On October 10, 15 volunteers capped four weeks of light rehearsals (once a week) with a "performance" at the Stone House (Old Brewery) in Nevada City. It was gratifying to have about fifty in the audience and to hear laughter and applause. For me, it was most critical to get feedback from actors and audience.
Most comments related to the absence of a "main character" and to the absence of "action" or "conflict" to spark the drama. My own feeling is that there are action or conflict driven drama and there are dialogue and values driven drama. Lao She's original is clearly of the latter sort. Chinese drama and all non-Western literature (to make a bold assertion) emerged out of cultures that have not idealized "agon" (Greek for "contest"). these cultures have never been influenced by any school of thought remotely like Western Romanticism with its "Sturm und Drang" aspect. To "act without desiring the fruit of one's actions" is perhaps the antidote to "survival shows culture."
Regardless of the above, the play is on track for publication as an eBook as well as in hard copy by Thanksgiving Day this year.
