It seemed innocent enough. Yang Zi posted his "who would like to join me in founding a drama troupe?" notice in the online forum of Vanke Holiday Town, a community in southern Shanghai where he lives.

Little did he expect the enthusiastic response he got. Within days, 20 neighbors responded with keen interest.

The troupe is now working on a play to celebrate the coming Spring Festival, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.

The play will be written, directed and acted all by residents of the community and shown in the community.

Once the playwright finishes his work, the troupe will select actors. The auditions will give every interested resident a chance to show his or her performing talent.

Founding a drama troupe has long been Yang's dream. Since he was a boy, Yang liked to imitate the performances of TV actors and was crazy about interpreting different characters on stage. But reality pulled him further and further away from the dream.

The 20 or so neighbors who wanted to act work in different professions, but they were all drama fans. Quite a few of them had worked in jobs related to the arts and performance.

Soon the self-funded troupe was founded.

"Since the troupe works for the community, its plays must originate from the community too," a member of the troupe said.

The first play will be based on stories that have happened in the community and will take a realistic yet funny tone.

Apart from those self-composed scripts, the troupe plans to stage both classic Chinese and foreign plays on a regular basis.

Everything is still in the works, but some troupe members are already setting their sights high in terms of what they hope to produce.

"We may shape our community stories into a TV series," another resident member said. "We are not looking for fame, but fun."

(China Daily February 3, 2007)