News

2007.1209

English Students Show the Way They See Life Through Drama

<p><font face="Arial">By Jocy Su and Joanna Tung<br /> Campus Reporters</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">English major students felt exhausted after their annual activity – the drama contest – at the auditorium today while their performances impressed their instructors.</font></p> <p>"<font face="Arial">I feel that I am more like learning something new here today instead of deciding the winners as a referee,” said Wang Hui-hua (王慧華), an English professor.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Wang made her remarks after the contest today.  On behalf of her fellow referees Prof. Joan Chang (張瓊慧) and Prof. Liang Sun-chieh (梁孫傑), Wang said that all three of them were impressed by what English major students achieved this year, during the English department’s annual contest.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The marathon drama contest began at 12:30pm and ended around 9pm.  The entire English department, from freshmen to seniors, was divided into 11 teams for the activity.  Senior Julie Lee (李文欣) admitted that if this is not a “must-do,” most English major students will simply ignore the activity.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">"We feel extremely exhausted every year we finished this.  But, on the contrary, it is also good to feel that we achieved something together,” Lee said.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">For the contest itself, Liang offered his observation and comparison between this year’s performances and those shows in the past.  He said that themes of the drama performances would be randomly chosen in the past.  But, this year, students would design the themes which would be related to plain people in today’s society.  For instance, he said, the seniors’ performances were more about their future and distrust between genders.  At the other end, “hope” was the issue for freshmen in their plays, while they tried to simulate how innocent they were in the past but would stop for a second though with introspection at the moment.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">"Acting becomes an extension of self-esteem and self-recognition,” he said.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Junior C won the championship with “She/Her,” a play that reflected the indifference between men and women.  Their performance was highly recognized by Liang.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">"They perceived the society from college students’ points of view with well spoken English,” Liang said.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Freshman B was also a highlight for the contest because they were the only freshman group among the top five teams with their fairy tale “The Secret Forest.”  English department freshmen combined different fairy tales and rewrite them with their own version of story and their creativity was also noticed.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">"This is creative and interesting,” Liang said.  “It is entertaining, too.”</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Best leading actress winner Ma Year Sai was also the focus for the contest because she is originally from Myanmar and did not speak any English before she came to Taiwan for high school.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Liang said that the English department is planning to promote this annual contest to the community and invite more parents to come to the show with their children.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial"></font> </p> <div><strong>Award List of 2007 English Playlet Contest of Department of English, NTNU</strong></div> <p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="86"> <div> </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="132"> <div>Class</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="86"> <div>champion </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="132"> <div>Junior C</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="86"> <div>2<sup>nd</sup> place </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="132"> <div>Senior B</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="86"> <div>3<sup>rd</sup> place </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="132"> <div>Senior A</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="86"> <div>4<sup>th</sup> place </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="132"> <div>Sophomore B</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="86"> <div>5<sup>th</sup> place </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="132"> <div>Freshman B</div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </p> <p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best costumes and make-up </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Junior C</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best lighting</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Junior B</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best sound effect</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Junior C</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best stage design</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Sophomore B</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best creativity</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Senior B</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best play script:</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Sophomore B</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best director</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Senior B</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best supporting actress</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Lo Hsin-ya (駱欣亞) Hsieh Cheng-yu (謝承諭)</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best leading actress</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Ma Year Sai</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best leading actor</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Chang Heng-jui (張恆睿)</div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="170"> <div>best freshman performer</div> </td> <td valign="top" width="276"> <div>Chuang Ting-tzu (莊庭慈)</div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </p>