This post was updated Dec. 6 at 5:34 p.m.

Even though the sky’s the limit, “Skywatching Down the Well (井底天空)” celebrates the freedom in staying grounded.

UCLA’s CFan Chinese Theatre Group presented its three-act play Nov. 23 in Lani Hall at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The bilingual show explores the pull between home, belonging and the desire to branch out. Inspired by the Chinese idiom “the frog at the bottom of the well,” which describes someone with a narrow perspective, the play reimagines the phrase as the characters decide to stay, leave or return to their home in Weilan Village. Lead actress and lighting director Joy Lei, an international student from China, said she resonated with the play’s title alongside the rest of the cast, as it reflected the similar nostalgia for her hometown of Yunnan.

“Everyone – whenever you’re living, whatever your world is like – we all have the same right to enjoy the happiness and to find our own happiness and dream in our own world,” Lei said. “I think that’s a really beautiful meaning of the whole play.”

According to CFan’s Instagram, “Skywatching Down the Well” follows three main characters: Shen Mo, who left for college in Beijing to pursue journalism, Yan Yang, a boy who remained in the village and Lin Xinan – their teacher – who witnesses their choices. The play intertwines their three journeys and their reconciliation 10 years later to emotionally invest the audience in their personal stories, Lei said. The second-year psychology and philosophy student and close friend of playwright and director Dorothy Guo, said Weilan Village is inspired by her hometown, which the two visited this past summer.

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Qianqian Ren, a second-year theater student and the play’s marketing director, said “Skywatching Down the Well” called for unique marketing strategies. As an original play, Ren said a key component of advertisement was to keep people engaged without giving away the story. She said her tactics consisted of social media posts on Instagram and RedNote, as well as sharing dramaturgical notes and clips from rehearsals. Although the advertising was mostly to inspire audience members to come to the show and know about the club, Ren added that she made an effort to include English posts to encourage all audiences to come.

“It was really multiple-sided and a lot of people can touch on the play from different aspects,” Ren said. “That’s what I really like about it.”

Ren said she was invested in the story because the play reminded her of a teacher she was particularly close with in China, who established an all-girls school to increase accessibility to girls’ education. Similarly, although Lei said she acted in high school, she added that this show in particular made her more confident in acting because she related to her character, Shen Mo, in the desire to explore the world beyond Weilan Village.

The connection between actors and their characters was something third-year computer science student Michael Yu said he developed during rehearsals. Yu said he and Guo prompted writing exercises where each cast member wrote about their character. Although initially for advertisement purposes, he said, one cast member wrote nearly a 5,000 word piece, and Yu said it helped him realize how much the performers’ connections to their characters added to the production.

“For actors, actresses that perform on stage, they are no longer themselves – they are characters,” Yu said. “It’s really a wonderful experience to see that they come out alive and they interpret their own stories in front of the crew.”

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Although Yu said his work as producer primarily focuses on building outside connections to fund the play and that he doesn’t work with the actors as closely as the creative team does, Yu said he is deeply excited to see the characters come to life Nov. 23. Yu added that he assisted in the initial audition process and helped cast each performer, so he has a good idea of each individual’s strengths and weaknesses. As someone who missed all of his high school’s productions, Yu said his dedication to CFan’s plays is a way of making up for lost time. He added that an interesting aspect of watching this play come together has been watching each performer personalize their character.

“The director intentionally left out the experience or the life in between these 10 years, so that’s where actors (and) actresses can fill the gap and use their own imagination,” Yu said.

Putting on this production has been a true team effort, Ren said, as the actors have participated together in behind-the-scenes work, further bonding the crew. Lei said she felt this bond and added that she understood each and every actor’s personal relationship to their character and the story they were playing. She said she is excited for the show to premiere and to hear what the audience thinks, as she said she feels that “Skywatching Down the Well” is a deeply personal story for any audience member.

“It made us realize that, ‘Oh, time really flies that fast.’ Sometimes you didn’t really realize that it went by too fast and everything changed,” Lei said. “It’s really visualizing that change across time.”