For veteran actor, director and president of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre Feng Yuanzheng, when one takes a classic off the shelf and puts it under the spotlight again, the stakes are higher than ever. It’s not just about bringing the glory of the past to the present but also daring it to speak to a new generation.

In January, the established theater announced its latest initiative, the Classic Revival Plan, to revive and adapt some of Chinese theater’s most iconic works.

The initiative’s first production to be staged is Returning Home on a Snowy Night, originally penned in 1942 by Chinese playwright Wu Zuguang (1917–2003). The play was first performed by the theater in the 1950s.