For Stan Lai - Asia's Top Theatre Director - (Asiaweek), this production is his biggest transcendence in his more than twenty year theater career. Not only does the performance last seven and a half hours, this epic theater features Hollywood's legendary Chinese actress, Lu Yan and 32 other professional actors in the portrayal of hundreds of characters. A Doctor, fresh from Medical School, has 4 of 5 patients die on her first day of work.  She is told how Tibetans treat the dying and learns about an advanced practice called Tonglen.  The Doctor tries this on the last patient, who is asked to be called “#5,” but encounters all sorts of obstacles in her modern hospital. She is told that if she can't practice Tonglen, she can at least listen to the patient tell his story. #5's story begins in Taipei filled with suffering and accidents and as he recounts his travels to France and China in an attempt to learn more about his condition.  The 7.5 hour epic play has the actors continuously circle the audience on a specially designed stage, creating an enigmatic and personal aura about the search for lost and abandoned objects and relationships, often imaged through a Buddhist-inspired practice of walking.

Written and Directed by Stan Lai

Cast: Lu Yan, Chin Shih-chieh, Ismene Ting, Tang Zhiwei, Xu Yanling, Zhu Hongzhang, Zhu Zhiying, Lai Fanyun, Shi Yixiu, Chen Yanting, Zhou Pinchen, Liu Meiyu, Hsieh Ying-hsuan

Scenic Design: Samuel Wang

Lighting Design: Michael Lizen Chien

Costume Design: Shen Hang

Music Design: Hong Yutong

Makeup and Hair Design: Christine Suzuka

Body Movement and Choreography by Wu Yulie

Co-produced by Nai-chu Ding

Produced by Hsieh Ming-chang

Taiwan National University of the Arts Staff

Producer: Lin Guoyuan, Michael Lizen Chien

Full-length in one performance: 4/24, 4/27, 4/30, 5/1, 5/7 ,  2005 National Theater, Taipei

in two performances: 4/25-26, 4/28-29, 5/3-4, 5/5-6, 2005 National Theater, Taipei