The Bystander Game

We called it the Great Earthquake that shocked the world. Yet, we are present when reconstruction is raging.

Buxiang, whose name means "Unknown" in Mandarin, decides to enter the ruins of the earthquake to discover the truth in order to write a better exam essay about the reconstruction. However, it is overwhelming for Buxiang to find out that not everything they have read before is real. More have been buried by the disaster or a grand narrative under a gigantic ideology. How do we deal with the substantial internal sadness when empathy becomes seemingly futile?

The Bystander Game, an awarded play by Xuanyi Hu, strives to provide a framework for how an individual recognizes and talks about a disaster when they never experienced it before. Staging it in a post-COVID era, Yu Theatre continues to explore how to live with a world of catastrophe and how to become a better bystander.

The Bystander Game will be performed in Mandarin with surtitles in English, in the Baby Grand Theatre.

Please note that all audience members are expected to move during the performance to better engage with the content. Ten chairs are provided per show, and other unconventional seating will be available (cushions, boxes, mattresses, etc.). Chairs are available on a first come, first needed basis.

The performance is only suitable for audiences who are 15+ due to the language and nudity.

Gifts include a pair of socks, a woven bag,stickers from previous seasons, and a Yu Theatre logo phone card holder.  Only 50 gifts available in total.

Production Manager Sophia Xia
Assistant Production Manager Shan Huang
Director Nick Wang
Co-director Daisy Jia
Stage Manager Sherry Liu
Technical Director Sophia Xia
Surtitle Dramaturg Natasha Zhang
Assistant Surtitle Dramaturg Lisa Kong
Dramaturg Shel Sun
Theme Music Composer Alice Wang
Music Director Shan Huang
Co-Set/Prop/Projection Designer Billy Guo & Yanchen Lu
Assistant Set/Prop/Projection Designer Carolin Xie
Costume Designer Shea Spafford
Co-Lighting Designer Baiqing Audrey Chen
Sound Designer Nick Wang

Set/Prop/Projection Crew Sharon Shi, Susan Wang, Deniece Zhao
Costume Crew Nancy Jin
Tech Crew Dian Xu, Viven Ma, Chuchen Zhang
Marketing Director/Head of Sponsorship Daisy Jia
Marketing Crew Jingyi Li, Earl Zhang, Michelle Wang, Katherine Zhang, Amy Liu, Catherine Chen
Photographer & Poster Designer Xiao Lin, Yifei Zhang
FoH Designer Baiqing Audrey Chen

Cast - Kristal Liu, Haofan Wang, Fergus Yi, Rika Ran, Olivia Li, Billy Guo, Tuning Huang