Returning to the county opera troupe in 77

Chapter 103 Spreading Invitations to Heroes, Recruiting Talents from All Directions

Upon receiving the notice of reinstatement, Zhu Zhengkuo immediately went to the small room behind the theater with a smile, gathered the three old men together, and held a brief meeting.

"A pilot program? Our theater troupe?"

Fang Zhengsheng was the first to lose his composure. Looking at the document stamped with the official seal on the table, the wrinkles on his face were all squeezed together.

"Is this true?"

Han Zhengkui and Feng Zhengxiao also came over, their faces full of excitement and disbelief.

Chen Xiangdong grinned and pointed to the stamp on the document: "This is stamped with the seal of the Hongzhou Regional Education Bureau, how could it be fake?"

As he spoke, he tilted his head and glanced at Zhu Zheng, who was sitting at the table with a smile on his face: "Secretary Zhu has been reinstated, which is the best proof."

Zhu Zhengke met the three men's gazes and smiled: "The notification was made by Hongzhou by phone yesterday evening, and this document was delivered by someone from our county's Education Bureau this morning. My reinstatement approval and this pilot program notification arrived one after the other."

His gaze slowly swept across the faces of the three veteran artists, his voice filled with barely concealed excitement: "Some other regions have already started rehearsing old plays, and Dongping is the first pilot area in Hongzhou."

He stood up, bent down, and pointed his finger at a line of text in the document: "The first batch of traditional operas to be restored is not many. You see, this document lists 'The Tragedy of Dou E,' 'Three Drops of Blood,' 'Touring Turtle Mountain,' 'The Case of Chen Shimei,' as well as martial arts operas 'The Crossroads' and 'Changban Slope.' These are all operas that can be rehearsed and performed, but the performances must be approved before they can be staged."

Feng Zhengxiao's face twitched, and his old face instantly flushed: "Great! The old plays are finally unbanned! With this first batch, the second batch won't be far behind! I knew it, we've finally made it to the good times!"

Chen Xiangdong reached out and pressed down on his arm, afraid that he would jump up excitedly, and said with a smile, "Teacher Feng, don't be in such a hurry, let Secretary Zhu finish speaking."

Zhu Zheng glanced at Chen Xiangdong, then at the three old men, hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "But these plays all require a lot of people to put on the stage. Right now, our troupe only has you old folks who can truly be the pillars of the old stage. We don't have enough people to perform a full-length play; at most, we can only perform one or two excerpts, not enough to support the whole show."

As soon as he said that, Fang, Han and Feng all fell silent. Zhu Zheng was right. Although they could perform old plays now, the few of them alone were not enough to put on a complete show.

Just like in "Crossroads", the most famous "fight in the dark" is also a fight scene between two people. Han Zhengkui's action scenes are fine, but Feng Zhengxiao is a bit lacking.

Having famous actors to anchor the stage isn't enough; we're still short-handed!

Zhu Zheng looked at the three men's expressions and softened his tone: "Plays like 'The Tragedy of Dou E' and 'Touring Turtle Mountain' are indeed long arias for solo female roles, which any group of actors could easily perform. But the problem is, our troupe currently doesn't have anyone truly capable of playing female roles. Lu Meiyin and Pan Lanxiang have no problem with their singing, but they've only studied modern plays since elementary school and lack a foundation in traditional operas. The movements, sleeve flicks, and rhythms of traditional operas can't be sung just by holding a score—"

His implication was the same: we're short-staffed!

Lu Meiyin and the others have already reached the point where their figures are set, and it's too late for them to learn old operas now; they've already passed that age when they are most malleable.

The trainees could be properly trained, but it's too late now—since the Dongping County Troupe has become the only pilot project in Hongzhou, it needs to produce a sufficiently outstanding performance in the shortest possible time.

With Han Zhengkui and his team's abilities, they could easily put on a few acts and still hold their own, but how could the effect compare to a full-length, complete play?

But right now, how to break the deadlock has become the biggest problem.

Seeing that all four people at the table had fallen silent, a thought suddenly popped into Chen Xiangdong's mind.

He pondered for a moment before speaking: "Master Feng, Master Han, in your years of traveling, have you encountered any elderly artists with unique skills scattered among the people?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Zhengxiao and Han Zhengkui exchanged a frown. Feng Zhengxiao sighed and said, "How could we not have met them? Yu Xiangyu, the leading lady of Chencang; Liu Mei, the martial arts actress of Jinzhou; Mo Qingyan, the leading lady of Tongzhou; and Xue Rong, the old lady of Tuocheng—they were all famous actors in the Northwest back then."

He paused, his voice lowering slightly: "Over the years, they, like me, have wandered from place to place, just hoping to find a place where they can perform—"

When the old man got emotional, his eyes even turned slightly red.

But these words made the others look at Feng Zhengxiao with strange expressions.

Han Zhengkui gave him a half-smile: "Qingyi, Wudan, Huadan, Laodan—Feng Laohei, how come you only know women? You old codger, all these years you've been out there, have you been looking for opera troupes to perform for, or have you been following the scent of them?"

"Um?"

Feng Zhengxiao was taken aback by what he heard. He looked up and saw that Zhu Zhengguo, Fang Zhengsheng, and Chen Xiangdong all had "I understand" expressions on their faces. He immediately blushed and stammered, waving his hands, "I...no, it's just bad timing—"

"Oh~" Chen Xiangdong chuckled mischievously, drawing out the words, "What a coincidence! I've run into all those famous actresses who were once renowned throughout Northwest China, and they're all women—"

As he spoke, he winked at Han Zhengkui, which earned him a chuckle from Han Zhengkui.

Seeing this, Feng Zhengkui couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You coward, you're still trying to make fun of me!"

He raised his foot as if to kick Chen Xiangdong, but Chen Xiangdong, who was prepared, dodged and hid behind Han Zhengkui, grinning at him and saying, "Teacher Feng, a gentleman uses words, not feet! I was just thinking, if you have their contact information, why not recruit them all to our troupe? It would solve our current predicament and give them a stable opportunity to perform on stage."

Upon hearing this, Han, Feng, Fang, and Zhu Zhengkuo all had their eyes light up.

Zhu Zheng slapped his thigh, then stood up abruptly, exclaiming excitedly, "Wow! Why didn't I think of this? Those people are all renowned figures in Qinqiang opera. If we can really gather them all into our troupe, it'll be like seizing half of Qinqiang opera's territory!"

Han Zhengkui, his face flushed with excitement, exclaimed, "Yes! Over the years, I've gotten to know quite a few veteran artists with similar experiences to mine: the clown Mao Shidao, the bearded male lead Qin Jiang, the old male lead Li Yao, and the martial arts painted-face actor Lu Changsheng—I can contact all of them!"

"Haha!" Fang Zhengsheng's eyes grew brighter and brighter as he listened. "If we can bring them all here, I dare say that every single troupe in the five northwestern provinces will turn around and look to Dongping! We're not just finding our own leading performers; we're giving Qinqiang opera a new lease on life!"

"good!"

Zhu Zhengkuo laughed heartily and patted Chen Xiangdong on the shoulder: "You're such a clever kid! You've woken me up from my dream!"

Chen Xiangdong chuckled and rubbed his shoulders, speaking modestly but his eyes shining brightly: "Secretary Zhu, I can only talk the talk. The real deal is getting people to come; it's up to you and the veteran artists. Master Feng and Master Han have connections with those old artists, and you have influence in the Education Bureau. With all three of you working together, things can finally get done."

Zhu Zheng nodded repeatedly, then eagerly headed for the door: "I'll go to the Education Bureau now and sound out the 'specially appointed veteran artists' program. If they approve, you all split up and make contact!"

The moment the door opened, sunlight streamed into the room, filling it with a warm glow even in the middle of winter.

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