Скачать или смотреть Meet Liam Fanning creative director of bilingual theater Taipei Shorts

Immigrants from all over the world come to Taiwan where they find work, start families and contribute to making the island so special. In today’s installment of “An Immigrant Story,” we meet Liam Fanning, the executive producer and creative director of Taipei Shorts, a bilingual theater in Taiwan. FTV reporter Stephany Yang spoke to Fanning about his experiences with performance art in Taiwan.

Actors take to the stage. This is a production by Taipei Shorts, a bilingual theater in Taiwan. Taipei Shorts provides a platform for both new and experienced expats and locals to act, direct, write, compose, and work on lighting. Genres and styles range from slapstick comedy to fast-paced dialogues, interpretive dance, and more.

Liam Fanning
Taipei Shorts creative director
Taipei Shorts is a series of shows. This is the fifth iteration of the show. The format of it is writers that are based in Taiwan. So either local writers or international writers who have settled here will write and submit plays. They get selected and then paired with directors. Then, we hold auditions and then they get paired with actors. Then, we mount a production of each show.

Fanning is the creative director and executive producer of Taipei Shorts. A native of Virginia in the U.S., he studied theater at Virginia Commonwealth University. Five years ago, he moved to Taiwan. He initially joined Taipei Shorts as an actor, and now serves as its creative director and executive producer.

Liam Fanning
Taipei Shorts creative director
I look for something that first, that we can definitely do effectively, do justice. And then, once I find a few that I like, the way that I might narrow it down is to look for things that will complement each other while also contrasting each other. I think what’s really cool is when we have six to eight different shows that are all completely different from one another. Their differences actually make them stand out even more.

Taipei Shorts is in its fifth season, with an upcoming show in November, showcasing eight plays in English and Mandarin. Two shows will be performed in Mandarin, and six shows will be in English with subtitles. The shows are directed, written, and performed by Taiwan-based artists. Fanning says this show will be the biggest one to date.

Liam Fanning
Taipei Shorts creative director
We have a show coming up. It’s November 11 through to the 20th, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There are six total performances. Each show will feature all of the plays that have been submitted. Each one is like one act. It’s almost like a bit of a sample of the story where you get to know the characters, the story, and the style of the piece. There will be music that is originally composed for each show. I think that there’s so much opportunity. This is a city that enjoys nightlife and in-person events. In order to be able to do that in itself, it is a goal to just have more performances and fun things for people to come and see us. And then, moving forward, I’d like to be able to give an international kind of spin to the theater here. There’s theater going on here that is exclusively in Mandarin, which of course, is necessary. For a long time, there’s been an English language theater, but I feel that in some situations it might be put in a box. My goal for this particular show is to show multilingualism as a value and to show lots of different perspectives and points of view, maybe on the same medium.

Fanning hopes not only to keep English theater alive and entertain more audiences in Taiwan, but also showcase the nation’s talents.