“Contemporary Theater Arts” Seminar Series No. 17

Zhang Xian is a playwright, theater director, social choreographer, and arts activist. As one of the first independent and avant-garde dramatists in post-Mao China, he has long been grounded in civil society, initiating several NGO art groups, pan-theater spaces, and festivals in Shanghai. He is committed to socio-theatrical initiatives to raise self-awareness among people and transform lives. In 2005 he co-founded The Niao Collective, a consensus group of independent artists, where he presents his creative works of anarchist theatrical performance, ranging from dance theater, physical theater, and installation performance to forum theater and conceptual art, which continue to influence the younger generation’s resistance. He has published books such as The Theatre of Retreats, Myths in Action, and How to Create Yourself. 2021 saw the publication of an anthology of his plays. It collects four representative works he wrote in the 1980s and 1990s, including The Owl in the House, Fashion Street, Squeeze, and Margin Upstairs.

张献，剧作家、剧场导演、社会编舞家、艺术行动者。作为后毛泽东时代中国最早的独立戏剧家，他长期立足民间社会，发起组织、主持多个民间艺术团体、泛剧场空间及艺术节，致力于改造生活的社会戏剧行动。2005年参与创建独立艺术家共识组织“组合嬲”，逐一推出从舞蹈剧场、身体剧场、装置表演，到言论行动剧场、概念剧场等创造性安那其社会表演代表作品，与其主要著作《隐修剧场》、《神话行动》和《怎样创造自己》一道，持续地影响着年青一代的抵抗文化。2021年出版《张献戏剧集》，收入其戏剧代表作四种《屋里的猫头鹰》《时装街》《楼上的玛金》《拥挤》。