English report written by Aeryn Bernard, student worker of Chinese Theater Night; The Chinese version written by Hui Yao, Lecture of Chinese Language
The 2nd Chinese Theater Night Workshop 2: Writing
On September 28, 2025, the second workshop of the “2nd Chinese Theatre Night” was successfully held in the CCT Performance Café. The event, organized by Hui Yao from the Language and Culture Centre and sponsored by the Humanities Research Centerat Duke Kunshan University, invited Professor Ye Odelia Lu to serve as workshop mentor. Overall, the workshop drew participation from Chinese Theatre night participants, Level 2 Chinese learners, and other theatre and literature lovers.
Professor Lu began by asking “If you could exchange life with a fictional character, who would it be and why,” and used their responses to transition into Ernest Hemingway’s famous iceberg theory. She used the exercise as a reminder that the character is more than what meets the eye, it’s the layers below that give them depth. Therefore, we need to pay attention to their unspoken emotions and subtext that communicate who they are.
She followed this up with a clip of Paramount+Original Show, Why Women Kill and asked attendees to analyze characters Simone Grove and Tommy Harte. The discussion topics ranged from their visible age gap to subtle characterization through their words and gestures; from such examination, attendees were able to better understand Simone and Tommy as characters. “Your character doesn’t need to be likable but needs to be believable,” explained Professor Lu, highlighting how a character’s dialogue and interactions not only give insight into their preferences and dislikes, but also into their background to make them come alive. Going off this tangent, Professor Lu challenged the students to imagine—through words or images—what the bedroom of a character might look like, from the layout to its scent, and how these elements might externalize the somewhat intangible aspects of a character. Madison Brown, one of the co-organizers of the Chinese Theater Night, found this to be extremely insightful as it “addsmore context to a character’s depth.”
After, the participants were shown two clips from the movie Whiplash and were challenged toanalyze how the power dynamic between the two characters are shown through dialogue. Attendee, Ella Guidry noted that, “…in a way, the student was dehumanized and played as an instrument.” Professor Lu used this exercise as an opportunity to introduce Robert McKee’s idea that every dialogue is a conflict; that its cadence and rhythm build the intensity of characters’ negotiation by lending to both the context and subtext.
According to Robert McKee, “true character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure—the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature.” Therefore, Professor Lu assigned them the activity to imagine two characters in a conflict within a specific situation to dig deeper into their true intentions. If attendees struggled to decide on a character or situation, they were prompted to choose from a preprepared list of prompts.
To end the workshop, Professor Lu instructed the attendees to work on the plot of a story. She told them “A plot should have cause, effect, and a chain of connections,” which stem from the characters’ goals. Calling from everything the learnt that afternoon, she told the participants to draw several tarot cards for inspiration and use them to create a character or plot arc. Together, by thinking about the characters’ goals as well as obstacles or challenges againsttheir growth inspiredby the cards, attendeesall created their own plots.
After the workshop, attendees shared their feelings about the afternoon. Amanda Niza González Mejía shared how she loved the “interactive nature of the workshop, specifically inviting students to share their creativity and ideas” which allowed her to feel comfortable enough to fully engage without worrying about academic performance.
第二届“中文戏剧之夜”工作坊系列之二：人物与故事
2025年9月28日，昆山杜克大学第二届“中文戏剧之夜”第二场工作坊于CCT Performance Café 顺利举行。本次活动由语言文化中心讲师姚卉组织，昆山杜克大学人文研究中心赞助，并邀请到陆叶老师担任工作坊导师。本次工作坊吸引了“中文戏剧之夜”参与者、中文二年级学生以及其他文学戏剧爱好者。
陆叶老师以一个问题开启了本次工作坊：“如果你能与一个虚构人物交换人生，你会选谁？为什么？”结合学生的回答，她将话题引向海明威著名的冰山理论，并借此提醒大家每个人物表面之下还蕴藏着深度，而那些未言明的情感与潜台词同样传递着人物的底色。
随后，陆老师分享了电视剧《致命女人》中的片段，和大家一起分析剧中西蒙妮和汤米两个角色的塑造方式。“你的角色不一定要讨人喜欢，但一定得令人信服。”陆老师解释道。她指出角色的对话与互动不仅让观众了解他们的好恶，亦自然地引出背景故事，赋予不同角色各自生动的魅力。在此之后，陆老师引导学生创造自己的角色。她鼓励学生通过文字或图画想象角色的卧室细节，从家具摆设、房间布局到气味色调，将抽象的人物特色一步步具象化。“中文戏剧之夜”的其中一位组织者陈栀乐（Madison Brown）认为，这种练习帮助她更好地想象角色的深度，非常具有启发性。
电影《爆裂鼓手》的两个片段则体现了角色间的权力关系。对于片中导师弗莱彻和学生安德鲁的互动，纪艾娜（Ella Guidry）指出：“……在某种程度上，学生被当成非人的存在，仿佛成为了导师手中的一件乐器。“陆老师也随之介绍了著名编剧罗伯特·麦基的观点，即每个对话都是一场冲突；对话的节奏和韵律可以在情境和潜台词的加持下增强角色之间的张力。
罗伯特·麦基还认为：“真正的人物性格会在重压下的选择中揭示——压力越大，这种揭示就越深刻，人物的选择也就越体现其本质。”以这段话为引，陆老师让大家想象两个角色在特定情境中发生冲突的状态，深入地挖掘他们真实的意图。她还准备了随机人物和情境，以供大家练习。
活动最后，陆老师指导同学们构思故事情节。她提醒大家，“一段情节应该有因有果，有一系列连贯的事件，而这些都由人物的意图所引发。”她让学生们抽取故事塔罗牌，以此为灵感创作人物弧光和故事情节。在塔罗牌的启发下，大家思考了人物的意图及他们面临的阻碍或挑战，创作出属于自己的人物和故事。
工作坊结束后，学生们分享了各自的感受。“中文戏剧之夜”演员朱越洋（Amanda Niza González Mejía）表示，工作坊的互动性激发了自己的创造力，让她在自在放松的状态下沉浸其中。
