Guling Street Avant-garde Theatre Introduction
During the Qing Dynasty, people traveling between Taipei City and Guttingzhuang passed through Guling Street. During the Japanese era, this area was named Sakuma Town in honor of the 5th Governor-General Sakuema Samata. After Japan's defeat in World War II, Japanese people who were forced to return home started selling books and artworks here to exchange for money, becoming the predecessor of the old book stalls on Guling Street. Later, mainland Chinese came to Taiwan and imitated the Japanese by setting up stalls selling old books and antique artworks, which helped to spread the fame of Guling Street's old books. The name Guling was adopted to replace Sakuma Town, eliminating the colonial connotations. The entrance of the Guling Street Small Theater faces northwest; it was designed by the Japanese for surveillance purposes, allowing them to monitor potential threats in the plains area, hence the structure differs from the neighboring houses. The Kuomintang government continued to use this building for monitoring duties as a police station, symbolizing state power. The Zhongzheng Second Police Precinct relocated to Nanhai Road, and this building became a performance space for the small theater, developing arts and cultural activities. The space is planned to include offices and service desks, promotional areas, an experimental theater, a holding room, a conference room, an arts and cultural space, an audiovisual room, and a rehearsal room. Various performances and events are held here from time to time, occupying an important position in the development history of small theaters in Taiwan.
