The third Beijing Fringe Festival has kicked off at the Beijing Beehive Theater on September 6, with “Proud Youth, Proud Theater” as its theme. Over 120 performances will be staged at 10 theaters in Beijing until September 26 highlighting the works of young Chinese playwrights and actors.

Originally named the “Beijing Youth Theater Festival,” the festival has been held annually every September since 2008. In three short years the annual event has gained a growing reputation for introducing emerging theater artists to the Chinese audience.

Meng Jinghui, who is one of the initiators of the festival, and has served as the artistic director for three years, made sure to give all of his young protégés equal time under the spotlight.

“This will be a total different festival, just for young theatergoers, directors and actors,” Meng Jinghui said. “34 dramas from both China and abroad, three audio and video concerts, 12 script-readings. I’m sure you won’t miss them all.”

At the opening ceremony held at the Beehive theater, Meng Jinghui introduced the featured directors of this year’s event. According to Meng, this year’s festival would cover internationally minded dramas, tributes to drama greats and newcomers. Four plays written by Harold Pinter (1930-2008) - Moonlight, The Dumb Waiter, The Homecoming and Betrayal - will be staged by four young Chinese directors. As many as 18 original productions will also debut, including ones by directors Huang Ying and Zhao Miao who owe their relative fame to previous BFFs.

Band “Orange” played music from that drama “Three Orange’s Love.” Musical actress Shadow performed a mini-play, which recalls her path to pursue her dreams in drama.

Yingzi, Musical Actress, said, “The youth drama festival opens a gate for young drama creators, providing them a platform and giving them sponsorship. Without such help, even if you have a hundred percent enthusiasm and great talent, a young professional cannot get his work in front of an audience.”

Director Meng Jinghui

Meng joked that he would invite anyone that watches all of the BFF’s 34 shows to take part in the Avignon Dramatic Art Festival, a prestigious theater festival held annually in France. In addition to the Avignon festival, Meng added that the Beijing Fringe Festival would be collaborating with the Edinburgh Arts Festival and that eight Beijing productions would be invited to take part in the Avignon festival next June.

The event also features three drama themed concerts, and forums for reading selected scripts. The Fringe Festival ends on September 26th.