White is the publisher of the Seattle-based Scala House Press. In this essay, White argues that The Other Shore can be read both as a critique of China's collectivist system and as an example of absurdist drama.

A casual reader of Gao Xingjian's The Other Shore might conclude that the play is little more than a plotless, disjointed work made up of a series of seemingly unrelated scenes. That such a reading is possible should not be surprising, given Xingjian's original intention that the play be a training exercise for actors.

In defense of such a reading, the play can be viewed as an exercise for actors, designed to test their versatility by forcing them to take on multiple and quickly changing roles. And in further defense, not only does the play lack a coherent plot with the dramatic complications and resolutions that most dramatic works embody...