Friends use festival to stage theater dreams

Partnership built up over decades helps duo create a wave of enthusiasm for seaside spectacle, Chen Nan reports.

While he was studying acting at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing during the 1990s, Chen Minghao got to know theater director Meng Jinghui, who also graduated from the same university.

They met one day while Chen was playing soccer. "Meng came over and spoke to me. He wanted me to accept a role in his play. When I asked for the script, he told me that he didn't have one yet," Chen says, adding that Meng asked him whether he'd like to be part of the production or not.

"He said that we could work on the script together, and create a great play."