Going against the grain, this collection counters the common perception of the Maoist era as a time of ideological conformity. The contributors persuasively demonstrate that theatre activities were varied and lively between the 1950s and 1970s. While there was state control over the arts, performances in urban spaces were more frequently censored than those in the countryside. This admirable collection of an Introduction, nine chapters, and Xiaomei Chen’s “personal reflection” on her experience growing up in Maoist China which serves as the epilogue, covers a wide range of performance genres, including xiqu operas, huaju spoken drama pieces, wuju dance drama productions, and propaganda performances. Featuring research by “theater specialists, literary scholars, historians, comparatists, and cultural anthropologists,” this co-edited book is truly multidisciplinary (271).