Interview with Chen Shi-Zheng

Chen Shi-Zheng is a China-born, New York-based director, internationally renowned for his innovative and provocative staging of operas as diverse as Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, and Tang Xianxu’s The Peony Pavilion. He most recently conceived, wrote and directed a stage production of Monkey: Journey to the West, executed in collaboration with creators of the virtual rock band Gorillaz and currently on tour. Mr. Chen makes his film directorial debut with Dark Matter.

 

A selection of Mr. Chen’s other directing credits includes Mercury Light World (Berlin Festival); My life as a fairy tale (Lincoln Center Festival, New York, and Aarhus Festival, Denmark); a trilogy of contemporary theater works based on Chinese classics –  Orphan of Zhao in two versions (Lincoln Center Theater & Lincoln Center Festival), Snow in June (American Repertory Theatre), and Peach Blossom Fan (RedCat); Dido and Aeneas in two versions (Handel & Hayden Society, Spoleto Festival USA); The Flying Dutchman (Spoleto Festival USA); Night Banquet (co-commissioned by Festival d’Automne à Paris, Kunstenfestival des Arts in Brussels, Hebbel-Theater in Berlin, and the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, and Lincoln Center Festival); the documentary film Cultural Warriors of The Revolution(TV France 3); Cosi fan tutte (Aix-en Provence Festival and Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris); and Alley(New Zealand Festival of the Arts). He made his directorial debut in 1996 with The Bacchae (China National Beijing Opera Company, Hong Kong International Arts Festival and Athens Festival).