We had the good fortune of connecting with Shaotian Cai and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shaotian, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I was one of the earliest international students from China who studied theatre and acting in the United States. This expereince was transformative for me on lots of levels — artistic and personal. As I studied more through this journey, I began to want to devoute part of my life in helping more Chinese students who are interested in theatre to come to study abroad in countries that have well-built industry and strong theatre culture, since I saw what this experience could do for me. I would love to help them to learn what is going on at the frontier of this subject in the world, as well as letting the world to hear their voices and perspectives.

This is when I began to explore the possibilities to work in audition coaching, portfolio building, and application prep for prospective Chinese theatre students in theatre who are applying for undergrad and grad training programs, aside from my own acting career. At first, I wanted to achieve this dream by working with exsited institutions. But the more I worked with them, the more I found out that we rarely shared the same vision. What I really want to do, is to create the next-generation theatre artists who have global vision and solid training. I care about the students’ long-term success rather than short-term school offers. I spent my passion in really training students to be better artists, so that getting into schools is a valid option both for them and the training programs. I care about if the teachers teaching them are working-actors, instead of merely a previoius Chinese students who could get hired because they went to the same school that the students want to apply. I care about the long-term quality of the education, but I would be told by many institutions that these were unnessary. That I was too idealistic. The most important thing was to secure costumers and made money out of them. I did not agree. This is when I began to explore the possibility to start my own practice, where I could be more indepent and test-out my beliefs: to create an institution that severs the future global theatre community rather than merely money — a social enterprise. This is when I began to start my own theatre coaching business — Qingyu Theatrical, and it has been running for six years successfully!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The kind of art I want to create and appreciate are the ones that create hope and make me proud of being a human being. I like the ones that can keep reminding me the beauty of the world, the virtues in humans, and what is working around us, especially when we forget about them. I like the arts that are easy in the form but carry strong and touching messages. I do not like the ones that are “complication for compliation sakes.”

The hinge point for me in terms of choosing this artistic path, was when I asked myself a question: “What will human beings do tonight, if they knew tomorrow would be the end of the world?” My answer to that was: “They will be telling stories of theirs to each other.” There, it stroke me that Story might be some variation version of Meaning, or, at least, it is the thing that will be with us to the end of the time, even if other parts of human activities may no longer seem nesscary. It is a hinge point for me in terms of choosing this journey; it gave me a cause, and a push for commitment on the intellectual level — even though I knew on my body level, I already loved arts.

And this journey of creativity has no doubts many challenges. The hardest ones for me were the occasional burn-outs, or the loss of faith. It felt that suddenly I lost meaning of what I was doing. Something blocked me from the importance of the cause, and I felt in vain — tired.

To overcame these burn-outs, what I did was going back to study! I tried to re-learn the truth about performing arts, and to understand it deeper on different levels. I read books. looked into interviews, and performed various exercises to help me intellectually and physically tap into the stuff I have once neglect.

Every burn-out was an opportunity for me to stop and re-study the subject using a beginner’s mind, and find the stuff I may once forget. It was actually in these burn-outs that I finished reading a lot of canon books, did a lot of exploration, and became a better artist. Though I do not like the feeling of these burn-outs, I do thank the experiences.

Every time when I grew out of a doubt, I became more dedicated, and had a fuller perspective about the subject. Now among my collegues and students, people know about my passion toward performing arts, and how my sense of mission could be inspiring. But if there is one thing I want the world to know about me, it was that even for people like me who do have a strong passion and a dedication, there will be times that serious doubts and burn-outs apprearing. There is nothing to be worry about. As long as we use this opportunity to learn more about the subject, to dig into the truth, and reconnect with the parts of ourselves that we may sometimes forget to take care about, with the help time, we could eventually grow out of them, and become a better self that we crave to be.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If in Los Angeles, there will be two places I would recommend. One is the Disneyland! I have spent five days straight there and have not finished the whole attractions. Second is the Pantages Theatre. It could be a wonderful place to see Broadwday Tours!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to shout out all my success in theatre and acting to my previous teachers in The New School, UC Berkeley, and East Los Angeles College!

Website: www.caishaotian.name (coming soon)

Other: Email: caishaotian@caishaotian.name

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