The Los Angeles Post

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | Zhi Qu: A New Voice in Cross-Cultural Theater

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By LAPost.us | June 2025 | Los Angeles

As the 2025 AACYF Top 30 Under 30 list was unveiled Last month in Los Angeles, celebrating the brightest young Chinese American changemakers across disciplines, one name sparked immediate curiosity in the arts and culture sector: Zhi Qu—a 24-year-old theater and opera director, actor, and singer, whose works challenge the limitations of language and culture while building bridges between East and West.

Originally from Beijing and now based in New York City, Qu’s inclusion on the list is a testament not only to his artistic innovation but also to his unique ability to navigate—and merge—multiple worlds. During his recent visit to Los Angeles, Qu sat down with LAPost.us for an in-depth conversation about his cross-cultural vision, creative philosophy, and what lies ahead for this rising force in contemporary performance.

Qu Zhi accepted an exclusive interview in Los Angeles（Photo by: Richard )Ren/LAPost)

A Directorial Debut Rooted in Legacy and Reinvention

Qu describes his directorial debut of Remorse—a Chinese-language chamber opera adapted from Lu Xun’s 1925 novella—as one of the most meaningful projects of his life.

Premiering at New York’s Dixon Place Off-Broadway venue in February 2025, the production marked the opera’s first staging outside China since its composition over four decades ago. Qu served triple roles: director, music director, and artistic director.

“The story follows a young couple in 1920s Beijing who defy feudal norms for love, only to be torn apart by material hardship and societal pressure. It’s a deeply Chinese narrative, but also universal,” Qu explained.

He approached the revival with bold reinterpretations:

  • Visual Design: Qu replaced traditional sets with a poetic, abstract aesthetic—a trio of suspended rooftops suggested both shelter and transience, reflecting the instability of the couple’s love.

  • Character Redefinition: Instead of the original narrator-singer pair who remained passive observers, Qu wove them into the action as psychological doubles, mirroring the internal states of the protagonists.

  • A Meta-Theatrical Voice: An original character—the Narrator, inspired by Lu Xun himself—acted as a Brechtian figure guiding the audience through the emotional landscape.

More than just a staging, Remorse became a platform for Qu to test his evolving aesthetic language: “I wanted to create something not only faithful to the spirit of Lu Xun, but also fresh—something that speaks to today’s world.”

Theater as a Philosophy of Departure

A recurring motif across Qu’s body of work is the idea of “departure” (出走): leaving a familiar world in search of autonomy, transformation, or emotional liberation.

“I see myself as someone always departing,” he said. “From China to the U.S., from singer to director, from realism to abstraction—each shift is both a break and a beginning.”

In La Voix Humaine, a one-woman monodrama performed in a dialect unfamiliar to most of the audience, Qu explored emotional departure through sound rather than text. “The spoken words meant nothing semantically to most of the audience,” he explained. “But that was the point. It allowed the voice to become a pure vessel of emotional pain.”

Similarly, in Remorse, the character Zijun’s final walk away from her lover—set against swelling music and a wash of warm light—becomes a departure as rebirth, not tragedy. “It’s my way of reclaiming autonomy for female characters who have historically been written as victims,” Qu said.

Innovating the GALA Stage: A Theatrical Experiment

Last month, Qu took the reins as chief director of NYU GALA 2025 – A Journey to the West, co-produced with Hunan TV and staged at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. The event brought together over 300 artists, including dancers, musicians, actors, and filmmakers.

“This was not just a showcase—it was a narrative,” Qu emphasized.

The program was structured as a dramatic arc following a Chinese student’s journey from Shanghai to New York: overcoming culture shock, confronting identity, and ultimately finding purpose. Through the integration of theater, animation, and even augmented reality visuals, Qu transformed the traditional variety format into a cohesive story-driven performance.

He also emphasized the managerial skills behind the artistic vision: “Directing is 40% creativity, 60% leadership. My training in Performing Arts Administration at NYU taught me how to lead with humility, structure, and empathy.”

Art Beyond Borders: Language, Abstraction, and Yijing

Qu’s work is deeply informed by his academic background—he holds a double major in Sociology and Philosophy from UC Santa Barbara, where he first discovered theater through the Chinese Theater Society. Later, at NYU, he honed his craft as both a director and administrator.

Central to his practice is the dismantling of language as a barrier: “Theater isn’t just about what’s said. It’s about what’s felt, what’s implied, what’s left unsaid.”

In recent works like Love Between a Bird and a Fish—a dance-theater piece without dialogue—Qu used purely symbolic imagery and physical movement to explore intimacy and emotional struggle.

“It’s inspired by the Chinese notion of Yijing (意境),” he said. “That poetic atmosphere where meaning transcends words. I want to invite the audience to feel, not just to understand.”

Creative Influences and Cultural Legacy

Qu’s inspirations are as eclectic as they are expansive—ranging from Akira Kurosawa and Wong Kar-wai, to Jean Cocteau, Puccini, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Philosophically, he draws from Albert Camus and Karl Marx, two seemingly opposing thinkers whose ideas he fuses in his work.

“I’m drawn to contradiction. My training in dialectical thinking taught me how to hold opposing truths—to extract beauty from tension,” he noted.

This attitude also informs his artistic identity as a Chinese artist working in a global context: “It’s important to me to embed Chinese aesthetics into international works—not to exoticize, but to universalize. My culture isn’t a reference point; it’s a root.”

What’s Next? Stories Across Time and Space

Looking ahead, Qu is developing a new cross-temporal trilogy centered around women navigating the act of departure. Characters will include:

  • A young Tang Dynasty girl crossing boundaries of gender and class,

  • A 20th-century British woman confronting the societal expectations of marriage,

  • A contemporary Chinese migrant seeking identity across continents.

“These are not disconnected stories,” Qu said. “They’re mirrors of the same human impulse—for freedom, for selfhood, for change.”

Conclusion: A Director for a New Era

Zhi Qu is not merely an emerging artist—he is an architect of emotion, a philosopher of performance, and a cultural translator between worlds. In an industry too often segmented by genre or geography, he stands at the intersection—unafraid to blur the lines between opera and dance, Chinese tradition and Western form, philosophical inquiry and theatrical impact.

As he continues to stage stories of longing, loss, and becoming, one thing is certain: Zhi Qu is a voice to watch—and to listen to, even beyond words. 

(By: Richard Ren/LAPost)