Zeng Li

About this designer
Zeng graduated from the Central Academy of Drama with a BA in Stage Design in 1986. He is a staff scene designer at Beijing People's Art Theatre.

Representative Works:

SUNRISE
Director: Ren Ming, Scene Designer: Zeng Li, Beijing People's Art Theatre, 2000.

TURANDOT
Director: Zhang Yi-Mo, Scene Designer: Gao Guang-Jian and Zeng Li, Florentine Opera, Italy, 1997, and Tai Miao, China, 1998.
This opera was produced two times by Florentine Opera. First in Florentine Opera, in 1997, then in Beijing in 1998. For the Florentine production, the director wanted to treat this production as a Beijing Opera, in terms of it's feel, especially on color choices. For the Beijing production, Zeng presented the show as an environmental theatre, with two added sliding pavilions as the major shifting device. this is because that the show was set in front the historical building of "Tai Miao" (Royal Temple of the Qing Dynasty), in the Forbidden City.

DR. KELOCK
Director: Wei Xiao-Ming, Scene Designer: Zeng Li, Independent Producer, 1998.
Zeng put a gigantic wall on the stage, leaning forward, to create an uneasy and depressed impression.

RISING THE RED LANTERN
Director: Zhang Yi-Mo, Scene Designer: Zeng Li, Central Ballet of China, 2001.
Zeng's set was composed by a series of full stage high screens. All of them can be reconfigured to meet the need of individual scene.

Some Thoughts from the Designer:
"I don't want to stop with scene design only. In today's China, there are too many restrictions on a designer. Designers are forced to contribute in much more aspects of the production, if we want to carry through our design concepts. I'm planning to get into producing business, or even directing, eventually. Part of it is to further free my hand in terms of visualizing my concept."

"I'm against design as a stylized visual decoration. I want to dig into the play, to find out how my set can work better with the show in terms of its content. It is a very challenging task, but it is a very important one, as well."

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