Fredric Mao
Fredric Mao Chun Fai is a Hong Kong theatrical director and actor. He served as the artistic director of the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2008. He is currently the director laureate of the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre.
Career
Mao moved to Hong Kong from Shanghai with his parents when he was a teenager. He studied at Bethel School in Kowloon City, and later studied English literature at the Department of Foreign Languages of Baptist College. In 1968, he went to the University of Iowa in the United States to study drama under his acting mentor Sanford Meisner, and obtained a Master of Arts in drama.Between 1972 and 1985, he worked professionally in the United States with various theatre companies, including directing and acting in theater, film, and television, and participated in Broadway musicals. At the age of 27, he served as the artistic director of Napa Valley Theatre Company in California, and later served as the deputy director of the New Media Repertory Company in New York. In 1976, he made his New York Broadway debut in Pacific Overtures, a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and directed by Harold Prince.
In 1985, Mao returned to Hong Kong to serve as the head of acting at the inception of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. His students included Anthony Wong, Jim Chim, Olivia Yan, Tse Kwan-ho, Emotion Cheung, Joey Leung, Lau Nga-lai, Louisa So, Lau Yuk-chui, Anita Lee, Sunny Chan, Cheung Tat-ming and Lo Chi-sun.
Mao gained widespread acclaim for his directing in the 1990s, notably for The Legend of a Storyteller and The Kids, the Wind and the City. His acclaimed adaptation and direction of Shaw's Saint Joan was considered one of the decade’s best productions and won six awards at the Hong Kong Drama Awards.
In 2001, he became the artistic director of the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre.
Over the years, Mao has taught at Stanford University, University of Toronto, Peking University, Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
In 2002, Mao was diagnosed with a late-stage lymphoma in his stomach. He underwent surgery to remove his entire stomach and received chemotherapy.
In May 2022, with the support of the Hong Kong & Macau Intangible Cultural Heritage Research Center and the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Mao launched the three-year project called "Jockey Club Mao Chun Fai Innovative Works in Theatre Scheme", which means that opera will become the focus of his work for some time to come. The project will explore the "creativity" of Cantonese opera, and hopes to write a new chapter for the development of traditional Cantonese opera through Mao's rich knowledge of directing, creation and talent training, as well as his rich experience in stage practice in Chinese and Western cultures. While cultivating a new generation of all-round Cantonese opera talents, he plans to introduce new creative styles that are in line with the development of the times and recognized by the public, continuously expand the Cantonese opera audience, and enable the intangible culture of "Cantonese opera" to be inherited and developed.