Taipei Arts Festival Aims to Build IP for Troupe, Wang Wen-yi: Targeting Chinese-Speaking Markets

Central News Agency (reporter Chao Ching-yu, Taipei, January 11) – The 2026 Taipei Arts Festival unveiled its first wave of programs today. Wang Wen-yi, Chairperson of the Taipei Performing Arts Center, stated in an exclusive interview with CNA that one of this year’s ambitions is to help Taiwanese performing arts groups create intellectual property (IP), with the goal of exporting these works in the foreseeable future and entering global Chinese-speaking markets.

Wang revealed that this year’s production "Niuniu Kyogen" has the potential to be performed at the Singapore Huayi Festival, with positive responses also received from major Asian arts festivals in Tokyo and Kyoto. "Taiwan’s theatrical productions are highly competitive. By having Taiwanese troupes reinterpret classic masterpieces, we have the opportunity to reach Chinese-speaking communities worldwide, including in New York, Australia, and North America. This is the best era for such expansion," she said.

Wang noted that due to international circumstances and rising transportation costs, all groups must carefully budget when planning international tours, making it essential to emphasize Taiwan’s unique cultural characteristics. "This has led us to consider how we can support more local Taiwanese performance groups in creating original Taiwanese IP that can successfully enter global Chinese-speaking markets."

The 2026 Taipei Arts Festival has broken from past conventions with a diverse and distinctive selection of programs. For example, French-based director Wang Shih-wei takes on Nobel laureate Jon Fosse’s play "I Am the Wind," starring acclaimed actors Mo Tzu-yi and Lin Tzu-heng.

Chou Hui-ling’s directed work "Niuniu Kyogen" begins with a mysterious family genealogy, interweaving social issues such as long-term care and dementia with politically sensitive topics between Shanghai and Taiwan.

Taiwanese avant-garde theater pioneer Wang Mo-lin collaborates with dramaturg Wang Chun-yen on "The Last Recording," using Samuel Beckett’s absurdist masterpiece "Krapp’s Last Tape" as a framework, layered with Wang Mo-lin’s personal journey and 40 years of small-theater history.

The Four Chairs Theatre Company returns with "The Sun," a production that received multiple nominations including Best Director at the inaugural Taipei Theatre Awards.

Wang observed that the first Taipei Theatre Awards, held in 2025 by the Taipei City Cultural Affairs Department, has energized many theater groups and productions, with momentum continuing to build. "There’s now a star culture emerging in the theater scene," she said. "In the era of Yang Li-hua, stars would appear draped in money; today, musical performers also have devoted fans. This fan economy is a crucial element in the development of the theater industry."

Wang noted that Taipei audiences, shaped by institutions like the National Theater and Concert Hall, possess independent and mature tastes—precisely the audience the Taipei Performing Arts Center aims to serve. She observed that this year’s festival programs seem to converge on a shared theme: "The opposite of death is not immortality or resurrection, but love." She hopes audiences, after experiencing the festival’s works, will recognize that amidst a chaotic world, "culture and love are the most powerful weapons for changing the world." (Editor: Kuan Chung-wei)