Suzhou Kun Opera Theatre

Suzhou Kun Opera Theatre 苏州昆剧院

The Suzhou Kun Opera Theatre of Jiangsu Province, formerly known as the Shanghai Minfeng Su Opera Troupe, was established in 1951 as a private professional theatre company and settled in Suzhou in 1953. In order to bring further prosperisty to opera as a whole and to better develop the cause of Suzhou opera and kun opera, it was officially approved as a state-run troupe in October 1956 under the care of the Party. It was renamed Jiangsu Su Kun Opera Troupe, and performs the Su and kun styles of opera. The troupe had its 50th birthday in 2006 and continues to perform today, stunning crowds with the quality of their abilities. On May 18, 2001, kun opera was listed by UNESCO as one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity, and the Party, government leaders, general public of Suzhou (where kunju opera was born) are paying more attention to support the protection, inheritance, innovation, and development of kun opera. As a result, in November 2001, the Suzhou Municipal Committee and municipal government approved the reorganization of the company into the Suzhou Kun Opera Theatre of Jiangsu Province.

Field Trip Information

MEDIART 108 Love and Dreams on the Chinese Stage: By visiting live performances, students engaged with Chinese drama and wrote about the performances they watched. Seeing this in-person performance enriched the students as learning from first-hand viewership and from videos creates two highly different contexts for emotion and artistry.