Brief Introduction of Modern Drama Troupe of the General Political Department of PLA
Modern Drama Troupe of the General Political Department of PLA, that was Modern Drama Troupe of Literature and Art Troupe of GPD formerly, founded in May 1953, is currently the dramatic group of the highest organization rank and the
largest strength in PLA. The Modern Drama Troupe of GPD consists of a Playwriting-Directing Room, two Performer Teams, a Team of Stage Art Design and Work, a Department of TV Series and August 1 Theatre, with complete professional equipment, numerous artistic talents and solid strength in creation and performance.
Since the foundation of the Modern Drama Troupe of GPD, it has insisted on the direction to serve the people, to serve the socialism and to serve the improvement of fighting capacity of the troops and insisted on creation and performance mainly with the military theme. The Modern Drama Troupe has presented more than 200 dramas of varied size that exerted extensive influence inside and outside the Army, including The Trials of A Long Journey, A Letter from South, Go East! Go East, A Decisive Battle on the Huai-Hai, Li Dazhao, A Male House-hold in the Female Company, The Baptism, and the music-drama The Ballad Taohua, and has performed nearly 10,000 shows altogether, attracting nearly 14,000,000 spectators. In the several decades, large numbers of artists of creation and performance with high artistic capacity emerged in the Modern Drama Troupe of GPD. While exploring dramatic art, they keep forging ahead and pioneering and have made important contributions to promote the undertaking of military drama. The leaders of 3 generations including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, viewed and admired the performance of the Modern Drama Troupe of GPD successively, and gave some higher appraises.
The drama The Trials of A Long Journey, written and directed by Chen Qitong, entered the First National Drama Joint Performance and won First Prize in playwriting, directing, stage set, production and comprehensive management. The drama Breaking through the Darkness before Dawn, written by Fu Duo and directed by Ding Li and Li Yinpu, won First Prize for directing, stage arrangement and management in the Joint Performance of the Army. The drama Go East! Go East, written by Suo Yunping and directed by Lu Wei and Wang Yinshen, won a First Prize for playwriting and a Second Prize for performance in the joint performance the 30th Anniversary of the Foundation of PRC. In the middle and the late 1980s, the Modern Drama Troupe of GPD, with a powerful performer lineup, presented the large-scale dramas, including A Decisive Battle on the Huai-Hai, China 1949, The Most Dangerous Time, etc, portraying the proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and so on. The drama There Is A Holy Fire beyond the Horizon were performed more than 100 times and were warmly welcomed by the spectators inside and outside the Army, winning the First Wenhua Grand Prize and some Single Prizes for playwriting and performance awarded by the Ministry of Culture. Love on the Icy Mountain, Li Dazhao, A Male House-hold in the Female Company, The Most Dangerous Time and so on won Wenhua Prize for New Drama successively. The drama The Baptism created in 1998 after fighting the flood, cause strong repercussions inside and outside the Army, and won Wenhua Grand Prize and Single Prize for directing and performance. The Most Dangerous Time, A Male House-hold in the Female Company, The Baptism and The Ballad Taohua, etc, also won Five Ones Project Prize awarded by Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and several prizes inside and outside the army. As soon as the music-drama The Ballad Taohua was introduced, it caused a sensation in the society and was regarded as a presenting production in commemoration of the 80 anniversaries of the CPC. The songs in the play, ‘The ballad Taohua’ and ‘Pluck a Red Peach Blossom for You’ were widely sung throughout the country.
Since the 1990s, the creation of the TV sketch and the teleplay in the Modern Drama Troupe of GPD also developed swiftly. The TV sketches, All Busy, The Picket, Scoring A Lucky Hit, The Rival were welcomed widely inside and outside the Army, and the teleplays, Two Girls And Two Soldiers, The Moon on the 15th, The Coordinate, Years in the Long March, Mum Will Take A Long Voyage Tonight, Years with The Flaring Enthusiasm etc, won prizes several times.
