Lost Nation Theater will present the return of “Burning in China” to the city where it was created and first performed, with a three-night run of this powerful drama May 21, 22 and 23.

Written by Gary Moore, starring Jeff LeBeau and directed by five-time Oscar nominee Caleb Deschanel, Burning in China brings to life the China experience Moore indelibly recreated for an audience at Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier City Hall in 1990 after his return from the China of Tiananmen.

Lost Nation Theater’s artistic director Kim Bent called the play, “one of the most powerful theater experiences I’ve ever had.”

“Burning in China” was written by Moore after he served as a Professor of English in Shanghai, where he instructed Chinese English teachers. A poet and Abraham Lincoln scholar, in 1988 Moore stuffed a hundred reproductions of the Gettysburg address on parchment in his suitcase when he flew to Shanghai, where he found his adult students already inspired by Honest Abe’s vision of a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” and eager for a taste of what freedom has to offer.

As explained in “Burning in China,” Moore’s adult students asked him to help create a performance for a university arts festival. "The Great Emancipator Meets The Monkey King," Asia’s first hip hop opera, was born. The rap opera that Gary and his students performed for a cheering New Year’s Eve audience of 1700 won the praise of the Communist authorities, but times were changing rapidly, and all across China, mass demonstrations soon rose up to call for more freedom as protesters adapted Lincoln-like language in inventing their slogans.

Following the massacre in Tiananmen Square, circumstances forced Moore and his wife Susan Stitely to leave China. His students, some themselves fleeing to escape the crackdown by their ironfisted government, begged Moore to tell their story when he reached the outside world. "Burning in China" is the result.

This particular production also introduces elements not seen by audiences of the play’s earlier performances. Director Caleb Deschanel—who has been nominated for five Academy Awards for his work on films such as "Being There," "The Right Stuff," "The Passion of the Christ," "The Patriot," "The Black Stallion," "Fly Away Home," and "The Natural"—has added video components. The new version is a multi-media experience that integrates never-before-seen footage of urban China that Deschanel himself shot in 1988.

Curtain is 7 p.m. on Thursday, and 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. For ticket information, call 802-229-0492 or visit www.lostnationtheater.org.