Pingtung Art Center Debuts Indigenous Opera Featuring Shrike to Delighted Children

This afternoon, the Paper Windmill Pingtung Troupe debuted its brand-new production, "A-Hou Luodi Sao 2: Great Deals Worth Sharing," at the Pingtung Art Museum plaza. The event drew over a thousand children and adults, filling the venue with continuous laughter. Notably, Pingtung’s county bird, the shrike, was transformed into a large-scale stage character, weaving through the performance and becoming a major highlight anticipated by the children. Combining drama, music, and local ecology, the performance not only brought joy to the audience but also transmitted local culture and natural resources through childlike fun.

The Paper Windmill Pingtung Troupe was established ten years ago. Adhering to the philosophy of "bringing drama into daily life," the troupe has long promoted children's theater education in schools and communities across Taiwan. Centered on creative scripts, interactive performances, and native languages, the team is dedicated to cultivating children's imagination and civic awareness. Past works, such as "The Little Snail's Journey" and "The Sound of the Coast," have received recognition from the Ministry of Education and local governments, becoming common resources in campuses and public spaces. This latest work continues its educational focus while incorporating local characteristics, demonstrating Paper Windmill's ongoing cultivation of children's cultural promotion.

"A-Hou Luodi Sao 2" is a sequel to last year's popular "A-Hou Luodi Sao" series. The storyline centers on A-Hou's adventures in the Pingtung countryside to discover local treasures, presenting agricultural, tourism, and environmental information through humorous dialogue, song, and dance. The show incorporates a "Great Deals Worth Sharing" segment, allowing young audience members to learn how to identify local specialties and festival activities amid laughter, thereby fostering a sense of identity with their hometown. The script is specially designed with interactive Q&A sessions and hands-on craft experiences, enabling children to extend their learning beyond the theater, aligning with the "lifelong learning" policy promoted by the Ministry of Education in recent years.

As a major cultural exhibition and performance platform in the city, the Pingtung Art Museum has long been known for promoting local art and cross-disciplinary collaboration. This partnership with Paper Windmill not only provides a spacious outdoor stage but also integrates environmental education resources, making the shrike—a bird symbolizing Pingtung's forests—a character in the play to echo the theme of "conserving local ecology." The shrike costume was handcrafted by a local artist, featuring a vivid appearance and educational value that fosters children's affinity for native wildlife while watching the performance. The local government also set up information booths on-site to provide parents and teachers with related lesson plans, demonstrating close cooperation between the public sector and private organizations in cultural education.

Following the conclusion of the performance, thunderous applause erupted from the audience. Many parents remarked that their children learned concepts such as "recognizing local resources" and "protecting the environment" from the show, providing significant inspiration for future campus teaching. This event not only enhanced the public visibility of the Pingtung Art Museum but also laid a more solid foundation for the Paper Windmill Troupe's influence in southern Taiwan. Moving forward, it is anticipated that similar cross-disciplinary performances will continue to tour various counties and cities, allowing more children to experience cultural diversity and the preciousness of nature through drama.