By LI YINGXUE | China Daily | Updated: 2025-07-12 09:21 Share Share - WeChat CLOSE Rising director Nie Jingzhu (center), this year's Showcase founder and curator.[Photo/China Daily] Sometimes, listening to an inspiring scholar speak for 90 minutes feels as engaging as watching a performance, maybe even a so...

On the beach of Qinhuangdao's Aranya community in Hebei province, a striking vessel awaits. Woven from fishing ropes and draped in a dynamic digital net of light and shadow, the installation invites visitors aboard for an immersive journey that moves between memory and visions of future. As night falls, whale songs and ocean waves blend with e...

By LI YINGXUE | China Daily | Updated: 2025-07-12 09:21 Share Share - WeChat CLOSE Li Ning's The Soap of Shaman received the Jury Special Award and the observer's Boiling Point Award.[Photo/China Daily]Across three forums, nine workshops, and nine theater productions, artists and technologists explored ho...

By LI YINGXUE | China Daily | Updated: 2025-07-12 09:21 Share Share - WeChat CLOSE Science fiction writer Chen Qiufan at a workshop.[Photo/China Daily]An international jury brought together leading figures from Poland, France, Germany, Japan and beyond. The panel included directors, producers, curators, scho...

By LI YINGXUE | China Daily | Updated: 2025-07-12 09:21 Share Share - WeChat CLOSE Curator Li Zhenhua at a discussion.[Photo/China Dail... Observer nicknamed Zhu Xiaochun reflects on the Showcase's broader impact: In the summer of 2025, Aranya proved with nine productions that the future of theater isn't con...

It feels like we're living in an era of technological pressure, Li observes. So how do we find something truly personal? I think what the Showcase offers is precisely a space for that exploration. Many discussions revealed the potential of future theater, he adds. It can become a fusion of cutting-edge technology or a vessel for meaningful legacy. I look f...