior art. The 16-Year-Old Festival, Oral history Theatre with Yough , Life History Application and Interpretation of Taiwanese Women Project, Incubator for New Voices, Play Fun and Entering the Theatre, as well as cultural experience education and creativity projects have been well received.

Director / Playwright｜LU Yi-hsin

LU Yi-hsin, Director and Artistic Director of New Visions New Voices Theatre Company, MFA in Applied Drama& Theatre for the Young at Eastern Michigan University, and MA in Theatre at the University of Montana. Her works are full of inspiration and poetry, and have been frequently invited to different festivals. She is good at oral history theatre, cross-border performance of literature and history, and theatre for young audience, and actively promotes cultural equality, artistic integration and the cultivation of young artists. 

Generating and organizing multiple projects, including Oral history Theatre with Youth, Shakespeare to Youth!, Incubator for New Voices which is a platform for the cultivation of young artists, Transformation and Interpretation of Women's Life History - project of the National Museum of Taiwan History, 16-Year-Old Festival Youth Theatre Project for adolescents which cooperated with the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government, and Infinity Art for physically and psychologically challenged people. Recent works include Women's Play: Their Lives and Stories, One Hundred Years of Resistances, Holmes, Shakespeare in the House, A Boy and His Whale, The Steelyard, Savor the Story, A Journey to Neverland, etc. International productions include City Zoo, Bing Bang Boing! The Noise Making Boy, Spring up – Song of Seasons, etc.

Stage Design｜LI Chieh-chi

Graduated from the Department of Theatrical Design and technology, Taipei National University of Arts, major in stage design. Recent stage design works include New Visions New Voices Theatre Company's Women's Play: Their Lives and Stories, One Hundred Years of Resistances, Savor the Story, tshut-thuat, Knock Knock; Our Theatre's Songs Unsung in My Heart; Andersen and Mozart Creative Group's The Sun Stuck; Taipei Seagull Theatre Transformed into the North Wind; Slashiewithyouth's The Women Sing Folk Songs; EX-Theater Asia's Mine No. 106; Action Cooperation's Daughter-in-law's Kitchen Code; Quanta Arts Foundation's A Time to Remember; and the Shu-Te University Department of Performing Arts Something Rotten.

Music Design｜Mojo WOO

Graduated from the Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) MFA Course, major in directing. Shortlisted for the 2022 WSD Emerging Exhibition Sound Design. His works of acting include New Visions New Voices Theatre Company's A Boy and His Whale, Bing, Bang, Boing, the Noise Making Boy, Pornography in TNUA's 2019 Autumn Production. He is the playwright / director of Mo Hey's Undies, Face to Audience's Breathing at the Bottom of the Pool, and Three Fantasies About __ Country in TNUA project of Adapting and Directing from Haruki Murakami. And his sound design works include New Visions New Voices Theatre Company's  Women's Play: Their Lives and Stories, One Hundred Years of Resistances, How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird, TNUA'S 2018 Spring Production A Memory of Two Mondays, Voleur du Feu Theatre's Coming! Coming! Falling Heavily from the Mountains!, Dog Hole, National Taichung Theater Open Liu Xiumei's Floating, Taipei Blooming's O-Life's a Drag.

Costume Design｜TSENG Chi-ting 

Director of White Cotton Weaving studio, identified as a fiber artist, she loves and constantly put herself shuttles between weaving craftsmanship, costume design, and fiber art; the inspiration of her creation ranges from the daily observation to unconstrained imagination.  Selected as the artist of the 6^th Riga International Textile and Fiber Art Triennial in Latvia. Theatre works include costume design for New Visions New Voices Theatre Company's A Hundred Years of Birth, Savor the Story, Legend of Folk Art, A Boy and His Whale, The Legends of Seas, Sky and Birds, The Steelyard; stage design for Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company's Hideout, stage installation of Step In, To Be Present or Not, stage design for Abole Theatre's Weaving of Memories of Abole Theatre Workshop.

Light Design｜LIN Ping-hsin

Shortlisted for the 2022 WSD Emerging Exhibition Lighting Design. Freelancer and theater designer, with lighting and space as the main creative medium, works covering drama, traditional opera, dance theatre, musical, environmental theatre, exhibition and other different forms, hope to open energetic dialogue and communication through the construction of light and shadow and space. Recent lighting works include New Visions New Voices Theatre Company's Women's Play: Their Lives and Stories, The Left-Handed Theatre: Mantou, 2021 Dance South, Chiayi – Su PinWen Girl's Notes, Kua Bo Dance Theatre Shū mèi, Taipei National University of the Arts's Phèdre, Self-Accusation.

Puppetry & Object Theatre Design｜RUAN Yi

Now study in National Tainan University Department of Drama Creation and Application post graduate school, and full-time puppet maker and puppeteer in Puppet and Its Double. Recent acting works include The Puppet and Its Double's The Nightingale, the International Chinese Edition, I Am Another Yourself  Spain Tour, Mr. Ruraru's Yard, The Legend of Turtle Island. And Puppet design and fabrication works include Frogs in Wonderland II, Jane's Magic Dragon Egg, The Snow Prince, The Nightingale, Sanko's Summer Vacation.

Co-produced by National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) and Fubon Cultural & Educational Foundation.

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►2022 Weiwuying Children's Festival

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