Wuzhen takes center stage as contemporary theater hub

Tian hopes more female theater directors' voices can be heard. These include Shadow (Eurydice Speaks), directed by Katie Mitchell and produced by Schaubuhne Berlin, and Joan, directed by Emma Valente and Kate Davis, co-artistic directors of the Australian theater company, The Rabble.

Tian will also present her directorial production, Turmoil. It revolves around modern Chinese playwright Tian Han, who wrote plays, 28 Chinese operas, 12 films, and over 1,000 lyrics and poems in traditional and contemporary styles.

Chinese director Zha Wenyuan will present an all-male version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Papa will be directed by Ata Wong Chun Tat and performed by Hong Kong-based Theatre de la Feuille. Water Stain will be staged by Brazilian theater director Paulo de Morass and performed by the Armazem Theatre Company.

The festival also offers young artists a platform. Eighteen plays stood out among 300 at a competition for young talent. The Small Town Award winner announced on the final night will receive up to 200,000 yuan ($3,000).

"In a small town, you only dream," says the festival's co-founder, Chinese actor and director Huang Lei.

Huang explains the festival's slogan - "Beyond reality, all Wuzhen is a stage" - conveys aspirations to create "dreamy and surreal experiences".

"We're transforming our crazy ideas into reality," he says.

Huang arrived in Wuzhen to direct and star in a TV series called Lost Time in 2003. He later opened a bar named after the series in the city.

He shared his idea for the festival with Lai and Meng. Lai's eight-hour epic, A Dream Like a Dream, opened the festival in its first year.

Forums, workshops and street performances also inject a celebratory atmosphere into this small town.