Sixteen contemporary theater productions from home and abroad will be presented at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center (SDAC) and 1933 Micro Theater from Nov 5 to Dec 11 as part of the 12th ACT Shanghai International Theatre Festival (ACT 2016), an annual celebration of theater works.

The theme for this year's festival is "Heritage and Present" and it consists of invitation and showcase projects.

The opening show of ACT 2016 will be Fatzer by Japanese theater company Chiten, one of the five invited guests for the event. Adapted from an unfinished long poem by German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht, the play tells a tale of despair set in World War I and features a touch of the author's trademark humor.

Since its premiere in 2013, the play, which features electronic music as well as a dynamic and tense atmosphere, has been heralded as Chiten's most innovative creation.

Also on the invitation list is Hong Kong director Tang Shu-Wing's play Titus Andronicus 2.0, a theater adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy of the same title.

Tang's approach combines intensive collaborative training and multiple narrations from improvised experimentation, creating an adventurous expedition to all possibilities of theater.

Yu Rongjun, artistic director of SDAC, said that the ACT had in 2005 become the first platform in China to host outstanding contemporary plays on the international stage. The festival has since been expanded every year, with ACT having showcased almost 100 plays throughout the past decade.

This year, the productions featured at the event hail from 10 countries and are presented in the language of the country they originate from, with Chinese and English subtitles made available for audiences.

Guests can buy tickets to each of the plays or opt instead for the ACT Octopus card which gives them access to any eight productions during the festival.

zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn