Master Qi and the Monkey King

In a time when Peking Opera has fallen out of fashion, filmmaker Alan Govenar profiles an artist who has bravely attempted to bring this magnificent form of theater to the USA. Chinese Opera star Mrs. Qi Shu Fang was a celebrated theater star in her home country of China when she shocked her devoted fan-base by moving to New York City. A devoted stage performer since the age of four, Mrs. Qi and her husband Ding Meikui decided that the best means of preserving the art of Peking Opera was to establish their own theater company, which they dubbed the Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company. That was back in 1988, and in the decades that followed, Mrs. Qi and her spouse have worked tirelessly to bring a uniquely Chinese form of theater to American shores.