A new role for Peking Opera

When Wang Xiaoxin was pursuing her studies at the Yale University School of Drama in 2006, she hoped to become an avant-garde theater director. However, she ended up being obsessed with Peking Opera.

"One day I went to the public library at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. A book about Peking Opera caught my eye," Wang recalls. "I became fascinated at once: the moves, the costumes, the philosophy-everything."

Wang, who graduated from the Arts Institute of Peking University and went to live abroad in 2003, previously focused on experimental dramas. She compared Western dramas with Peking Opera and realized the beauty of the ancient art form.