Pui Lan Li

Born in New York to a family of Cantonese opera heritage, Li has worked with numerous famed Cantonese opera senior performers. Since her debut in 2007 as principal actress in Floral Princess (Youth Edition,) she has performed for major events including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Chinese Opera Festival, Macau Arts Festival, the Benefit Inaugural performance for Asia Society Hong Kong and the New York Performa 19 Biennial. Her regular repertoire ranges from classics to new productions such as Lady Spring Fragrance, Deling and the Empress Dowager Ci Xi and Arrant Revenge, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Recently, through working with artists from other disciplines, she has been inspired to further explore the cross-disciplinary potential of this traditional art form. Aside from performing, Li is devoted to theatrical production, including the English translation of Cantonese opera librettos.

Project Title: Dou Lai-loeng Roaming in the Looking Glass World 

Project Description: Dou Lai-loeng, a character from Chinese opera classic “Peony Pavilion,” is the archetype of the young maiden who is brought up in an isolated and confined environment. For once, she is allowed to step out to the garden and fell into a dream. What will she find in the Looking-Glass world? 

Project Inspiration: As a Cantonese opera performer who is trained to sing and choreograph movements, the feeling of being silenced and voiceless reflects an ironic condition that is exactly the byproduct of artistic refinement that strives to perform scripted librettos to perfection. The conservative patriarchal tendency of the field has also contributed to the suffocating state I find myself struggling to break through. Moreover, bearing witness to the political and societal change in two metropolitan cities I grew up in also strengthen my determination to find a way to break out of the shackles. But how?

Academic Interests: adaptation, translation, curating archives, storytelling, chado, ritual and everyday performances, censorship, east asian studies, cryptology