Shanghai Oriental Art Center will present the 12th Festival of Traditional Chinese Operas from March 13 to April 26.

Twelve years ago, SHOAC was the first theater in China to launch an annual showcase of Chinese folk operas. The theater has since dedicated itself to promoting the traditional art form in the contemporary age, presenting 202 productions of 24 types of Chinese opera from 15 provinces.

"We are focused on attracting new audiences through new productions," says Lei Wen, general manager of SHOAC. "We want to build a new stage for renowned Chinese opera artists of today."

The upcoming festival will consist of 17 performances of 14 plays from Shanghai's Peking Opera Theater, the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, the Huju Opera Troupe, the Dujiaoxi Inheritance Center, the Zhangjun Kunqu Opera Center, the Jiangsu Xiju Troupe and the Hangzhou Yueju Theater from Zhejiang province.

The festival will open with a Peking Opera play, New Dragon Inn, starring Shi Yihong. Adapted from a popular martial arts film in 1992, the play, which premiered in April, depicts a free-spirited innkeeper who falls in love with a swordsman and joins him in protecting two orphaned children from persecution by a power-hungry eunuch and his army.

"We hope to create a real repertoire while at the same time explore new possibilities of Peking Opera performance," says Hu Xuehua, the director of the play.

The Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe will also present its repertoire Four Dreams of Linchuan at SHOAC. The series (of four plays), which premiered in 2016, has won many national awards and gone on successful tours abroad.

"There are many theater companies capable of performing Peony Pavilion, which is one of the Four Dreams by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), but the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe is the only company that has presented a complete cycle of the Four Dreams," says Lei.

Festivalgoers can also look forward to a concert by renowned Kunqu Opera artist Zhang Jun who will combine the traditional art form with New Age, electronic, rock and jazz music.