September 28 — Taiwanese puppets perform “The Black-Bearded Barbarian: Rev. George Leslie Mackay”
Let’s proceed in ascending order of bizarreness. The story of a 19th century Canadian missonary. Who wrote about puppet-shows among the Fomosans he was trying to convert. And who is a hero in 21st century Taiwan. Told in the Hoklo Chinese dialect. By a traveling puppet troupe. OK, at a certain point we get so much bizarreness stacked up that it becomes a must-see event.
When: Sunday, September 28, 4:00 PM
Where: Ivy Tech’s North Meridian Center Auditorium 50 W Fall Creek Pkwy N Dr, Indianapolis
The Asian Student Intercultural Association of Ivy Tech Community College presents Taiwan’s acclaimed New Tau-Yuan Puppet Troupe 新桃源掌中劇團 in a performance of “The Black-Bearded Barbarian: Rev. George Leslie Mackay” 馬偕博士 (SPOKEN IN HOKLO WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES).
New Tau-Yuan Puppet Troupe was found at Chu-san City, Nan-To, Taiwan in 1970. The director, Mr. Liu Ching-Chun, of the troupe started to learn carving puppet and playing puppet from his teacher, Mr. Sun Chung-Min of the Small Tau-Yuan Puppet Troupe since he was 14 years old. At the age of 23, he started to form a troupe to perform puppet shows in Taiwan. He has been invited many times to the U.S. and Canada for performance tours, and has 30 years of performance experience.
George Leslie Mackay (1844-1901) is the founder of the first Canadian overseas mission and a national hero in Taiwan. Mackay is remembered as the founder of the first hospital, first modern school, first school for women, and first museum in Taiwan. He alone, of all the missionaries who worked in Taiwan, was honored in school textbooks and on a stamp issued the centenary of his death, June 2, 2001. In Canada, he was the most famous Canadian missionary of his generation, and a strong opponent of the head tax on Chinese immigrants.
Mackay was born on March 21, 1844 in Zorra, Oxford County, Ontario. After study in Princeton and Edinburgh, he began the first Canadian Presbyterian overseas mission in Taiwan. Arriving in Tamsui in northern Taiwan on March 9, 1872, Mackay began an essentially one-man mission that continued for 30 years. That date is still observed as the anniversary of the schools and hospital he founded in Taiwan.
Why does Provocate think you should attend this event?
Definitely a unique experience for Indy. An intriguing experience as well. Mackay really is revered in Taiwan, the hospital he established is still operating today and is considered the best on the island. But even if MacKay was the most famous Canadian missionary of his generation, no one remembers him today. As part of its never-ending efforts to build up popular support in countries around the world, the Taiwanese government encouraged the writing of this play for its best puppet troupe. (Some day when they are invaded by the mainland Chinese, the Taiwanese would like Canadian citizens to rage at their government, crying out “You need to do something to protect those innocent puppets who visited us!”) In the course of researching the puppet play, it became clear that Mackay had been a forceful critic of laws at home discriminating against Chinese, as a result his reputation has been re-elevated, not so much as a missionary as an early modern multiculturalist. The power of puppets.
If you think this sounds interesting, be sure to check out …
The performance of Tan Dun’s “Ghost Opera” at IMA November 21. IMA is putting on its own Chinese puppet show December 28.
Know before you go:
You can read a The Black-Bearded Barbarian : The life of George Leslie Mackay of Formosa, or snippets of his journals.
And for your listening pleasure …
SeeqPod - Playable Search
Puppet songs, there are a lot to choose from.
