The fragrance leaves traces wherever the dawn breeze passes
A brief discussion of Xiaofeng’s drama (2)
Seeds are spread by the wind - Xiaofeng who serves with pen
A good script can unconsciously integrate the audience's emotions into the author's thoughts. Just like diners have certain cooking preferences or taste habits for certain ingredients, a chef with real skills can gradually "tame" the taste buds of diners through ingenuity. The same ingredients can be used to prepare exotic dishes with different flavors in the hands of the chef - what Xiaofeng serves is a dish with a taste of Christian faith. Diners (audiences) may not be used to it at first, but that shouldn’t make them think it’s an unpalatable dish. In fact, from the perspective of today's society where individualism is prevalent, if a dish lacks the chef's personal style, it has no "selling point"!
The success of Xiaofeng's drama (script) lies in her familiarity with original ingredients. She understands Chinese literature and is familiar with classics. She has worked hard to practice cooking and also studied exotic cuisine (Western drama classics), so she can create unique stages. drama. She has a healthy and lively imagination and care for the world, so she can touch people's hearts. The element of faith hidden deep in her life makes her works naturally reveal rich spiritual life.
▲Zhang Xiaofeng. The faith values in the Bible have deeply influenced Xiaofeng's drama creation.
To viewers who are familiar with the Bible, Bian He in the play "He Shi Bi" seems to have the shadow of Jeremiah, the prophet who, because of God's call, embarked on a difficult and thankless road without hesitation. "What is true and what is false? People who have lost faith can only be the prodigal son of their own lives. But you have called me to walk a difficult road. You want me to be a person who is awake alone, and you want me to be a person who is sleepless alone. As a person, I have gradually forgotten that I also have the right to live for myself. But the road ahead is long, is the road in the world longer than this?" In this dark and crooked era, do you and I "persist"? Courage: "In this era accustomed to "denial", do you want to make a "fatal affirmation" for the truth?" 1 When watching "He's Jade", do Christian audiences have a sense of "being a worker who does not need to be ashamed, and obeying the law"? Do you feel that there is still a long way to go to "deconstruct the way of truth with a right intention"?
Xiaofeng did not deliberately preach through scripts as criticized by the outside world; but she did use drama to arouse the audience's "desire to ask questions." Life is like a play, play is like life, and the stage can be a microcosm of real life. The characters on the stage eat, drink, marry, and experience birth, old age, illness, and death just like you and me. Because of the love, hate and resentment that live on the stage, it caused the audience in the audience to think about universal common issues. Be it Christians or non-Christians, as long as they are human beings, they can all resonate with this theme to a greater or lesser extent.
A script written by a Christian writer, the DNA of faith contained in it has been deeply embedded in it, and may have different characteristics in the hands of different interpreters; some are explicit, some are implicit, but most of them are explicit. It changes but cannot escape from the order of its arrangement and combination - this is the basic confidence that a good work and a good author should have. I believe that the information the author wants to convey can fly like dandelion seeds in the wind and land in unknown lands, bringing unexpected prosperity.
Xiaofeng's script deeply reveals her respect and love for life. She once said that the impact of her faith on her includes "identifying the basic issues of life, which also makes her more open-minded about some small problems in life, and she can face all kinds of small setbacks in life." 2 Xiaofeng deeply explores the form of life and the mysteries of life in the script - she asks questions, but does not force the audience to accept a single explanation; she questions, but allows the audience to have multiple answers. Regardless of whether she solved the conflicts and entanglements in the script or provided redemption for those loves and hates, she at least succeeded in raising the audience to a different level of thinking and led them to see another possibility.
The wind blows and the grass becomes greener every year - the extension of Xiaofeng's works in today's society
Xiaofeng said in her own words that the author is like a water source, which can become a stream, a well, or even tap water. The same is true for any form of article an author writes. She never sets limits on herself. Just like her dramas, she always tries many ways to express herself. , not to be constrained by any form, the important thing is to be loyal to your own feelings and write down what you feel in life. 3 The author is like a source of water. In fact, readers (audiences) are also like water. Many people may think that in an era of booming mass media and the prevalence of online media, stage drama has become a "niche" or even a "sunset culture"; but from another perspective, people may have long been tired of the popular taste. If they can Providing limited-edition home-cooked dishes at the right time may lead to unexpected hits and favorable reviews.
The writer Bai Xianyong once successfully put the seemingly outdated traditional Kunqu opera "The Peony Pavilion" on the stage, causing a sensation on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places, and even captured the hearts of the younger generation of audiences. Many elements on and off stage have contributed to the brilliance of the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion": the theme of "youth and love", loyalty to the original work without modification, the handsome and elegant appearance of the young actors, the fueling of the media, and " Kunqu Opera Volunteer" Bai Xianyong's own fame and influence... If Xiaofeng's works are "Xiaofeng" as the signature, and then infused with elements that nourish the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion", will her drama be able to succeed again? Earth shines on the stages of the three places across the Taiwan Strait?
▲Because the "life" performed by the characters on the stage caused the audience in the audience to think about the common problems faced by mankind around the world.
Xiaofeng's plays have been performed repeatedly in various places in the past, and many performers would ask her for her opinion. But she personally feels that her opinion is not important. If the author has passed away, who should the actor ask for advice? "Who can ask Shakespeare's opinion?" This seems to be the answer to "Should a play written by a Christian writer be performed by Christian actors or even a Christian theater company?" When a novel, an article, or a play is completed, it is like a fetus breaking away from its mother's umbilical cord and beginning its own growth. They are nourished by readers' knowledge, imagination, emotions and experiences, and evolve into their own styles. The same work will receive different information in the eyes of different readers; even the same reader may have different understandings of the same work as his age and life experience increase. Does a play written by a Christian author have to go through a Christian theater company to truly convey a divine message? Maybe it's not a true or false question, but a multiple-choice question that can be played freely from different angles.
By reading the Bible, Xiaofeng has developed an eye for seeing truth from stories and parables, and has also developed her ability to capture profound connotations from a simple story when creating. 4 The literary nature of the Bible has inspired the imagination of many Chinese and foreign authors; and when imaginations are "healthy and vigorous" as pastoral writer Peterson described them, they can help us transform our divine lives into a lively and influential way. way to present it to the world.
The faith values in the Bible have deeply influenced Xiaofeng's drama creation - a good script needs a good troupe to bring it to life on the stage. Likewise, a theater company with rich spiritual energy can bring new life to a script. Stories call for stories, and lives influence lives. A script written by a Christian writer can tug at the soul strings of an actor who is not a Christian. A theater troupe composed of Christians may also deeply impact the bottom of the lives of non-Christian audiences, triggering a distant resonance and stimulating the desire for the truth of the gospel. I hope that in this generation, more literary and artistic workers with such a vision will be raised up to shine for the Lord on the stage.
Note:
1. "He Shi Bi" Scene 8
2. "Senior Dramatist Series Zhang Xiaofeng: Young Shoots Turn Green" p. 57
3. "Senior Dramatist Series Zhang Xiaofeng: Solidity" P. 168, 169
4. "Senior Dramatist Series Zhang Xiaofeng: Young Shoots Turn Green" p. 57
Zi En also has the pen name Xiao En. A student of the first class of the North American Creation and Literature Camp, now a co-worker of Creation and Literature. I wrote compositions when I was young, and articles when I grew up. I used to write for myself, but now I give the pen to God. Cooking words to quench hunger cannot bring real spiritual satiety, but I would like to contribute five loaves and two fishes and bake word cookies to "appetite" readers, and then be willing to come into contact with the truth of faith and taste the taste of the Lord's grace.