'Ren Ah, Ren (You, O You Humans)' at the New City's Johnson Theatre

Yangtze Repertory Theater will perform the first stage adaptation of Ren Ah, Ren (You, O You Humans), the novel by Dai HouYing at the New City's Johnson Theatre from the 2 - 19 Jun 2005.

Dai HouYing's novel, published in 1980, was one of the first literary works to confront the excesses of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It is adapted for the stage and directed by Joanna Chan.

Using a handful of fictional characters based on her own experience, Ms. Dai (1938-1996) allowed a glimpse into the harrowing journey of the privileged class (the intellectuals) from youthful conviction and unquestioning commitment to Mao's vision of the utopia, through, in the author's own words, "the painful groaning of a twisted soul, and the sparkle of a living spirit in darkness," to a terrifying awakening to their own humanity.

Each chapter of the book is written in the form of a monologue, dealing with a huge historic event. Ren Ah, Ren's (You, O You Humans) playwright/director Joanna Chan says she was at first daunted by the challenge of staging this story structure. But upon investigation, she found that with each monologue, a unique and moving story emerged from the text, making it very tangible to adapt for the theater.

The play views the Cultural Revolution through the eyes of three people in a love triangle: two men, Ho and Zhao, and a woman, Sun. Although they have the bonds of love and friendship and are united in the struggle for a new China, the Maoist system forces them into positions against each other in a sequence of horrible betrayals.

The leading actors are Arthur Kwan (Ho), Dinh Q. Doan (Zhao) and Vivian Chiu (Sun). The cast also includes David Chen, Erik Strongbowe, Jo Mei, Kathleen Kwan, John Wu, Nadia Gan, Kathlenn Kwan, Vivian Chu and Nelson Ando.

Ren Ah, Ren (You, O You Humans) has set design by Peter Spack, ighting design by Dana Sterling, and costume design by Harrison Xu of Guang Zhou Theater Company, China.

Joanna Chan's body of work in the past 30 years has long addressed the painful journey in which an ancient culture confronts modernity. The present production celebrates the triumph of the human spirit after one of the most disastrous episodes of this long process.