Four Seasons is a fusion of classical and traditional Chinese aesthetic genres (poetry, music, dance, opera and puppetry) with contemporary shadow theater technique. It is a vivid, living animation that transcends language and cultural barriers and celebrates the universal cycles of Time and the seasons of life passages.
Four Seasons was originally conceived in 2015 by Chinese Theatre Works’ co-artistic directors, Kuang-Yu Fong and Stephen Kaplin, as part of a workshop/skills exchange, between CTW artists and members of the Yanghzhou Puppet Theater of Jiangsu Province, China. This original workshop performance was funded by a grant from the Theater Communication Group “Global Connections” program. In 2019, a new version of Four Seasons was performed at a workshop residency at Flushing Town Hall, with an American ensemble and Taiwanese Puppet master, Wushan Huang, was supported by grants from The Henson Foundation and by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs’ Coalition of Theaters of Color Initiative.
