National Theater (Taipei)

The National Theater (Taipei) is a performing-arts venue and one of the paired traditional buildings at Liberty Square. In Ever’s story it matters not only as a monument to the arts, but as a place where performance becomes a public act of belonging and self-definition: Ever leads her friends there to practice, and the Chien Tan talent-show festivities culminate in the Gang of Five’s gender-bending beauty contest onstage.

Setting and cultural role

At Liberty Square, the National Theater faces the National Concert Hall across the avenue. Both buildings are presented as works of art: broad stone steps rise to platforms beneath red columns and two-tiered orange roofs, whose swallowtail corners carry dragons, phoenixes, and other mythological creatures. The theater’s grandeur is not merely architectural scenery; it offers a civic setting where performance and cultural display belong in public view.

The venue’s cultural standing is also established through Aunty Claire and Uncle Ted. When Ever says she is going to dance school, Aunty Claire responds warmly and notes that Uncle Ted sits on the National Theater’s board. She names performances associated with the theater, including the Mariinsky Ballet, the Suzuki Company of Togo, Taiwanese opera by Yang Li-hua, and a Yo-Yo Ma appearance. The couple attends the theater every other weekend, making their patronage a concrete contrast to Ever’s expectation that adults might dismiss her interest in dance.

A place to practice

Ever later brings the girls up the theater’s steps to its deck. Glass doors reflect them like ballet-studio mirrors, while posters advertise a Beijing opera and a Juilliard string quartet. She declares it a perfect place to practice, comparing it to Carnegie Hall and the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. The comparison gives the rehearsal space a scale beyond the girls’ immediate circumstances: they can imagine their own practice in relation to established performance institutions.

The location also holds personal memories for Lena, who recalls learning to ride a bicycle there while her parents watched. Her recollection places an ordinary childhood milestone beside the theater’s monumental architecture, joining the public cultural landmark to private experience. For Ever, who remembers learning to ride in a neighborhood park with her father holding the bicycle, the exchange briefly makes the venue a point of connection between different childhoods.

The beauty contest and public performance

The theater becomes the setting for the Ms. Chien Tan Beauty Contest. A contestant introduces the performers to an excited audience, and the Gang of Five—Marc, Sam, David, Benji, and Peter—appear in the contest, with David having shaved his goatee. Their participation deliberately takes up the stereotype of the effeminate Asian man, turning an insult into a role they choose to perform themselves.

The contest runs far beyond its expected length because the crowd keeps responding. As the competition narrows to Ben-Jammin’ and Marquette, Marquette removes a fur coat and reveals a faux-skin leotard, then the Dragon’s green qipao. The Dragon rises from her front-row seat in a matching qipao, grinning and raising her clasped hands as she turns beneath the stage lights. Marquette is crowned; the other contestants lift him onto their shoulders and parade around, tossing confetti. The Dragon’s visible delight overturns any expectation that the camp performance will meet only adult disapproval.

Significance

The theater links institutional recognition of the arts with a more unruly, student-led performance. Aunty Claire’s welcome of Ever’s dance ambition and the venue’s established program give the building cultural authority; the Gang of Five’s contest uses its stage to challenge a racialized gender stereotype through collective spectacle. The scene’s force lies in the contrast between a formal arts institution and a deliberately extravagant act of self-invention: the venue accommodates both, and the Dragon’s applause makes that acceptance public.