Now, he is the artistic director of Printemps des Comediens, the annual theater festival launched in 1987 and held in Montpellier, around 160 kilometers west of Marseille in southern France.

As a young man who benefited from theater, he hopes that young people today will be inspired by drama. In addition to the plays held at regular performance spaces during the Beijing festival, artists and audience members were able to mingle between shows, which, as Varela says, is an effective way to get people to engage with theater, especially those who know little about it.

"Now, we have seen many educational organizations using the benefits of theater in education as an innovative way to engage, challenge and inspire children and young people," says Wang Yiwen, a professor at the School of Art and Communication at Beijing Normal University and dean of the department of film and television. "It provides a safe learning environment for children and young people where they are able to think about the issues raised and examine the consequences of their actions for themselves."

Wang adds that theater education focusing on youth-oriented plays has enjoyed a long history in China, starting in 1919 with author and historian Guo Moruo's play for children, Dawn.

One of the highlights of the event was the Incubation Program for Young Talent in Chinese Theater, a project aimed at developing new theater talent.

The warm-up event launched in Beijing on Nov 23 saw over 600 scripts submitted by dramatists from around the world, including the United States, Australia, France and China within 25 days.

"I was excited by the diversity of the scripts, which were original and reflected real life. For a scriptwriter, the process of creating a story is very personal, and their role is to reveal, discuss, heal and comfort," says Wan Fang, who is also one of the judges of the competition.

At the closing ceremony of the theater forum, a new collaboration between Printemps des Comediens and the Beijing drama company, Magnificent Culture Co, was announced. The two outlined plans to jointly produce a Chinese play, An Instant, directed by French theater director Jean Bellorini, and a French-language version of Waiting for Godot by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett.