The Washington Chu Shan Chinese Opera Institute's Executive Director, Zhu Chu Shan, a renowned Peking Opera playwright and director originally from Shanghai, China, has invigorated the practice of the Chinese performing arts in the Washington, DC metro area over the past 17 years through outstanding Chinese opera education and performance. Mr. Zhu endeavors to present Chinese opera to new and diverse audiences, innovating old genres to make Chinese opera accessible and enjoyable to people of all backgrounds. From the director who brought you the beloved "Monkey King", Chu Shan Opera presents Song Plays on the Modern Stage.

This collection of Song Plays is based upon Zhu Chu Shan's collaborative research on the theatrical arts of China's Northern Song Dynasty (906-1127). These entertainments were called Washe, a reference to the tiled roofs that covered urban market areas which also staged entertainment for people of all classes and backgrounds, and the Goulan baixi or "hundred acts of the balustrades" , a reference to the many forms of vaudeville-like comedy, drama, and acrobatics performed in Chinese marketplaces during the Song. Zhu Chu Shan's production brings these medieval performing arts to the modern stage, recreating the genre of Chinese opera in a way that diminishes boundaries between performer and audience, offstage and onstage, actor and musician, and blurs the lines between the beginning and ending of a performance.

Zhu Chu Shan and The Washington Chu Shan Chinese Opera Institute thank the Community Foundation for the National Capitol Region and the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council for making this production possible.