Monkey Hit the White-Boned Lady Thrice

A little while ago, I was asked to help judge an English drama competition.  In the past, I have attended or helped judge an English speech competition, movie dubbing competitions, and an English song competition.

I knew the drama competition would be by far the most entertaining, and I was right.  Students from 8 different classes performed a short play, and since 4 of them were my classes, I also got to see my students in a different, more dramatic light. 

The winning plays were "Plants vs. Zombies" and "Snow White."  Enjoy the highlights!

The first play was based on the ancient Chinese story of the Monkey King and his buddies.  In this play, Pig (played by the girl on the left) was trying to find a wife.  He hired a matchmaker but to no avail.  Eventually he got together with his ex-wife and then was dragged back to heaven by the Monkey King (on the right).

I was totally confused and totally entertained.

Here's a fairly standard adaptation of Cinderella:
 

Plants vs. Zombies was based on a computer game that's apparently very popular.  In the first picture, you see Bruce standing up for the rights of the plants in the garden.  In the second scene, the Zombie boss and his thugs are coming to defeat the plants, which they eventually do.  Curiously, the play ended in a love story between two people who were neither plants nor zombies.

This was another highly entertaining play that definitely deserved the win.

Here we have Beauty and the Beast.  The beast goes from the fine young man you see below to a Halloween-mask-wearing bear.  The candlestick has been replaced by a fairy, and two evil step-sisters were also introduced.

My freshmen put on a great performance of Snow White.  The step-mother was sufficiently evil and went around yelling about "Ssssssss-now White!  SSSSSSSSSNOW WHITE!"  Also note-worthy: the dwarves exited by doing the Chinese "Bunny Hop," and for once the male lead was actually played by a male.

The final performance was listed in our programs as "Monkey Hit the White-Boned Lady Thrice," and on the screen as "Monkey Hit Lady White Bone Thrice".  I can't really tell you what it means, but you can see the White-Boned Lady below in the fuzzy head scarf, and the monkey did indeed hit her thrice.

And of course, no performance in China is complete without a reference to Jack and Rose and someone singing "My Heart Will Go On."

Here I am with the Snow White cast after the performance.  Fun times!