Texas Shakespeare Festival’s stage isn’t just familiar territory for the thespians of China’s Lumen Theatre Company – it’s a second home.
Angelina Gao, Steve Zhang and their fellow performers from Chongqing have been visiting Kilgore and its theatrical heart since 2009. They’re returning to the TSF spotlight in the Anne Dean Turk Fine Arts Center tonight with the debut of a new musical, “Tides of Destiny.”
After a decade-and-a-half, TSF’s mid-July Chinese Theater Night has long-since become one of the 41-year-old company’s many annual highlights in the midst of each summer season. Each year brings an element of “You can only see it here” as the visiting actors take the stage with an original production.
“This is our 15th summer but our 14th Chinese Theater Night,” says Gao, producer for tonight’s 7:30 p.m. admission-free show on the Kilgore College campus. “We have four people on stage this year. Each of them are going to play multiple roles in the show.”
Written, directed and composed by Zhang (who also recorded the music), “Tides of Destiny” is a first for the Lumen troupe.
“It’s the first time we’ve done a show based on a real man’s life story on the Texas Shakespeare stage,” Gao said Wednesday.
The musical centers on World War II hero Lu Zuofu, China’s “King of Ships,” who spearheaded the Yichang Evacuation of 1938. Lu put his commercial armada toward a two-month operation moving more than 30,000 people and as many as 100,000 tons of industrial and military equipment to safety.
“He’s a true hero and honest man in our nation,” Gao said. “Six years ago, Steve wrote music for a documentary about his lifetime. After that, this year we thought it would be a good opportunity for us to make a musical about his life.
“He deserves a lot of people to know his life story and a lot of memories about him.”
In addition to Gao and Zhang, this year’s Lumen quintet includes more familiar faces in Leon Ju and Kevin Liu (who previously visited Kilgore in 2023 and 2024) as well as Edge Chen (marking the fourth consecutive visit to East Texas).
“In 2008, we met Mr. Raymond Caldwell at the Chinese Shakespeare Festival at the Chinese University in Hong Kong,” Gao recalls. She and Zhang had just completed their Bachelor’s studies. A mutual love of the Bard eventually became the cornerstone of annual missions from Chongqing to Kilgore: “It’s like home. It’s like an anchor.
“It’s like going back home to the other side of the Pacific Ocean every summer. We come and visit with the artists, we see our old friends. It’s one of the most important routines of our theater company.”
Seats for tonight’s free performance are first-come, first-served. Gao and Zhang will introduce the show at 7:30 p.m. sharp in the Van Cliburn Auditorium at 1200 S. Henderson Blvd.
