Pan-talented Chinese artist Peng Lei recently wrapped the premiere of his directorial debut play I’m Happy to be so Alone. Despite being based on someone else’s novel, Lei explained that he could not quite grasp the original work for this play, so the final version of the script is pretty much a complete overhaul of the original that he co-wrote with his girlfriend. We caught up with Lei after the show. Here’s what he had to say about his upcoming projects.

Do you consider your directorial debut a success?
Peng Lei: It was quite good, actually. We broke new ground, especially for China, since there are usually only two kinds of plays: the traditional or the avant garde. We found the middle ground. We also added a lot of new elements, such as video and live music performances, so that the play could be accessible to a wider, younger audience.

How is directing a play different from being the lead singer in a band, being a painter, writing books, and making movies?
Directing a play requires more intense amounts of time and energy. We spent a lot of time on rehearsals; this is something I have never experienced before, not even on making videos. We spent most of the time rehearsing with the actors; making sure that their performance would come from a subconscious level. That was the most challenging part.

Now that you’ve directed you’re first play, what are you planning on getting into next?
Actually, right now I’m in a sort of hiatus mode. I’m not the kind of person that does too much planning. The play itself actually came to me by chance, and I took the opportunity and ran with it. In terms of upcoming plans, I’m back to focusing on my band, thinking about performances and the new album for next year.

Any new movies in the works?
Originally, I did plan to do some movie-related stuff this year, all of it is still in the idea phase. I’m letting it marinate.

What will this hypothetical, amorphous movie be about?
It will probably talk about some recent cultural phenomenon. A couple of days ago, I saw a Chinese movie about children dancers. For now, let’s not go into how the movie was made, but the story and plot were simply unconvincing, void of realism, and especially pretentious. I want to make a movie about the current state of culture in a more objective way than currently happens in China.

You are always experimenting with different disciplines. What consistencies do you see among your creative endeavors?
If anything, it probably has something to do with my personal taste. My perspective and my choice of entry point are different from other people. None of the work I do, whether it is making music, movies, or writing books ever succumbs to commercial pressure or popular expectations. What everything I make has in common is that it is all still very different from the stuff people see every day. If I have to sum it all up, I think what I do is something that can make people feel a little uncomfortable, and yet at the same time thoughtful, but not something too hard or abstract for people to understand.

How often to you use new technology to aid your creativity?
I’m the kind of person that likes to use the newest technologies available to create stuff. Take the the equipment I’ve used to record for example; I’ve used everything from the 80’s cassette tapes to 8MM, 16MM, then HD. I also try out different video editing and music production software. For this play, I used AE (After Effects), which I’d never used before, and it felt pretty good. What I like about evolving technologies is that they almost always give me a different experience every time I make something new with them.

To see just how creative Peng Lei can be, check out the trailer for his movie, Peking Monster above.