On an early morning in the twelfth month of the traditional Chinese calendar, the warm sunshine streamed through the entrance of the Liaoning People’s Art Theatre. Martine, a Lebanese international student, gently opened the door to the rehearsal hall, where the resounding and forceful lines of a play filled the air. Rehearsals were underway for the children’s play “The Chosen Little Black Horse”. Specially created for the Year of the Horse, this play is going to have a special cast member.
The actors in the rehearsal hall noticed the young woman with deep-set eyes and a high-bridged nose and looked at her with kindness. The director, discovering that her Chinese name happened to contain the character “Ma (horse)”, invited her to try reading a line from “The Chosen Little Black Horse”. Martine took a deep breath and delivered the line with a slightly foreign accent but full of emotion. The room filled with encouraging applause, and she was officially invited to join the play as an actor in Group B, taking part in the creation and rehearsals of the play.
In the following rehearsals, Martine joined the professional actors in script reading, line polishing, and physical training, often not leaving the rehearsal hall until after dark. “The director spent over half an hour discussing the tone of just one line with the performer,” Martine said. “Now I understand that every brilliant performance is built on days and days of refinement and dedication. They truly deserve respect.”
During a rehearsal break, the playwright took Martine on a tour of the art corridor. She stood for a long time before the wall of stage photos, which can be dated back to the theatre’s founding in 1951. In those posters lies the silent testimony of artists across the ages, for whom the stage is always the highest priority.
On February 12, “The Chosen Little Black Horse” premiered at the Liaoning Grand Theatre. The young woman from the shores of the Mediterranean joined her Chinese fellow actors in presenting the fruits of their creation, sharing with the Chinese audience the story of a little black horse in pursuit of its dreams.
