Huayi Dialogues: Extraordinary Stories with Wu Nien-jen

Wu Nien-jen is a Taiwanese director, playwright, actor and writer, who was the first to win all four Golden Awards—the Golden Melody Award, Golden Bell Award, Golden Horse Award, and Golden Tripod Award. He is currently the chairman of Greenway Inno-Art Inc. His signature works include Daughter of the Nile, A Borrowed Life, Osmanthus Alley, A City of Sadness, and Dust in the Wind.

Wu joined the Greenray Theatre Company in 2001 and created the Human Condition series, which has been staged more than 400 times since. His works are reflections of the daily lives of everyday people, with plots that are simple and sincere, successfully attracting first-time theatre audiences.

The Artistic Director of Emergency Stairs in Singapore, Xiaoyi is considered one of the most promising leaders at the forefront of the experimental theatre scene and cultural exchange network in Asia. He has been involved in over 80 theatre productions as director, playwright, and actor over the past two decades. Xiaoyi has remained steadfast in his pursuit of the development and transcendence of theatrical forms, while actively promoting cross-cultural and transnational dialogues. Outside of his creative endeavors, he is also a dynamic curator, educator, and cultural critic.

Major awards Xiaoyi has received include Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal (2010), the Young Artist Award (2016) by the National Arts Council of Singapore, Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2022), Patron of Heritage and the Arts Award (2023) by Nanyang Technological University, Golden Point Award (2017, 2019, and 2023), Global Outstanding Young Leaders Award by Asia Week (Yazhou Zhoukan) (2024).

Platforms initiated and curated by Xiaoyi include Re-viewer, Singapore’s inaugural Chinese theatre critique platform (2014–present); Southernmost, an intercultural arts festival (2017 – 2019); No More Theatre , dedicated to fostering collaboration between digital technology and the arts (2018 – present); Emergency Academy , a global youth cultural leadership incubator (2020 – present); and The Peripheral Experiment, an independent arts festival (201 – present); Young Artists Incubation Platform Emergency Camp (2014 – present); among others. Presently, Xiaoyi serves as the resident artist in Linjiang New District in Jiangsu Province, China, while holding the position of Senior Research Fellow and International Exchange Advisor at NAFA, within the University of the Arts Singapore.