Terrorist attacks, wars, refugees etc. The news has been flooded with these incidents in the past few years. People don’t feel safe anymore. We don’t know what to do or where to go. We can see despair from the eyes of those who suffered. The world is in chaos. People lost their hope. How and where to find hope becomes the most important quest for prolonging civilization. I used to think “Home” is the answer, a place where we could stay there feeling rooted, happy and gaining confidence about the future. Until I came to US and met so many people who don’t have such sanctuary feeling towards home. Therefore, hiding in a shelter is not the best solution anymore. We need to move on and keep going. In the history of mankind, we have seen many huge crisis such as the World Wars, dictators, diseases etc. People didn’t stop there. Instead, they held their heads up and evolve which leads to so many great inventions. That’s when the phrase “Never Stand Still” appeared. To find hope, we have to make a change and not letting the chaotic world to swallow us. We need to be in charge of our own future.
However, how to make a change? And is that the best way for everyone to feel or find hope in this chaotic world? how shall we cope with the crazy world?
This piece gives the audience a chance to re-enter the chaotic world in an extreme way. You might find yourself feeling uncomfortable or lost in an uncontrollable disaster. Try not to escape the true feelings which reacted through your body, because they will lead you to the right answer of my questions.
The piece started to creating in February 2017 when Onnie Chan residency in Yale as an HKETO-NY Arts Fellow of Yale-China Association.
Story
Jason was born and raised in Hong Kong. His granny died in Sichuan Earthquake.
Jason has been hiding in the dark. He invited you to join his game “Battle Jong” (Which combines the elements of BattleShip and Mahjong). He asked his friends from Hong Kong to guide you through the game. He keeps repeating singing a song “Where are we?”
NSS Feedback
International conspiracy for the salvation of the world meets game theory in this outrageously hopeful theatrical rump by Onnie Chan and her creative team. “Never Stand Still” is an experience of incredible fun on the surface but a depth of meaning as we search for “home” in the chaotic world we live in.
-Mary Lou Aleskie, Former Executive Director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas
It is an intriguing mix of interactive theater performance, multimedia experience, game-playing, team-building, individual survival exercise, and international collaboration. I had fun with friends and new acquaintances. I thought about serious global issues like public health, war and peace, and cultural differences. I almost “died,” I survived, and I chose my own fate. I wish I had attended more than once, because I’m sure the experience would have been different each time."
-Joan Channick , Chair of Theater Management , Yale School of Drama
NEVER STAND STILL comes to its audience the way life does: full-on, active, challenging, frustrating, and completely involving! A multi-leveled technical marvel, this interactive piece calls on those in attendance for courage, patience, a sense of radical adventure, and a tolerance of uncertainty. The accomplishment that Ms. Chan has attained with NEVER STAND STILL brings to fruition this artist's sense that theater and performance can create community; can make out of a random group of people a coalition of citizens concerned for each other and focused on attaining a shared victory.
-Deborah Margolin, Professor (Adjunct) Theater Studies, Yale University
Profound and intimate. A breed of theater you MUST experience, blurring the line between cast and audience.
-Michael Johnson