Speaking Chinese, "new cross-cultural, multidisciplinary sonic dance theater," is coming to UC Davis for a single performance May 18, the Department of Theatre and Dance announced.

The "dance journey" is the work of Kim Epifano's Epiphany Productions of San Francisco. Epifano founded the company in 1997, and nine years later she received a master of fine arts degree from UC Davis. Speaking Chinese features her choreography and direction.

Inspired by the 1943 novella Love in a Fallen City by Chinese-American writer Zhang Ailing, Speaking Chinese "leads us through Ailing's tales of love, longing and the shifting of endlessly treacherous shoals of family life," according to the Department of Theatre and Dance Web site.

With dramaturgy by Barry Plews and translations and interpretations by Hu He, "a story of love unfolds in the midst of war and in spite of the strict Chinese traditions of the 1940s."

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Speaking Chinese

WHEN: 4 p.m. May 18

WHERE: Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

TICKETS: $10 general and $5 students-youth, available through the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, www.mondaviarts.org

RELATED EVENTS

Inside the Dragon -- Intercultural Collaborations in China, panel discussion with playwright and filmmaker Philip Gotanda, graduate student Fei Shi and facilitator Xiaomei Chen, professor, East Asian languages and cultures. 5-7 p.m. May 15.

Kim Epifano Dance Workshop, in which Epifano teaches Air Contact: Up and Under, on skills to open the body and the imagination to their potential. 10:30 a.m.-noon May 16.

Zhang Ailing -- Her Early Years in Shanghai and Hong Kong, panel discussion and demonstration on Ailing's early 1940s writings and early music of Shanghai composer Zhu Jian'er, with Barry Plews and Hu He, plus Professor Sheldon Lu, comparative literature, and facilitator Wendy Ho, professor, Asian American studies. 5-7 p.m. May 16.

Admission to these three related events is free and open to the public, with all three taking place at the University Club. To reserve space, contact Lynette Hunter, lhunter@ucdavis.edu.

MORE INFORMATION

About the performance and the related events: Click here.