With a history spanning about 10 years, the Asian Contemporary Theater Festival is intended to show the Asian theatre culture and arouse public interest in Asian contemporary performing art. Originally it was held biannually, but since 2005 the festival began to be observed once every year. Sunaga Katsuhiko, enthusiastic about dramas, is the founder of Asian Theatre Festival that was the precursor of Asian Contemporary Theatre Festival.

The 2006 season takes  "Happy Asia" as the theme. It  kicked off on September 11, and will come to an end on September 24. Over two weeks, 13 repertoires by more than 100 performers from seven countries are staged in Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center . In addition to stage performances, other activities like exhibitions and lectures are also held to present the audience with more carefully planned events.

 Selected repertoires and troupes

·"Activated Charcoal" by Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center (China)

The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center was founded on 23 January in 1995, after a merger of two acclaimed theatre companies, the Shanghai People's Art Theatre (founded in 1950) and the Shanghai Youth Drama Troupe (founded in 1957). Over the decades, they had focused on reaching out to the rest of the world for cultural exchange, learning from and sharing with other countries the experience of producing new dramas. The objective of the troupe is to become one of the most modern and highly influential national theatres in China.

·"TanGhost" by POS Theatre Company (Norwegian)

POS Theatre Company was established by Norwegian director Per-Olav Sorensen in 2001. POS Theatre Company produced the highly experimental drama "Mensch!" "TanGhost" is a play the company has worked on since 2001.

·"A Journey" by PARTY Performance Workshop (Korea)

PARTY Performance Workshop was set up in 1997. At the same year, their first drama "PARTY" was staged.

·"Day I Met the Prince" by EX-theatre Asia (India, Taiwai, China)

Ex-Theatre of Asia was co-founded by Chongtham Jayanta Meetei, a veteran actor who graduated from India National Theatre Institute, and Lin Bei'an, a veteran actor from Golden Branch Drama Troupe.

Based in Taiwan , China, Ex-drama group opens to the whole Asia. The name Ex means experiment, exchange, exact, example, experience, except, expert, express, extra, excluding, executive, excellent, extend and exist, etc. All these meanings are the characters, ideas and goals of the drama group.

·"Play Play"  by the Theatre Practice (Singapore)

Founded in 1986 by Mr. Kuo Pao Kun, the Theatre Practice is Singapore's first bilingual theatre company. The Theatre Practice's approach to drama producing reflects the intense struggle between tradition and modernity. While it provides access to global influences through international collaborations, the Theatre Practice remains true to its assertion of local identity.

·"The Game of Lear's Fake Death" by Dreamless Theatre (Taiwan, China)

Dreamless Theatre consists of a group of young drama enthusiasts. They are full of passion and imagination. It is a growing young theatre company in Taipei.

·"Follow you? Follow me?" by Mobius Strip Theater (Malaysia)

Mobius Strip Theater presents endless mystery. It gives provides open, free environment to produce different kinds of art forms.

·"Dance Me to the End of Love" by Theatre Du Pif (Hong Kong , China)

Theatre du Pif is a leading Hong Kong theatre company known for its cross-cultural heritage and bilingual productions in Cantonese, English or both. Using a workshop and devising process as well as collaborations with dramaturges and artists from other disciplines, they orchestrate movement, text and visual images to produce works that were widely acclaimed. Besides creating new productions, they have also run a wide range of educational and community outreach programmes in Hong Kong and the UK.

·Trap by the Performance Department of Shenzhen University (Shenzhen, China)

·"Mother" by Japan, China & Korea Arts & Culture Relationship Executive Committee

The group was built in 2005, aiming to promote the culture exchange among China, Korea and Japan.

·"The Night Train to the Stars" by EX-theatre Asia (India, Taiwai, China)

·A Crazy Nightby Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center