Instead of celebrating the 4th of July with barbecue and backyard football, I hopped on a plane and headed to Hong Kong for a month to finish up the fieldwork for my dissertation (and managed to get started on a few other projects). It was difficult for our schedules to align, but finally, on my second-to-last day, I was lucky enough to score a 2 hour interview with Danny Yung. Yung is the founder and Co-Artistic Director of the avant-garde theatre company that my dissertation focuses on: Zuni Icosahedron. Running the gamut between collectively-created performance art pieces, site-specific video installations, and experimental interrogations of traditional Chinese opera, the only constant in Zuni’s eclectic performance style seems to be creativity. The interview helped to enrich the record of Zuni’s early years; after the first hour Yung remarked “This is turning into a kind of oral history!” Hopefully, this oral history will serve to bring more scholarly interest to theatre created by Hong Kong artists.

In addition to research, I also found the time to take in the sites, even getting a first hand chance to observe the anti-China extradition law protests that have rocked the territory for the past 2 months. I made sure to visit the beautiful new Xiqu Chinese Opera Center in the West Kowloon Cultural District (check the picture below), and did some hiking on the hot and humid Lamma Island.

Xiqu Center, West Kowloon, Hong Kong

On the Boat to Lamma Island

Tin Hau Temple, Lamma Island