Jia Yiping Leads Time Theater Troupe to Launch North American Version of the Play “The Wilderness,” Renewing the Classic with Contemporary Aesthetics

LAPost Irvine (July 11, 2024) – Led by renowned Chinese National Theatre actor, director, and producer Jia Yiping, the “Time Theater Collective (TTC)” performed two consecutive nights of the play “The Wilderness,” written by Chinese playwright Cao Yu, on July 9 and 10. These performances were held at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, the largest and most professional venue in Irvine, a rising tech hub in Southern California, and were presented to the Southern California audience.

Stills from the North American version of “The Wilderness” (Photo by: Richard Ren/LAPost)

The main creative team delivered precise performances that, while respecting the original work, reinterpreted this Chinese theatrical classic with a contemporary aesthetic. Local mainstream media remarked, “The level of performance and the audience’s reaction bear witness to the power of culture, marking a significant milestone in the development of Chinese drama in North America.”

As the debut theatrical work of the Time Theater Troupe, Jia Yiping’s North American version of “The Wilderness” features more defined and concise character portrayals, intensified and entangled emotions, and sharper, more intense dramatic conflicts. This adaptation drives all characters to the brink of crucial decisions, deeply reflecting the complex human nature depicted by Cao Yu.

Time Theater Troupe is a nonprofit organization founded by Jia Yiping in 2022 in Orange County, Southern California. In an exclusive interview, Jia Yiping discussed his motivation for founding the troupe. During the two years he spent in the U.S. due to the pandemic, he realized how rare Chinese drama was in the area and felt that Chinese culture and theater might be overlooked. This inspired him to form the troupe with a group of “theater enthusiasts.”

Jia Yiping (right), Wu Jing (left) (Photo by: Richard Ren/LAPost)

The main character, “Qiu Hu,” is portrayed by Jia Yiping, a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama. The female lead, “Jin Zi,” is played by Wu Jing, a graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy and currently an actress at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center. “Jiao Daxing” is portrayed by Duan Xuming, a graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, while “Jiao’s Mother” is played by Dong Xiaoyan, a graduate of the Beijing Dance Academy. Cui Nan, a young singer active in Southern California, takes on the role of “Bai Shazi,” and well-known lawyer Zhang Jun crosses over to play “Chang Wuye.” The performances were conducted entirely in Chinese, with English subtitles provided on either side of the stage.

Wu Jing, who flew in from Shanghai specifically to play the female lead, shared in an interview that she had previously played the role of “Jin Zi” in her graduation performance at the drama academy. Back then, she primarily followed her professor’s analysis for her portrayal. However, this time, she relied on her years of stage experience and personal insights to interpret a “Jin Zi” of her own.

The two-story auditorium in the theater awaits the start of the show (Photo by: Richard Ren/LAPost)

When the curtain rose and the bells from the play rang out, the entire audience immediately fell silent. Throughout the more than two-hour performance, the audience remained quiet and focused, captivated by the brilliant performances of the actors on stage. As Xuemin Duan said during the curtain call, “The audience in Southern California is the most enthusiastic.”

After the performance, Jia Yiping invited the staff and volunteers to come on stage to thank the audience (Photo by: Richard Ren/LAPost)

After the performance ended and the actors took their bows amidst the enthusiastic applause of the audience, Jia Yiping invited the staff and volunteers, both onstage and behind the scenes, to come on stage and thank the audience. He introduced his team one by one and fondly recalled the journey of rehearsing this play since 2023. He expressed his intention to attract more young people to the theater in the future.

According to stage manager Qu Meilin, “The Wilderness” had already held three preview performances in Irvine, each sold out. This success provided the troupe with confidence and motivation to move into a large professional theater.

Audience entering the venue (Photo by: Richard Ren/LAPost)

Despite both performances being on weekday evenings, long lines of audience members formed before the shows began. According to volunteer ticket manager Eve Xu, all tickets were sold out. There were even people at the theater willing to pay high prices for tickets they hadn’t been able to purchase in advance. The audience for both shows came from all over Southern California.

When asked about the troupe’s next steps and upcoming projects, Jia Yiping mentioned that they had already received invitations to perform in several cities across North America, as well as from Europe and China. Additionally, the troupe is planning to stage Arthur Miller’s classic play “The Crucible” in both Chinese and English, using Chinese-style performance techniques.

Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan (3rd from left) (Photo by: Richard Ren/LAPost)

Due to the overwhelming positive reviews on social media after the first day of the performance, Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan made a special trip to the theater’s dressing room before the second performance to communicate with the actors and watch the entire performance, thanking them for bringing such a classic drama to the local people. Members of the Committee of 100, well-known Chinese philanthropist Charlie Zhang , and exclusive title sponsor Darren Wang watched the performance.

Richard Ren, vice president of the Los Angeles Chinese Film and Television Artists Association, who watched the preview and watched the performance again, Joe Zheng , a teacher at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Film and Television and a young director, and Shi Tanxuan, a young director, commented on the North American version of the drama “Wilderness”: “The performance of the actors is the main factor in the success of this drama. They have brought a strong appeal to the audience. Jia Yiping’s long monologue in the second half fully demonstrated the lines and acting skills of an excellent drama actor; Dong Xiaoyan played Jiao’s mother, who showed the inner distortion of the character vividly; Wu Jing’s performance was very immersive, just like the “gold” described by Cao Yu.”

This performance of the Chinese classic drama on the mainstream theater was exclusively sponsored by “Baojian Daren Real Estate Group”, co-organized by Wenjing Holidays, Si Nian Food Group, Huizhong Financial Group, Jinchengli Restaurant, and Naturalistic North American High-end Bedding, and co-organized by ICBC USA Branch and Good Luck. (By: Richard Ren/LAPost)

（Photo by: Richard Ren/LAPost)