One-act play introduces Woody Allen to Chinese audiences

Actor He Shan is a big fan of Woody Allen. He has what one can call a small collection of his movies, music and theater works. In 2013, He read a book, which had Chinese translations of three of Allen's one-act plays, Riverside Driver, Old Saybrook and Central Part West. As an acting major at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, he was impressed by the humorous, insightful plays with typical New Yorkers as characters.

One doesn't get many a chance to watch Allen's plays on stage in China because of the language barrier and cultural differences. But He recommended the scripts to his teacher at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, Zhang Yu, who enjoyed reading them and supported his idea.

One year later, Zhang, along with three of his actor students - He, Wang Lifu and Liu Qi - introduced one of the three plays, Riverside Driver, to Chinese audiences. After three rounds of performance at venues like Peking University Hall, the play, called Bin He Da Dao in Chinese, will return to the stage at Beijing Youth Theater on Oct 16 and 17.