Paper Windmill Theatre Rides Again!

“Long, long ago, Tai­pei was a big lake, and the only bits of dry land nearby were high spots such as Yuan­shan and Zhi­shan­yan.” The actor’s narration transports the audiences to primordial times. On stage Taiwan’s earliest Aborigines stand in front of a thin curtain. In the misty background a green rock is discernible—it’s Turtle Island (or a cloth in its shape being hoisted by actors).

Land always evokes strong emotions: On the evening of January 20, a pounding rain greeted Paper Windmill Theatre on the plaza of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Tai­pei. An audience of 7000 crowded around as the troupe collectively made a promise to once again give performances for children in every township in Taiwan.

Local Stories’ islandwide tour kicked off at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.

Windmill Fantasia is a new drama especially created for the 368 Children’s Art Project. Combining art, drama, dance, music and multimedia, it serves as something akin to a general introduction to arts education. It provides children with a feel for the creativity and imagination that are part and parcel of the fine arts.

“Next we will be going to every county and city to perform local stories,” says Jen ­Chien-cheng, Paper Windmill Theatre’s director. For instance, when they go to Yi­lan, the story starts with the legend of the turtle general and the Ka­va­lan princess. In New Tai­pei City, it begins with a historical explanation of the archeological sites of Bali’s Da­pen­keng and Shi­san­hang before moving on to discuss the old boom days in Jiu­fen and the plantations of Xi­zhi that made it known as the homeland of pouchung tea.

“If adults can’t make everything better, at least they should do some small things for children.” It was with this in mind that in 2006 Paper Windmill launched the “First Mile, Kids Smile” program of arts projects for kids in Taiwan’s 319 townships (as counted before the local government reorganization of December 2010, which amalgamated several former counties into special municipalities, thus making their townships into municipal districts). Receiving no government support, the program survived off small private donations.

With the tremendous challenges it faced, the tour was regarded as something of a quixotic endeavor. The troupe encountered all kinds of difficulties, and it took five years from start to finish. The program came to a close with a final performance in New Tai­pei City’s ­Wanli District at the end of 2011.

Aiming to “make its mark,” Paper Windmill reached some astonishing totals: more than NT$210 million worth of contributions from 30,000 donors, 290,000 kilometers traveled on tour, a cumulative audience of 800,000, and so forth. But its achievements go beyond numbers: its moving performances have also left deep impressions on the hearts and minds of young and old alike.

Paper Windmill Theatre spent five years visiting all 319 of Taiwan’s townships in an appropriately quixotic ­mission. It has now set off on a second islandwide tour that will also take it to every township on Taiwan.

“Last year, the ‘big kids’ felt downcast when the weekends rolled around,” says Wu Jing-jyi, an artistic consultant for the group. Those “big kids” included project founders Wu Nien-jen, Ko I-chen, Jian Chih-chun, and Lee Yung-feng. Wu Jing-jyi explains that for years the united artists of Paper Windmill had spent their weekends touring, surrounded by the laughter of children. It felt wrong somehow for them to have their weekends to themselves.

But it wasn’t only the troupe members who were missing the performances. The Paper Windmill office staff fielded frequent calls from town halls, elementary and junior high schools, and private organizations. The same question was asked time and again: When are you coming to perform for the children again?

While taking a hiatus of many months from islandwide touring, Paper Windmill began to chart its future path. In addition to planning “368 Children’s Art Project” tours, the troupe also established the Windmill Youth Theatre and made preparations for its “Faust Project for Teenagers,” which aims to bring an anti-drug message to junior high schools.

Aiming to give children greater understanding of their hometowns, the writers of Local Stories sifted through a wide variety of historical materials to write stories about each of Taiwan’s counties and municipalities.

“In medieval Europe, Faust, looking for eternal youth and happiness, sold his soul to the devil. In Taiwan today, youths, seeking excitement, are getting involved with drugs.” Thus reads a passage on Paper Windmill’s website. “These young people are in an analogous position to Faust’s: They don’t realize that they have started down the road to ruin.”

People tend to delude themselves that drugs are somehow far removed from children’s lives, but nearly 60% of Taiwan’s juvenile convicts are found guilty of drug offenses. The number of Taiwanese students using illegal drugs has gone up tenfold in six years. Most young users start down the road to addiction unaware of the perils.

In light of those horrifying statistics, Paper Windmill has embarked on its “Rescuing Faust” plan. It aims to bolster its donor ranks to fund performances that will give young people greater understanding about the horrors of drug use in language that they can relate to. The plan is to bring these shows to the campuses of Taiwan’s 900-plus junior high schools.

Lee Yung-feng, the executive director of the Paper Windmill Arts and Educational Foundation, recalls what his mother told him when he returned home on a visit several years ago. “Despite being in her 70s, she warned me never to do drugs under any circumstances.” The comment gave Lee a start, and he followed up with questions of his own. It turned out that many people in his hometown had been plagued by drug use.

“Taiwan’s children are gradually being sacrificed,” Lee says. “Hence, we should leverage what were are good at—theatrical performance—to try to help society turn things around.”

In this spirit Paper Windmill is staging Young Faust, a work that delves into the reasons that young people do drugs and the steps needed to eradicate drug use. The drama leaves a big impression on audiences and makes it easier for them to talk about these issues. It will be a lot of help for youths.

With its cute sets and costumes and its traditional Chinese music, Who Is Wu Song Hitting? is a playful take on the classic Wu Song Kills the Tiger. The word for tiger in Mandarin sounds like the English word “who.”

These two major performance initiatives—one involving tours of 368 communities and the other visits to scores of junior-high campuses—have required Paper Windmill to do an “insane” amount of performing this year.

After adding up all its expenses, including for gas and stage equipment, the troupe recently realized that it would have to reassess the funding it needed to put on a show. It ended up raising the level of donations required for a single performance from NT$400,000 to NT$450,000.

“Paper Windmill wants to find hope for the future via what it actually does,” says Lee. Looking ahead, the troupe sees many difficulties looming, but also plenty of reasons to press on.

In late January, the troupe brought together all the performers involved in the 319 tour and announced that it would be launching the new 368 Children’s Art Project tour. Using funds raised from regular donors, over the past two months the troupe has put on performances in 10 townships, including Yi­lan’s Yuan­shan and Ping­tung’s Heng­chun.

For the last tour, small donations from individuals accounted for 49% of total funding, a figure that proves the Chinese adage that “dripping water can eventually wear a hole through a great rock.” Paper Windmill hopes that this time too, they can bring together many individuals to create collective financial strength. At the same time, several dozen corporations, including Secom, JP Morgan Chase and HTC Logistics, have loosened their purse strings. Donations totaled more than NT$36 million as of early March.

Directed by Wu Nien-jen, I Just Want to Be with You features a warm script that reawakens sweet memories of childhood.

In terms of its performance schedule, apart from Don Quixote, which has been a critical and popular success, Ode to Exercise continues Paper Windmill’s performance strengths with movement and sound and really tests performers’ arm and leg strength. Other shows from a rich lineup include Seafloor Mobilization, which is about tilapia; I Just Want to Be With You, a drama written and directed by Wu Nien-jen about his father; and Black Light Fantasy.

Local Stories is a pioneering work that deals with stories from each of Taiwan’s counties and municipalities. It gives children greater understanding of the places they are growing up.

“Local stories are the ones closest to people.” Lee explains that the troupe got a good taste of that in 2008, when it accepted an invitation to perform from the then Tai­pei County Government. Doing their homework, they understood that every place had its own unique history. For instance, Lin­kou, located on tablelands at the border of Tai­pei and Tao­yuan, used to be known as Shu­lin­kou. Meanwhile, the Ming­zhi Academy in Tai­shan was northern Taiwan’s first proper school, and the area around it used to be a center of education and culture. Audiences were moved by the performances, and afterwards teachers asked Paper Windmill for the scripts so that they could use them as teaching materials.

“To be honest, I don’t mind bragging about what we’re doing,” says Lee with a laugh. “I feel that this work is leaving its mark on history.”

To immerse themselves in the local stories of every county and municipality, the writing group would read a lot of history and collections of old folk tales and legends. That reading would bolster their understanding of the locales and enrich their scripts.

For instance, in creating a performance about the Lan­yang Plain, Paper Windmill discovered that during the Japanese era, Yi­lan had been the site of an airfield for a ka­mi­kaze squadron. When Lee read this, he decided to include it in the story the troupe was enacting.

Young Faust takes a fantastical approach to give youths a greater understanding of the dangers of drugs.

In Paper Windmill’s office, administrators and performers are busily coming and going. The bus downstairs is being loaded up as the children in some distant township eagerly anticipate its arrival.

The previous miracle that Paper Windmill created was rooted in the deep bonds that the people of Taiwan have with their hometowns and the great desire that people have to give back. This tour will likewise allow performers to bring their affection for their hometowns back to where it belongs, so that love can illuminate the skies above Taiwan’s next generation.

Chicken Side Story is adapted from the international classic West Side Story. It aims to teach children that winning or losing isn’t everything: love and courage are what’s most important!