On November 19, 2025, the 2nd Chinese Theater Night was held in CCTE Performance Café. The event, featuring an opening, four plays, and a Chinese song, attracted 146 registered audience members and more attendees who joined without registration. With a full house, the evening became a vivid showcase of student creativity.
This year’s Chinese Theater Night, sponsored by the Humanities Research Center (HRC) and the Language and Culture Center (LCC) at Duke Kunshan University, was organized by LCC instructor Yao Hui* and her student workers, Maddie Brown (co-organizer), Emily Kus (co-organizer), Liu Yanqing (visual and promotion coordinator), and Aeryn Bernard (photographer and reporter). Over 30 student actors and crew members presented their hard work over the past few months to an audience of their friends, peers and teachers
Our level 1 and 2 Chinese learners, Ariana Arias, Rafaa Elamin, Alex Fumerton Porter and Asal Vafayeva, kicked off the night with a short piece about their textbook characters deciding what to do for the night. From instant noodles to Domino’s pizza, the group of Ming Na, Li Hua, Gao Ming, and Wang Peng couldn’t agree on anything, except that they should end the day watching a new TV program “Chinese Theater Night.” The skit, written by Alex Fumerton Porter, served as the perfect start to the night.
The opening was followed by an original play entitled “Love is Messy.” This play combined two scripts written by Aeryn Bernard, Maciej Matuszczak and Lucie Pike, as well as Nigel Andati and Mohammad Shazil Imran, as part of Zhou Xiayun’s Chinese 201A class final project. It follows our beloved textbook characters, Bai Ying’ai, Li You, Wang Peng, and Gao Wenzhong, as they begin their journey beyond university. Brought to life by Maciej Matuszczak, Lucie Pike, Gavin Huang, and Hana Okimoto, the cast embodied how messy love can truly be. In the end, they captured not only the audiences’ hearts but their laughs as well.
Not to be out done, our advanced learners Sophia Paske and Solana Torres, with the help of Maddie Brown, displayed the tension between gender, marriage, and love in Ding Xilin’s (1893-1974) “Flushed with Wine,” in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the play’s creation. Specifically, the English subtitles used during this performance were made possible through the generous permission of John Weinstein and Carsey Yee, whose English translation of the play was first published in the MCLC Resource Center. This beautiful all-female student rendition also brought honor to the “amateur drama” tradition.
Our native Chinese speakers also were given the chance to show their acting prowess through the original work of the DKU Curtain Call Drama Club. “Will You Be 51 Forever” explored the connection between artificial life and human emotions through the turmoil of two sisters watching their mother near the end of her life. Though only an excerpt, actresses Ren Kaiyun, Xiong Yueting, and Wang Zihan, tugged at the heartstrings of those in the audience and drew everyone in, no matter their language level. The work truly became a testament not only to the effort of the performers but of the entire team including Liu Yihan (Director), Jiang Wenxi (Producer), Jiang Haodi (Scriptwriter), Zhang Haoxuan (Lighting), Liu Xinyi (Props) and Xu Shaorong (Sound).
Finally, our level 3 and level 4 learners Amanda Niza González Mejía, Ella Flordeliza Guidry, Lucia Liu Li, Yuliya Kim and Philip Yanakiev brought the royal court to life through a reenactment of the television drama Empress of the Palace. The audience followed along as the emperor attempted to determine the bloodline of his alleged son and laughed at every twist and turn. Under director Ella Flordeliza Guidry, the team truly brought us to the Palace.
The night, however, was only a success thanks to the work of our organizers and crew members. Special thanks are also for our MC, Marcus M. Santoro, for his control of the night, as well as the backstage crew of Visual Consultant Lu Ye (Odelia), Props Master Liu Chang, Lighting Director Zhang Haoxuan, Costume Designer K Bian, Sound Designer Xu Shaorong, and Technical Support Ma Rundong (Oscar). Together with our audience, we spent a night celebrating language learning, intercultural communication, and student creativity. We look forward to next year’s Chinese Theater Night.
*The romanization of all Chinese names in this report follows the Chinese naming order (surname first, given name second), in alignment with the conventions used in the event program.
Author: Aeryn Bernard, Yao Hui
Photography: Aeryn Bernard
