The drama avenue transformed into the "Time Train".

In the selfie experience area of ​​the "Time Photo Studio", viewers can generate the "Friends of the People's Art Theater" with selfies as the front page news. Photo by Beijing Daily reporter Fang Fei

　　　　In front of the Capital Theater, the "Time Filter" series of check-in photo frames circle the frozen scenes of the past, modern and future, allowing time to flow smoothly. From this we walked to the Beijing International Drama Center, the Drama Avenue turned into a 70-meter "time train". Outside the "window", representative plays and stage props from various stages of Beijing People's Art Theatre turned into scenery on the journey. On May 10 and 11, the theme of "Recreating Time" lingers in every corner of the Beijing People's Art Theater compound, threading the multi-section experience event of this year's "Friends of the Arts Day".

　　Rich activities are spread throughout the theater

　　The theme event "Friends of the People's Art Theater Day" was first opened on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the founding of the Beijing People's Art Theater Academy in 2023. It aims to share theater space and drama memories with the audience, and try to link new scenes of multi-theater space with more business formats to provide more diverse literary and artistic life experiences. This year, "Friends of the People's Art Theater Day" is hosted by Beijing People's Art Theater and Dongcheng District Party Committee and District Government, covering performances, drama activities, exhibitions, check-in, markets and other contents. It revolves around the clues of "time" and integrates a review of the past and a prospect for the future.

　　In the performance section, in addition to the "Going Back at Snowy Night", "Psychedelic" and "Good Night, Mom" ​​that are being performed in the theater, the German Rimini Documentary Theater, which has pioneered the perspective, performed 7 consecutive shows in the People's Art Theater as a special show. "Underworld Valley" is the first drama work introduced by pure robots in Beijing. When AI reshapes the picture of contemporary life at an astonishing speed, the drama deeply thinks about the relationship between technology and the fate of mankind.

　　In the drama activities section, many events are open to the audience in the form of free appointments, and the number of audiences is sold out within one hour. The famous actor Yang Lixin and the crew of "Returning to the Snowy Night" met the audience at the Capital Theater. The former talked about many of their memories of 50 years at the Beijing People's Art Theater like gossiping, and the latter interpreted the behind-the-scenes of the birth of a new drama; in the Beijing International Drama Center Drama Salon, the actor Yang Jiayin of the People's Art Theater appeared as the "Manager of Time Memory" to share the theater memories of "Friends of People's Art Theater"; in the Caoyu Theater, Zheng Chen, Hu Meng and Sun Ran from the People's Art Theater's stage art team invited the audience to enter the theater observation experience of "recreating drama time and seeing friends of People's Art Theater again". Gong Lijun, Zhang Pei, Sun Yilin, and Wan Lu gently talked about "mothers, women and family time on the stage".

　　In the exhibition section, the Beijing People's Arts and Calligraphy Exhibition is currently on display in the north and south side of the Capital Theater. The exhibition consists of two parts: "Poetry and prose will be constantly changing with the times - People's Artist Artist Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition" and "People like eternal trees are like flowers - Friends of the Artist Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition". It selects more than 20 People's Artist Artist Artist Artist, including Cao Yu, Ouyang Shanzun, Zhao Qiyang, Yuzhi, Su Min, Lan Tianye, and more than 20 People's Artist Artist Artist's calligraphy and painting works, including Guo Moruo, Hu Zhiqing, Ye Qianyu, Yin Shoushi, Huang Yongyu, Zhong Ling, and more than 40 brush and ink paintings show the profound "extra-play skills" of people's artists.

　　"Drama+" off-theater multi-format approaches contemporary trends

　　At the level of connecting the current trends with a more fashionable attitude, this year, "Friends of the Art Theater Day" has arranged interactive experiences that are very popular among young people in multiple spaces in the theater, such as the "Time Photo Studio" selfie experience area. At the same time, the "Friends of the People's Arts Day" market continues to be launched, attracting more than 40 brand merchants in five major divisions: technology cool play, intangible cultural heritage display, Internet celebrity food, art, cultural and creative, and trendy life. During the event, a number of exclusive derivative products independently developed by Beijing People's Art Theater and jointly developed with Beijing Dongcheng Cultural Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd. were first sold in the market, and the integration of culture, tourism and businessmen promoted the brand construction of "Drama Dongcheng" and "Wangfujing Drama Valley".

　　In 1986, the "Beijing People's Art Theater Friends Association" (referred to as "Friends of the People's Art Theater"), which symbolizes the decades of friendship between Beijing People's Art Theater and the theater audience, was officially established. It has been 39 years since then. The more than 500 members at the beginning of its establishment have now expanded to tens of thousands of "Friends of Beijing People's Art Theater". Feng Yuanzheng, president of Beijing People's Art Theater, said that although the development of the times has changed the channels of communication, the audience's attention and love for People's Art Theater remains unchanged. The original intention of the establishment of "Friends of People's Art Theater Day" is to narrow the distance between the audience and the theater and theater art. ( Beijing Daily reporter Gao Qian)

[Editor in charge: Tang Wei]