Join us on Thursday, June 20, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM for a screening of the film Twilight’s Kiss (“Suk Suk”), 2019 co-presented with BAAFF. The film follows the story of two closeted married men in their twilight years as they navigate their families and personal histories while contemplating a possible future together.
Join Maddie Lam, Anny Thach, and Pao Arts Center for an evening of poetry and music. The performances take you through an inner landscape of a human heart, charting the atlas of grief and loss, celebration and regeneration. Through prose and poetry, visual narrative, and song, Dandelions in the Stardust is a soft place to land.
Directed by Tianding He, SKINLESS reimagines the ancient Chinese legend The White Snake as a queer, gender-bending modern fairy tale.
Experience a multimedia musical performance from No-No Boy (singer Julian Saporiti) as part of the tour for his latest album Empire Electric. This newest release brings Asian American history to life through a uniquely inventive approach to storytelling.
A new play reading in Cantonese and English
Directed by Wilson Wang
Performed at the Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street, Boston
Flight of a Legless Bird follows the intertwined lives of Robin and Leslie, two queer artists from the 1980s to the 2000s. Robin, a filmmaker in New York's West Village, confronts the reality of a HIV/AIDS diagnosis, while Leslie, an accomplished Cantopop star and actor, grapples with his personal hurdles in bustling Hong Kong. Their worlds collide by chance, uniting them through shared desires as the new millennium approaches. Poetically fusing Cantonese and English, the play reminisces a golden era of music, love, identity, and the transformative power of art in a rapidly changing time.
Flight of a Legless Bird is a recipient of The Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award Distinguished Achievement at the 2022 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Premiered in July 2021 at Ying Drama Studio’s (鷹劇坊) MINI Theater Festival in Beijing; developed through New York Theater Workshop’s Mind the Gap program with funding from The Sam Hutton Fund at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.
Pricing : Free, suggested donation $10
Performance Dates:
Friday, June 2, 2023 - 7:00 PM + Post-show conversation
Saturday, June 3, 2023 - 2:00PM
Saturday, June 3, 2023 - 7:00PM + Post-show “Red Heels” Cantopop Dance Party
About Found in Translation:
Found in Translation is a collaboration between Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), CHUANG Stage, and Pao Arts Center. Established in 2021, Found in Translation celebrates the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as Asian American in Greater Boston through theatre.
Contact : ashley.yung@bcnc.net
Ethan Luk (Playwright)
Ethan Luk was born and raised in Hong Kong. His work has been recognized by 92Y, The Kennedy Center, One Teen Story, Sine Theta Magazine, and The Adroit Journal among others. He is currently an undergraduate at Princeton University. www.ethanluk.com
Wilson Wang (Director)
Born in Northern China, Wilson Wang is currently a student at the University of California, Berkeley. His practices actively engages both filmic and performance arts through the lens of critical humanities, with a specific interest in corporeality, race, aesthetic philosophy, and labor. His artistic contributions include Flight of a Legless Bird, A Visit from the Dead, The Moment I Died (short film), and A Breath Under Water (short film).
Patrick Ip (Leslie Cheung)
Patrick Ip is an LA based actor who travels between Asia and North America. Graduated from UC Berkeley with an Electrical Engineering Computer Science degree, he had worked in several fields but couldn’t resist his love for performing--he received his master’s in acting at Shanghai Theatre Academy in 2019. He has performed in Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong.
EK William (Robin Heron)
Meet EK William. Fresh off of playing the villainous Pharoah in Ed Chisholm's Off-Broadway show "The Savage Queen", you can now spot this method actor in several national commercials and films. EK loves creating characters who are pensive, intense, dominant, and passionate; all having multi-dimensionality. EK has received training from New England Conservatory, Checkov Actors Studio Boston, and the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute.
Hana Yiu (Anita Mui)
Hana Yiu, a versatile classical singer, is making her theatrical debut with Chuang Stage in the US. As a classical singer, She will be joining the esteemed Seraphic Fire at Aspen Music Festival this summer. Additionally, she is also part of the New York Philharmonic Chorus. Hana holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and a Master's degree from The Hartt School.
Anthony Eng (Cheung Wut-Hoi/Theo)
Anthony Eng is a Boston-based actor who usually only does short films. He is excited to make his theatre debut in Flight of the Legless Bird. When not on stage, he is a teacher and a single dad. He’d like to thank Ken Cheeseman, the cast and crew, as well as the various families who helped with childcare!
JK Wong (Kenny/Daffy)
JK Wong is a Boston local artist. He is most known for his multilingual indie surf punk band, Orca Bones, his live-looping project, aznjujube, and his canto-pop band, Juk Sing.
Originally from Quincy, MA, JK can now be spotted kicking the Chinese shuttlecock or eating snacks around Boston Chinatown.
Jen Lewis (Dinah Heron)
Jen Lewis is an Actor, director, teacher, activist and mom, Jen teaches Acting at Bunker Hill Community College and served as Interim Executive Director of StageSource. As You Like It (Merely Players); Othello (Dream Role Players), Legally Dead (Boston Playwrights'); Living Out (Lyric Stage); and Friends of Eddie Coyle (Stickball).
Evan Taylor (David)
Evan Taylor is a Boston Based actor currently attending Emerson College (BFA Acting 24’), and is thrilled to work with CHUANG Stage/Pao Arts Center/AATAB for the first time. Recent credits include Logan in Paris (Emerson Stage) and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (EmShakes). A big thanks to my family and friends for supporting my dream, you rock!
CHUANG Stage is the first Mandarin-English bilingual, bicultural theatre company nationwide, cultivating joyful and challenging Asian American stories that pioneer a new activism in the arts.
Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston is a social collective that empowers and connects Pan-Asian theatre artists in the Greater Boston area.
The Found in Translation Series is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' Public Art for Spatial Justice program, with funding from the Barr Foundation.
A multimedia opera and surrealist drama, co-produced with Guerilla Opera that follows two Chinese-American women who meet in the afterlife and explores conflicts between their Western upbringing and Chinese culture.
HER | alive.un.dead is a concert-length media opera about three generations of Asian women in a single family. Through birth and death cycles in the family, and encounters in a space called the “in-between”, these women expound on gender biases against women, and discriminatory practices upon people of Asian descent.
HER | alive.un.dead focuses on the specific experiences of being an Asian woman in a largely Western society and upbringing. This clash between East and West is interpreted differently between three generations of women in a single family, and changes drastically from character to character due to each character's background and upbringing: fresh immigrant with strong connections to her homeland, first-generation Chinese American trying to integrate into American society, and a second-generation Chinese American who really only feels like she is American and is ignoring the 'Chinese' part of her heritage.
The opera will take place in ten scenes within three acts, with over 60 minutes of music. The narrative is non-linear, which helps contrast between the dramatic arc and musical arc of the work.
The libretto is in English, Mandarin, and Teochew.
Flashing Lights Warning: This performance features flashing lighting effects.
Trigger Warning: This performance includes topics of teen suicide, and may be disturbing for certain audience members. Resources for crisis and suicide prevention are available 24/7 by dialing 998 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Friday, May 12 | 8:00 PM with Opening Night Post-Show discussion with creators and cast
Saturday, May 13 | 3:00 PM with Pre-Show Tactile Tour (2:00 PM start time, preregistration required) and Post-Show discussion with creators and cast
Saturday, May 13 | 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 14 | 3:00 PM
Price: Tiered $15-55
Unlike traditional opera companies, Guerilla Opera is an ensemble of artists that perform without a conductor or formal music director. This is unusual and distinguishes Guerilla Opera in the field of opera. This practice requires extraordinary awareness and communication skills that can only be honed through consistent practice by a group of artists working together over time.
Founded in 2007, Guerilla Opera (GO) is one of Boston’s most exciting ensembles creating brave new works, with The Boston Globe raving that “radical exploration remains the cornerstone of everything it does”. This artist-led ensemble wields a mission to present new experimental works of opera theater that are tailored to their ensemble of outstanding artists. Their artistic vision is to generate a unique body of work that ferociously confronts the status quo through culturally-focused and socially-resonant stories that examine and question antiquated and stereotypical traditions of the art form of opera and to bring thrilling performances to nationwide audiences. With this mission and vision, Guerilla Opera has garnered a national reputation for innovation, with Opera News raving that “Guerilla Opera redefines the Opera experience.”
Emily Koh
Emily Koh is a Singaporean composer based in Atlanta, whose music is characterized by inventive explorations of the smallest details of sound. In addition to writing acoustic and electronic concert music, she enjoys collaborating with other creatives in projects where sound plays an important role in the creative process. Emily is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music. (https://emilykoh.net)
Mo Zhou
Originally from China, Mo Zhou is a stage director and educator whose international career spans all artistic disciplines including opera, theater, musical theater, dance, and film.
Equally passionate about invigorating classical canons and spearheading new works, Zhou’s productions have been seen at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, National Centre for the Performing Arts in China, Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the Juilliard School, WP Theatre, to name a few. She has also worked as a member of the directing staff at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, the Dallas Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, among others.
Sol Kim Bentley
Two-time Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions regional finalist Sol Kim Bentley was lauded by Opera News for her “ardently sincere … beautifully restrained and heartbreaking” performance as Cardillac’s Daughter in Hindemith’s Cardillac for Opera Boston, the production of which was named one of the top ten international musical events of 2011 by Musical America. Previously, she understudied the title role in Opera Boston’s world premiere of Zhou Long’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Madame White Snake (performing the role for an invited dress rehearsal), and was the Roll Seller in Opera Boston’s New England premiere of Shostakovich’s The Nose.
Nina Guo
Soprano Nina Guo is interested in the sounds of recent and ongoing times, and her performance practice includes interpreting notated music, improvising, and collaborating on interdisciplinary projects. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in classical voice from the New England Conservatory of Music (2015), she completed a Master’s degree in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at the Universität der Künste in Berlin (2020). As a contemporary music specialist, her upcoming performances include solo appearances with Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt) and Decoder Ensemble (Hamburg), and recently, she has been featured at festivals like Acht Brücken (Köln), Passion:SPIEL at the Deutsches National Theater (Weimar), and Music in Time at Spoleto Festival (Charleston).
Jeannette Lee
Described to have “a lovely mezzo voice with lots of color, warmth and vibrancy,” Hong Kong mezzo-soprano Jeannette Lee is a sought-after versatile performer who was awarded the Hilda Harris Mezzo Soprano Prize at the 2022 George Shirley Vocal Competition. She was also a prize winner in 2023 William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition, 2021 NATS Artist Award (New England Region).
On the international concert stage, she has appeared as a soloist in Bach’s Mass in B minor and BWV70 &130, Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasy, Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah, Britten’s Cantata Academica, Monteverdi’s Marienvespers and Osvaldo Golijov’s Oceana. Jeannette is passionate about collaborating on new works, having recently premiered Simon Andrews’ Seasons in FUSE: Collaborations in Song and sang the East Coast premiere of Jenni Brandon’s Sea Smoke on Gichigami.
Jiayin Shi
Jiayin Shi is an operatic baritone singer, currently pursuing a doctoral degree at Boston University, School of Music. With a wide range of performing experiences, Jiayin Shi has served in various genres, including opera, oratorio, musical theater, and art songs. He has been praised for his performances in works such as Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Philip Glass and Robert Moran’s The Juniper Tree, as well as his work in the musical theater genre, including a Chinese musical: May Be Tomorrow Belongs to Me. Jiayin Shi earned two master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the China Conservatory of Music. He also received his bachelor’s degree from the China Conservatory of Music. With the passion of a musician, Jiayin Shi keeps on the journey of sharing his music with audiences around the world.
Lilit Hartunian
Violinist Lilit Hartunian performs at the forefront of contemporary music innovation, both as soloist and highly in-demand collaborative artist. First prize winner in the 2021 Black House Collective New Music Soloist Competition, Ms. Hartunian’s "Paganiniesque virtuosity" and “captivating and luxurious tone” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) are frequently on display at the major concert halls of Boston, including multiple solo performances at Jordan Hall and chamber music at Symphony Hall (Boston Symphony Orchestra Insights Series), as well as at leading academic institutions, where she often appears as both soloist and new music specialist. Highlights from the 2022-2023 season include performances with A Far Cry at The Kennedy Center, Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Carnegie Hall, and [Switch~ Ensemble] at June in Buffalo.
Stephen Marotto
A native of Norwalk, Connecticut, Stephen has received a Bachelors degree with honors from the University of Connecticut, and Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Boston University. Stephen’s formative teachers include Michael Reynolds, Kangho Lee, Marc
Johnson, and Rhonda Rider. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Stephen plays regularly with chamber groups throughout New England and also performs on various new music concert series in the Boston area and beyond. Stephen has attended music festivals at the
Banff Centre, Cortona Sessions for New Music and SoundSCAPE festival in Italy, and the Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. Stephen has a wide range of musical interest that include contemporary chamber music, improvisatory music, and electroacoustic music.
Philipp Stäudlin
Stäudlin is an award-winning virtuoso saxophonist who has performed hundreds of concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His characteristic tonal qualities, deep sense of phrasing, and superb technical skills make him one of the most unique voices in today's classical saxophone world.
A native of Friedrichshafen, Germany, Stäudlin has appeared as a soloist with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Sound Icon ensemble, White Rabbit Ensemble (former ensemble-in-residence at Harvard University), Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, Callithumpian Consort, Bielefelder Philharmoniker, Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Tufts University Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and the Providence Singers.
Mike Williams
Hailed by the Boston Globe as “one of the city’s best percussionists,” Mike Williams has performed throughout North America and Europe and is a regular performer in the Boston area. An advocate for contemporary music, he is a member of the new music sinfonietta Sound Icon, Callithumpian Consort and is the percussionist and artistic director of Guerilla Opera, with whom he has commissioned and premiered 14 new chamber operas since 2007. He has also performed with such groups as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Ludovico Ensemble, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, and Harvard Group for New Music. Williams has worked with many of the leading composers of our time, including Pierluigi Billone, Philippe Leroux, Salvatore Sciarrino, Gunther Schuller, and Roger Reynolds, and he has been involved in numerous recordings on labels such as Cantaloupe, BMOP/sound, Albany, and Northwest Classics.
Saskia Martinez
Saskia Martinez (they/them) is a Boston-based scene designer and scenic artist. Regional credits include: Coriolanus, Seven Guitars (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Little Women: The Musical (Wheelock Family Theatre), Nina Simone: Four Women, Snow White, The Little Foxes, Appropriate (South Coast Repertory Theatre). Education: Boston University.
Nuozhou Wang
Nuozhou is a filmmaker and a video artist based in the US. She has designed projection for various opera productions and has directed, cinematographed, and created visual effects for numerous films and videos. Her work, featuring women characters invariably, explores gender, class, and sexuality. Nuozhou has engaged in the creation of works presented at various venues including the Museum of Modern Art, Pioneer Works, and Art Basel. Her works have aired on WCVB and have been featured in Broadway World, The Boston Globe, Vogue, Boston Musical Intelligencer, South China Morning Post, NIKKEI Asia, etc. Nuozhou received her BFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design.
Marie Yokoyama
Marie Yokoyama (she/her) is a lighting and set designer based in NY. Her lighting credit includes Rinaldo at Minnesota Opera; Orpheus in the Underworld and Rake's Progress at Juilliard; note to a friend at Tokyo Bunkakaikan; Merry Widow at Opera Theater Pittsburgh; Kim’s Convenience at Westport CountyPlayhouse; Searching for Mr. Moon at Portland Stage; Mystery of Irma Vep at St. Louis Rep; Testmatch at American Conservatory Theater San Francisco; Tiny Beautiful Things at Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Do You Feel Anger at Vineyard Theatre; and Pillowtalk with Kyoung's Pacific Beats. She is the Associate Artist for the Redhouse Arts Center where she has designed Macbeth, Fences, God of Carnage, On Golden Pond, and Ragtime.
Lindsay Hoisington
Lindsay Hoisington (Costume Designer) is a Boston-based Costume Designer, Wardrobe Supervisor, and Draper. She has worked as a Designer for Company Theatre on Frozen Jr. and Roald Dahl's Matilda, the Musical, Virginia Children's theatre on The Addam's Family and Cinderella, and here at Guerilla Opera for Her | Alive.Un.Dead. She has been Wardrobe Supervisor at WFT@BU, for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Actor's Shakespeare project and several others. She has also been a dresser for The Huntington as well as Odessy Opera, White Snakes Productions, and others. She has draped for Merrimack Rep Theatre and frequently for her design jobs. She hopes to bring compassion, empathy, and truth to every work she is in.
Keithlyn Parkman
Keithlyn B Parkman graduated from the Boston University College of Fine Arts with a BFA in Lighting Design. 10 years ago, during her time at BU, she stumbled across this zany little opera family, and the rest is history. Keithlyn has done a great many things for Guerilla over the years, but Thrilling may top the scales in number of jobs held, including but not limited to Lighting & Scenic Design, Props Mistress and Associate Producer. GO is an ensemble after all. When not running around Boston with Guerilla, Parkman shares her passion for theater making by mentoring young theater artists at various highschools in her hometown of NYC. Recent Guerilla credits include SALT, Rumpelstiltskin and Ofelia's Life Dream. Upcoming projects include Alice By Heart (The Beacon School) and Chicago (Berkeley Carroll).
Sarah Schneider
Sarah Schneider (she/her) is a Boston-based stage manager and child supervisor. In addition to her work with Guerilla Opera (Rumpelstiltskin, Emergence Fellowship Showcase), she has worked with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Boston Ballet, Huntington Theatre Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Company One, the Boston University Opera Institute, and more. Sarah is a graduate of Boston University where she earned her BFA in Stage Management.
Jolie Frazer-Madge
Jolie Frazer-Madge (she/her) is excited to be returning to Guerilla Opera, having previously staged managed I Give You My Home and The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Previous Boston opera stage management credits include X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Odyssey Opera/Boston Modern Opera Project), and L'Arbore di Diana (New England Conservatory). Jolie holds a BFA in Stage Management from Boston University.
Aliana de la Guardia
Aliana de la Guardia is a Cuban-American soprano vocalist, arts leader, producer, and voice teacher. Specializing in new music and opera, she collaborates with opera companies, chamber ensembles, and varied artists nationwide. She is a co-founding artist and Artistic Director of Guerilla Opera, half of Bahué, a voice and percussion duo, and a PARMA Recordings Artist. She is the owner of the Dirty Paloma Voice Studio where she teaches private voice lessons, as well as at the Community Music School of Springfield, with speaking engagements at institutions, initiatives, conventions, and convenings nationwide.
COVID-19 Policy: All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing. View more on our visitor policy
Contact | ashley.yung@bcnc.net
The commissioning of Emily Koh for HER | alive.un.dead: a media opera received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
This opera is supported in part by a Grants for Arts Projects Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Live Arts Boston Grant award from The Boston Foundation and their partners at the Barr Foundation and Dunamis., a grant from Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership’s funds from the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research, and an award from the New Music USA Creator Development Fund.
This world-premiere opera was developed in partnership with the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts.
Join Pao Arts Center for a night of performances, curated by Jane Park. Featuring a plethora of talents from a variety of disciplines, celebrating the plenitude of individuality and talent in the Asian diaspora, without explanation or apology.
Free | Suggested Donation $10
ABOUT ASIAN GLOW
Asian Glow is a performance series for the Asian diaspora in Boston, particularly for creatives seeking affinity on their stage. Asian artists often face tokenism and pressure to reference their cultural ancestry, while also being treated as monolith under the terms “Asian American” and “model minority.” Asian Glow encourages artists to be seen as individuals and perform as the majority, without explanation or apology.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Jane Park is a musician who lives in Cambridge and works at Hancock Church. She is the songwriter for local band Poor Eliza and plays violin in the New England Philharmonic. In 2018, she celebrated her EP Release Ghost Town with a 40-city East Coast/Midwest tour and created Asian Glow. In 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown put a halt to busy-ness and brought Jane to hiking and watching KDramas. She is grateful to be here on Massa-adchu-es-et and Pawtucket land, and privileged to be a part of this community.
Nora Panahi
Nora Panahi is an Iranian-American stand-up comic and drag king with a manual transmission. She has been featured in HBO's Women in Comedy Festival, the YallaPunk Arts Festival, and Jacque's Cabaret High Key. You can find her performing in and out of drag all over Boston, New York, and New England. Panahi is also a staff writer for Sabah Il-Khara, a daytime talk show for the queer SWANA (South West Asian, North African) crowd.
Felice Ling
Felice Ling is an occasionally international street performer and magician who can be found most often performing in Boston's Faneuil Hall. Internationally, she's worked the streets of the Edinburgh, Edmonton, and Adelaide Fringe Festivals. Locally, she is the executive producer of Boston's only open mic magic show -- the Boston Magic Lab -- where she is working to build a magic community that welcomes and bolsters diverse local talent. Sometimes funny, often awkward, and hopefully astonishing, this is Just Felice.
The Michael Character
The Michael Character is the long-running musical project of James Ikeda and a fluid assemblage of collaborators. Although the band's sound has changed many times across its fifteen album run (and counting), it's always basically been politically-committed, historically-minded, socially-engaged songwriting ground and stuffed into an acoustic punk hot dog casing of one sort or another. For fans of diner breakfasts, 8-ball pool, novel applications of niche performance theory, the historian's craft, and militant unionism.
TIFFY
TIFFY is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer Tiffany Sammy. TIFFY represents what it means for genres to clash and meld in 2023, preserving a bottled-up mix of dream rock, sugar pop, and coarse punk. Often boiling the terminology down to "soft punk". Her music has been featured in the FADER, Paste Magazine, NPR and Vanyaland. She actively plays throughout New England with her live band, and has been a featured artist at music festivals such as Thing in the Spring Music & Arts Festival (Peterborough, NH), Foreside Music Festival (Kittery, ME) and Somerville’s multicultural arts festival ArtBeat.
Zayde Buti
Zayde Buti is a Boston-based artist who combines music, comedy, and performance art to offer entertaining and thought-provoking social commentary. His unconventional pop songs, offbeat humor, and eccentric behavior make for captivating performances on stage, screen, and in public spaces.
COVID-19 Policy:
All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing. View more on our visitor policy.
Contact | Ashley Yung, Performance Program Manager
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT! Limited Tickets may be available at door, space permitting (space not guaranteed)
For over fifty years, New York native Corky Lee photographed his hometown's Chinatown, and Asian American communities around the country. With a strong sense of social justice, he captured activists, celebrities, and everyday heroes with equal passion, taking over a hundred thousand photos. Sadly, while documenting the latest rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, Corky fell to COVID. Through his own words and pictures, Dear Corky reveals the man behind the camera.
The screening will be followed by a conversation between the film’s director, Curtis Chin, and The Chinatown Project (TCP), a grassroots organization dedicated to the documentation and preservation of Boston Chinatown's people, history, businesses, and organizations through visual media.
Free | Suggested Donation $10
This event is now sold out!
Curtis Chin
A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in sixteen countries. His essays have appeared in CNN, Bon Appetit, and the Emancipator/ Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan and former Visiting Scholar at New York University, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" will be published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023.
Aubrey Tang
Aubrey Tang is currently a second-year PhD student at Dartmouth College studying Materials Science and Engineering. Her research is focused on harnessing materials and their properties for use in renewable energy applications. Outside of the lab, she is also a co-founder of The Chinatown Project where she is able to use her passion for visual artwork to share the stories of Boston Chinatown. In her free time, she enjoys playing volleyball, watching reality TV shows, and cooking or baking new things!
This Event Is Now Sold Out .
Billy Chen
Billy Chen is a full-time UX / UI designer at Klaviyo. In his role, he is dedicated to building cohesive and innovative design systems that are true to the brand's identity. He is also the co-founder and executive creative director for The Chinatown Project. As the creative lead, he designs all branding and visual assets for social and video content. On top of his many roles, Billy is also a wedding photographer/videographer and volleyball coach.
Contact | Ashley Yung, Performance Program Manager
COVID-19 Policy:
All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing.
Join Central Square Theater, CHUANG Stage, and Pao Arts Center in celebrating the upcoming stage production of The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh! Gather for a special sneak peek of the performance and light dim sum, and stay for a community conversation with Susan Chinsen (ArtsEmerson/BAAFF Founder) and Cynthia Woo (Director, Pao Arts Center) on the power of arts and culture for Asian American and immigrant justice.
与剑桥中央广场剧院、CHUANG Stage、和包氏文艺中心一起庆祝即将上演的话剧《中国女子》（The Chinese Lady）！抢先观看演出片段、品尝茶点，再与Susan Chinsen（波士顿亚美电影节创始人）和 Cynthia Woo（包氏文艺中心主任）一起探讨艺术与文化对本地亚裔移民正义运动带来的影响。
Susan Chinsen (she/they) is a Creative Producer at ArtsEmerson. She established the annual Boston Asian American Film Festival in 2008, where she continues as the Festival Director. Previously, she managed the Chinese Historical Society of New England, and was an engagement consultant for the PBS documentary 'The Chinese Exclusion Act', and 'Plague at the Golden Gate'; building upon her community work and past experience working at GBH. She is on the Board of Directors at South Cove Community Health Center, MASS Creative, and a Steering Committee member of the API Arts Network.
Susan Chinsen（她/Ta）是ArtsEmerson的创意制作人。2008年，Susan创立了一年一度的波士顿亚美电影节，并在之后一直担任该电影节的总监。在此之前，她在波士顿电视台工作，有丰富的社区工作经历，曾管理新英格兰中国历史协会，并担任PBS纪录片《排华法案》和《鼠疫袭金门》的顾问。她是南湾社区医疗中心和MASS Creative的董事会成员，也是API Arts Network指导委员会的一员。
Image Credit: Ashley Yung
Cynthia Woo (she/her) is the Director of Pao Arts Center of Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Cynthia has been the inaugural Pao Arts Center Director at BCNC since Jan 2017. She has more than 15 years of experience in the non-profit arts and arts education sector. Prior to joining the staff at BCNC, Cynthia worked at the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles, LynnArts Inc, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Boston Center for the Arts.
Cynthia Woo（她）是包氏文艺中心（隶属于波士顿华埠社区中心）的主任。她在非盈利艺术和艺术教育领域有超过15年的经验。Cynthia曾在洛杉矶华美博物馆、LynnArts、波士顿美术馆和波士顿艺术中心工作。
Event Contact:
Alison Qu | alison.qu@chuangstage.org
Ashley Yung | ashley.yung@bcnc.net
Headshot of Leo Eguchi, Photo Credit: Justine Cooper
UNACCOMPANIED, A Classical Music Performance by Leo Eguchi
Boston-based cellist Leo Eguchi presents: UNACCOMPANIED, a performance featuring eight short new works for solo cello which explore personal stories of immigration and American assimilation. Each of the commissioned works is by immigrant and first-generation American composers tasked with tackling the question, “What does your American-ness sound like?”
Read more about the project’s development in our interview with Leo Eguchi.
Free | Suggested Donation $10
All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing.
About the Artists
Headshot of Leo Eguchi, Photo Credit: Justine Cooper
Leo Eguchi has been described as “copiously skilled and confident” (New York Times) with performances that were "ravishing" (New Bedford Standard-Times) and "played with passion and vitality" (Boston Music Intellegencer).
A native of Michigan, Leo has performed extensively across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. An active soloist and chamber musician who believes in the power of music for social change, he is the co-founder and co-artistic director of both the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival and Sheffield Chamber Players, and performs with Shelter Music Boston, which delivers classical music to homeless shelters and substance misuse recovery centers. Leo is the principal cellist of the New Bedford Symphony, a member of Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, New Hampshire Music Festival and the Portland Symphony Orchestras; and appears frequently with the Boston Pops.
A strong advocate of new music, Leo has worked closely with, and premiered dozens of solo and chamber works by many of today’s most important composers, including Jessie Montgomery, Gabriela Lena Frank, Osvaldo Golijov, Reena Esmail, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, George Crumb, Lukas Foss, Joan Tower, Ken Ueno, Yehudi Wyner, and Daniel Bernard Roumain.
Recent performing highlights include being a prize winner at the 2021 ProCello International Cello Competition, having several GRAMMY nominated recording releases from Parma recordings, multiple concerto appearances, an artist residency and solo performances in Kabul, Afghanistan, and opportunities to share the non-classical stage with the likes of Pete Townshend, Queen Latifah, Melissa Etheridge, Demi Lovato, Brian Wilson, Kelly Clarkson, Peter Gabriel, Billy Idol, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Jonas, Josh Groban, and Audra McDonald, to name a few.
Leo is on the music faculty of Boston College, and is the Assistant Conductor of the MIT Symphony Orchestra. His degrees include a BM (Cello Performance) and BS (Physics) cum laude from the University of Michigan, and MM (Cello Performance) from Boston University, where he received the String Department Award for Excellence. Leo, along with violinist wife Sasha Callahan and cat-obsessed daughter Freya, live in Boston and spend their non-musical time appreciating the outdoors, food, and wine.
Self Portrait of James Díaz, Photo Credit: James Díaz
Called “stark, haunting elegance” with “intimate focus” by The Washington Post, the music of Colombian-born composer/sound maker James Díaz strives to create unique sonic textures, sound masses, and interactive environments. Deeply influenced by the concept of psychedelia, his music also draws from elements of graphic design, Latin-America landscapes, and photography. James is currently working on his studio album “[speaking in a foreign language]” with violinist Julia Suh.
Colombian composer/sound maker James Díaz, currently based in Philadelphia/New York, composes music that strives to create unique sonic textures, sound masses, and interactive environments. Deeply influenced by the concept of psychedelia, his music also draws from elements of architecture, Latin-America landscapes, graphic design, and photography. He was recently featured in The Washington Post‘s “22 for ’22: Composers and performers to watch this year."
Serving as the 2019 composer-in-residence for the Medellin Philharmonic, James premiered "RETRO", his concerto for orchestra and electronics.
James has won multiple international and national awards, such as the 2015 National Prize of Music in Composition from the Colombian Ministry of Culture for "Saturn Lights", his concerto for percussion trio and orchestra. His orchestral piece "Frack[in]g" was awarded the 2018 Bogotá Philharmonic Prize in Composition. Similarly, James has been a fellow at the Orchestra of St. Luke’s DeGaetano Institute, the American Composers Orchestra's Underwood Readings, the Nashville Symphony Composers Lab, the Loretto Project, the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and the International Winter Festival of Campos do Jordao.
His music has been performed by orchestras such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Basel Sinfonietta, National Symphony of Colombia, American Composers Orchestra, Medellin Philharmonic, Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Bogotá Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and EAFIT Symphony, and by ensembles such as Longleash, Yarn/Wire, Sō Percussion, Unheard-of//ensemble, Efferus Quartet, Apply Triangle, Quartet121, Camará Ensamble, ZOFO, and National Sawdust Ensemble.
Similarly, as collaboration with filmmaker/producer Leticia Akel Escárate, his film music has been presented at the SIFF Seattle International Film Festival ShortsFest, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Madrid FCM-PNR Festival, Cinemaissí Festival (Finland), and the Huesca, Quito, Sao Paulo, and Santiago international festivals.
James is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in composition at the University of Pennsylvania as a Benjamin Franklin fellow.
Head Shot of Milad Yousufi, Photo Credit: Virginia L. S. Friere
Milad Yousufi was born in 1995 during the civil war in Afghanistan. At that time the Taliban were ruling Afghanistan, and music was completely banned. At the age of two he started drawing. He drew the piano keys on paper and pretended to play.
Milad Yousufi is a pianist, composer, conductor, poet, singer, painter and calligrapher. Yousufi’s work is deeply inspired by his country and culture.
When the Taliban rule was lifted after a period of five years, the arts flourished in Afghanistan, and Yousufi took advantage of every opportunity to learn and study music and art. By the age of 12 he was teaching painting and was able to attend the one and only music school in Kabul. After only three years of formal piano training, Yousufi was one of four students accepted into a music program in Denmark; He was also chosen to represent Afghanistan at various music festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Germany. He placed third in the International Golden Key competition in Frankfurt, Germany.
Upon his return to Afghanistan, Yousufi concentrated on teaching piano, theory, and a course of music notation program (Sibelius) at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
In 2011 The Afghan Youth Orchestra was formed. Yousufi was the pianist and then became the first Afghan conductor and arranged music for their performances.
In 2013 the Afghan Youth Orchestra made a U.S. tour playing sold-out concerts in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and New England Conservatory where he performed as a pianist.
Upon moving to the United States, Yousufi was awarded a full scholarship to attend Mannes School of Music as an undergraduate and studied piano with the world-renowned pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Yousufi had the opportunity to study jazz piano and improvisation with Uri Caine, orchestration with Rudolph Palmer, music arrangement with Jacob Garchik and Matt Haimovitz and film music with Micheal Bacon from the Bacon Brothers.Yousufi has graduated from Mannes School of Music in spring 2020 and currently pursuing masters degree in composition under Dr. Dalit Warshaw's mentorship at Brooklyn College. Yousufi has had the opportunity to compose for The New York Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, premiered at Lincoln Center; Refugee Orchestra Project; Kronos Quartet, premiered in Carnegie Hall; Worcester Music, South High Community School Brass Band, Terezin Music Foundation, premiered in Boston Symphony Hall. Refugee Orchestra, premiered at the Barbican Center in London, Pianist Yael Weiss for 32 Bright Clouds: (Beethoven Conversation Around the World), Winsor Music, Trio Solisti, Burncoat High School Orchestra, Worcester Chamber Music Society, Upcoming commissions include The VISION Collective, Cellist Leo Eguchi, Choral piece for Old Ship Church, Musaics of the Bay and Raleigh Civic Symphony Orchestra. Milad Yousufi is on the directory board of Musaics of the Bay, The VISION Collective, and an ambassador for Arium TV. Yousufi is a faculty member at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
Yousufi has a dream to make a difference in the future of music and culture in Afghanistan.
Head Shot of Kenji Bunch, Photo Credit: Erica Lyn
Kenji Bunch is one of America’s most engaging, influential, and prolific composers. Through an expansive blend of classical and vernacular styles, Bunch makes music that’s “clearly modern but deeply respectful of tradition and instantly enjoyable.” (The Washington Post) Deemed “emotional Americana,” (Oregon ArtsWatch) and infused with folk and roots influences, Bunch’s work has inspired a new genre classification: “Call it neo-American: casual on the outside, complex underneath, immediate and accessible to first-time listeners… Bunch’s music is shiningly original.” (The Oregonian) Hailed by The New York Times as “A Composer To Watch” and cited by Alex Ross in his seminal book The Rest Is Noise, Bunch’s wit, lyricism, unpredictability, and exquisite craftsmanship earn acclaim from audiences, performers, and critics alike. His interests in history, philosophy, and intergenerational and cross-cultural sharing of the arts reflect in his work. Varied style references in Bunch's writing mirror the diversity of global influence on American culture and reveal his deft ability to integrate bluegrass, hip hop, jazz, and funk idioms. Rich, tonal harmonies and drawn-out, satisfying builds characterize Bunch’s work and easily lend themselves to dance and film. Over sixty American orchestras have performed Bunch’s music, which “reache(s) into every section of the orchestra to create an intriguing mixture of sonic colors.” (NW Reverb) As the inaugural Composer in Residence for the Moab Music Festival (2021), Bunch composed Lost Freedom: A Memory in collaboration with and starring actor George Takei as the narrator of his own writings, interwoven with chamber ensemble. Other recent works include commissions and premieres from the Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Lark Quartet, Britt Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Music From Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, Eugene Ballet, Third Angle New Music, Grant Park Music Festival, and 45th Parallel (2020 Composer in Residence). His extensive discography includes recordings on Sony/BMG, EMI Classics, Koch, RCA, and Naxos labels among others. Also an outstanding violist, Bunch was the first student ever to receive dual Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in viola and composition from The Juilliard School and was a founding member of the highly acclaimed ensembles Flux Quartet (1996-2002) and Ne(x)tworks (2003-2011). Bunch currently serves as Artistic Director of Fear No Music, directs MYSfits, the Metropolitan Youth Symphony’s conductorless string orchestra, and teaches viola, composition, and music theory at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
Self Portrait of José Luis Hurtado, Photo Credit: José Luis Hurtado
Winner of a 2020 John Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Mexican born-American composer José-Luis Hurtado’s music has been performed across continents by ensembles and soloists such as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble ICE, Talea Ensemble, Earplay Ensemble, Juilliard Ensemble, New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Seattle Chamber Players, Iowa CNM Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort,The Ikarus Chamber Players, SEM Ensemble, Sigma Project Sax Quartet,The North/South Consonance Chamber Orchestra, Interensemble, Concorde Ensemble, Quinteto Latino, Ensamble 3, Ensamble Ónix,Versus 8 Percussion Quartet, Orquesta Uninorte, Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato, Orquesta Sinfónica de San Luis Potosí, Camerata de las Amérícas, CEPROMUSIC Ensemble, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Quatuor Molinari, Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble Wien, Stephen Drury, Émile Girard-Charest, Lora Kmieliauskaite,Tony Arnold, Garth Knox, Claire Chase, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and the Arditti String Quartet among others.
He has been the recipient of the Kompositionspreis der Stadt Wolkersdorf (Austria), the Harvard University Green Prize for Excellence in Composition (USA), the Rodolfo Halffter Ibero-American Composition Prize,The Adelbert W. Sprague Prize (USA),The George Arthur Knight Prize (USA), the Micro-Jornadas de Composición y Música Contemporánea Prize (Argentina), the Julián Carrillo Composition Prize (Mexico), El Premio Estatal de Composición del Festival Internacional de Música Contemporánea de Michoacán (Mexico), the José Tocavén Lavín Medal in recognition of his artistic trajectory, 2nd prize in the Troisieme Concours International de composition du Quatuor Molinari (Canada), 2nd prize in the Ariel Piano Composition Competition,Third Prize Winner of the National SCI/ASCAP Composition Competition, and finalist of The Earplay Composition Competition,The Look & Listen Festival Composition Competition and The Jeunesses International Composition Competition (Romania). Grants and Fellowships include those from the National Endowment for the Arts of Mexico, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (USA), Ibermúsicas, the American Music Center, and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Italy). He has just been named member of the prestigious Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte grant in recognition of a distinguished artistic trajectory.The SNCA is a government supported program that converges the most renown artists of Mexico, including writers, visual artists, dancers, film makers, and composers.
He is currently working on commissions for bassonist Ben Roidl-Ward, bass clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich, saxophonist Philipp Stäudlin, CRAS Danish Guitar Ensemble, flutist Camilla Hoitenga, German percussionist Magdalena Meitzner, cellist Leo Eguchi, Spanish Vertixe Sonora Ensemble, and an interdisciplinary concertante piece for a child pianist, string orchestra, percussion, and fixed media supported by the John Guggenheim Foundation. Premieres and performances of his pieces during 2021, 2022, and 2023 are taking place in Lithuania, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Mexico,Argentina, and the US.
His second CD portrait, which features NY based Talea Ensemble performing six of his most recent compositions for large ensemble of 16 members, will be released at the end of March of 2021 under the prestigious Kairos recording label. Many of his works can be heard on ATMA Clasique (Canada), New Focus Recordings (USA), Con Brio Records (USA) and Urtext (Mexico). His music is published and distributed by Babel Scores, a french publisher specialist in new music.
In addition to his compositional career, he is highly active as a pianist and music advocate. He is the pianist of Low Frequency Trio (Contemporary Bass clarinet, double bass, and piano ensemble), founding member of áltaVoz (Latin- American composers collaborative in the U.S), founder and curator of La Mansion de la Cantante Muda (an interdisciplinary festival of contemporary music, film, and storytelling at the Leonora Carrington Museum in Mexico), and former director of The Harvard Group for New Music.
Hurtado holds degrees in piano performance and composition from Conservatorio de las Rosas (Morelia, Mexico), a Master of Music in Composition from Universidad Veracruzana (Xalapa, Mexico) and a Ph.D. from Harvard University where he studied under Mario Davidovsky, Chaya Czernowin, Magnus Lindberg, Brian Ferneyhough and Helmut Lachenmann.
Hurtado is currently Associate Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of New Mexico where he also founded, directs and curates the Music from the Americas Concert Series.
Head Shot of Shaw Pong Liu, Photo Credit: Robert Torres
Violinist and composer Shaw Pong Liu engages diverse communities through multidisciplinary collaborations, creative music and social dialogue. Her project Code Listen, which she started as City of Boston Artist-in-Residence in 2016, uses songwriting and performances to support healing and dialogue around violence, racism, and police practices, in collaboration with the Boston Police Department, teen artists, family members surviving homicide and local musicians.
Ongoing projects include the song-sharing project Sing Home which she leads as Artist-in-Residence at the Pao Arts Center in Boston’s Chinatown, and composing music for Conference of the Birds, an international multimedia collaboration with choreographer Wendy Jehlen's Anikaya Dance Theatre and dancers from 8 countries.
Previous projects include Sunbar, connecting Bostonians with sunlight, warmth, and each other during cold winter months, with the vision of a future mobile solarium; What Artists Knead, a series of breadmaking parties across five neighborhoods in Boston for artists to bake bread and discuss their ideas for Boston's creative future; Water Graffiti for Peace, a series of outdoor Chinese water calligraphy sessions inviting public play and conversations about peace; A Bird a Day, exploring birdsong, sunrises and composition (resulting in a site-specific composition for 18 solo string players in three tiers of balconies); and Soldiers’ Tales Untold, a musical-narrative production mixing veterans’ stories, live music, and audience dialogue about war. In addition to violin, she also performs as a vocalist, erhu (Chinese violin) player, and even performed as an aerialist (aerial silks with Whistler in the Dark theatre company’s production of “Tales From Ovid”).
Shaw Pong is is a founding member of Play for Justice, a network of musicians and artists in Boston supporting social justice causes. Her compositions have been commissioned by Silkroad Ensemble for the Freer-Sackler Museum, Anikaya Dance Theatre, A Far Cry, Lorelei Ensemble, and pianist Sarah Bob. As a violinist she performs with groups including Silk Road Ensemble, MIT’s Gamelan GalakTika, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Ludovico Ensemble, and Castle of Our Skins. She has worked as a teaching artist with Yo-Yo Ma's Youth Music Culture Guangzhou, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Urbano Project, Celebrity Series, Cantata Singers, Young Audiences, and is a founding faculty at the Cuerdas Oaxaca strings chamber music festival in Mexico.
A graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a Masters in Violin Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, Shaw Pong was an Expressing Boston Public Art Fellow in 2014-15; artist-ethnographer for Boston's cultural planning initiative, Boston Creates in 2015; one of three Artist-in-Residence for the City of Boston's first Artist-in-Residence program in 2016; and 2017-18 Artist-in-Residence at the Pao Arts Center in Boston Chinatown. She is a 2018-19 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow.
Head Shot of Earl Maneein, Photo Credit: Max R. Sequeira
Earl Maneein was born and raised in Queens, NY. He began studying classical violin at age four. Later, he discovered extreme music in October of 1989 at an all ages show in the basement of Our Lady of Lourdes in Queens Village. There he saw the hardcore band No Redeeming Social Value and was accidentally punched in the face by a “SHARP” skinhead in the mosh pit. He has never been the same since.
He received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Queens College and a Master of Music Degree from the Mannes College of Music in New York City, where he studied with Daniel Phillips of the Orion String Quartet.
Earl has made a career for himself by wearing different hats. As a composer, he has received commissions from Rachel Barton Pine (international concert violinist), Tito Muñoz (music director of the Phoenix Symphony), Masumi Rostad (violist of the Pacifica String Quartet), The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, The Dance Theater of Harlem, The Francesca Harper Dance Company, and Zentripetal Duo.
Earl also regularly composes for his two projects, the experimental grindcore-improvisatory-jazz-metal duo Black Heart Sutra, and his new music/hardcore crossover string quartet SEVEN)SUNS, whose first full length album, "For The Hearts Still Beating", was released on Party Smasher Inc. in June 2017.
Earl’s violin concerto "Dependent Arising" received its World Premiere by Rachel Barton Pine with Tito Muñoz conducting the Phoenix Symphony in April of 2017. It is scheduled for more performances for the 2018-19 season with the Orchestre Symphonique Bretagne in Rennes, France and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Praised by Metallica’s Robert Trujillo as a “kick ass player who pushes the creative boundaries”, Earl’s expertise in extreme music is much sought after by musicians in the hardcore/metal community and beyond. Among the artists Earl has collaborated with as a metal and hardcore specialist are Janet Biggs (visual artist), Blake Fleming (original drummer of The Mars Volta), Jessica Pimentel (Orange is the New Black, Alekhine’s Gun), the bands Blood Has Been Shed, So Hideous, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Earl and his string quartet SEVEN)SUNS were featured prominently on The Dillinger Escape Plan’s final album, “Dissociation”, released at the end of 2016.
As a freelance violinist and violist Earl is comfortable and skilled in varied styles including but not limited to classical, bluegrass, orthodox Jewish music, jazz and rock.
Earl tours as a featured player of Vitamin String Quartet.
He has recorded and played with such varied artists and groups as Albert Hammond Jr. of the Strokes, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Avraham Fried, Florence+The Machine, Jay-Z, Mordechai Ben David, Paul Weller of The Jam, Rhianna, The Roots, and Sean Lennon, among others.
Earl has played on countless commercial recording works including: the 2010 Monster.com Superbowl ad; incidental music for the Nickelodeon show Team Umizoomi; and “Rising Sun”, the theme song for the WWE wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura.
Earl lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife (and SEVEN)SUNS cellist), Jennifer and their daughter.
Head Shot of Kareem Roustom, Photo Credit: John Robson
Syrian-American Kareem Roustom is an Emmy-nominated composer whose genre crossing collaborations include music commissioned by conductor Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, arrangements for pop icons Shakira and Tina Turner, as well as a recent collaboration with acclaimed British choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh. Roustom has been composer-in-residence at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, and with the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany. For the 2021-2022 season Roustom will be composer-in-residence with the Mannheim Philharmonic.
Roustom’s music has been performed by ensembles that include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Boulez Ensemble, the Deutsch Oper Berlin, The Crossing choir, Lorelei Ensemble, A Far Cry, and at renowned festivals and halls such as the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and others.
Roustom has received commissions from the Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Düsseldorfer Symphonkier, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Grant Park Music Festival, the Daniel Barenboim Stiftung, the Pierre Boulez Saal, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, the Royal Philharmonic Society & Sadler’s Wells Theatre (London), A Far Cry & Lorelei Ensemble and others. Roustom’s music has also been recorded by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester (Berlin), and the Philharmonia Orchestra (London). Upcoming performances of Roustom’s music during the 2021 – 2022 season include the Mannheim Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, and at the Grange Festival in Hampshire, England. The Chicago Tribune wrote that Roustom is “a gifted and accomplished artist, one of the most prominent active Arab-American composers,” BBC Radio3 described Roustom’s music as “among the most distinctive to have emerged from the Middle East”, and The New York Times described it as “propulsive, colorful and immediately appealing.” The Guardian (London) wrote that Roustom’s music is “arrestingly quirky and postmodern…music with lots of personality.” Roustom holds the position of Professor of the Practice at Tufts University’s Department of Music in Boston. More details available at www.kr-music.com.
Head Shot of Frank Duarte, Photo Credit: Wes Kreisel
Frank Duarte (b. 1992) is an American composer, songwriter, conductor, writer, and poet. His music, inspired by his upbringings, transcends conventional boundaries creating a programmatic approach full of luxuriant emotion, perception of color, and a palette of sonorities that make it organic and innate. Recipient of two Global Music Awards, Duarte has been granted two ASCAP Plus Awards and has had works performed throughout the United States (Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, Indiana, Michigan, Utah, Virginia), Japan (Kyoto, Seto, Nagoya), Greece, and the Republic of Colombia by professionals and secondary, collegiate, and community ensembles.
His music has been featured throughout universities including in seminars and conferences at Ball State University, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Universidad of Cauca, and recitals and concerts at California State University, Northridge, Eastern Connecticut State University, Fullerton College, Henderson State University, Michigan State University, Mills College, Snow College, Texas Tech University, and the University of North Texas among others. His music has also been featured by Composers Circle and the online radio station Kinetics Radio. The Green Band Association, an organization that sponsors Japanese bands to participate in the Tournament of Roses Parade, programmed his works three times in 2012, 2014, and 2017 for their charitable benefit concerts. His compositions have also been featured in books, journals, and academic papers.
Born in Southern California, Duarte was primarily raised by his Indigenous Mexican (Zapotec) maternal family in Santa Ana, California, located within Metropolitan Los Angeles. Duarte earned Associate of Arts degrees in Music and History and degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies, emphasizing in Science and Mathematics, Arts and Human Expression, and Social Sciences from Fullerton College. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from California State University, Northridge, and a Master of Music Degree in Composition from Butler University. Duarte attended Texas Tech University and was a doctoral student in composition. He is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts student in Composition at Michigan State University as an awardee of a Michigan State University Fellowship.
His previous mentors and teachers have included Anthony Mazzaferro, Michael Colburn (Conducting), and Liviu Marinescu, Milen Kirov, Michael Schelle, James Mulholland, and Jennifer Jolley (Composition). He previously served as an Instructor of Record, teaching composition at Texas Tech University. His works are published or distributed through Murphy Music Press, Tolliver Music Company, and ADJ•ective New Music. Duarte is a member of ADJ•ective New Music Composers' Collective and Landscape Music, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and an alumnus of Beta Theta Pi.
In collaboration with Greenway Conservancy, Pao Arts Center and Curator Leslie Anne Condon curates this summer 2022 outdoor performance series which celebrates the cultural power that flows through AAPI communities across the Asian diaspora, in ways that vocalize both struggles and joys. Featuring live performances by Boston-area spoken artists and performers who draw upon a wide range of artistic styles, cultural traditions, and languages from AAPI communities and beyond, the event series activates artist Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong’s YEAR OF THE TIGER installation in Mary Soo Hoo Park. Through their words, dance, creative gestures, and songs, each artist brings greater visibility to our interconnected histories and current realities while offering more playful and empowering visions of our collective future.
Saturday, August 13 | 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Performances featuring: Tamiko Beyer, Micah Rose, Juk Sing, and The Flavor Continues.
Free + Suggested Donation $10, Donations go to support Pao Arts Center’s arts and cultural program.
This event is the final of the VISIONS/VOICES: YEAR OF THE TIGER performance series. Through a partnership with the Greenway Conservancy, Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong has been commissioned to create an artwork celebrating the Year of the Tiger, as part of an annual project honoring the Chinese Zodiac on The Greenway. Her upcoming artwork, YEAR OF THE TIGER, is a community pavilion and a site-specific public artwork composed of vibrantly colored seating, podiums and sprawling floor motifs. As both stage and seating, YEAR OF THE TIGER creates a new, intergenerational hub to gather outdoors, perform or engage in public programs. Pao Arts Center is proud to partner with the Greenway to bring public events to Mary Soo Hoo Park.
See the full performance schedule.
About The Artists:
Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong is a New York-based artist working at the boundary of art and architecture. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Cheryl received her B.A. in Art and Italian at UC Berkeley and her Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP. Her work has been commissioned by the NY State Thruway Authority, NYC Parks Department, City of Inglewood, City of Calgary and by the Washington DC Government.
About our Partner:
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy
The Greenway is a contemporary public park in the heart of Boston. The Greenway welcomes millions of visitors annually to gather, play, unwind, and explore. The Greenway Conservancy is the non-profit responsible for the management and care of The Greenway. The majority of the public park’s annual budget is generously provided by private sources.
The Greenway Conservancy Public Art Program brings innovative and contemporary art to Boston through free, seasonal exhibitions that engage people in meaningful experiences, interactions, and dialogue with art, each other, and the most pressing issues of our time. Past Greenway exhibitions can be viewed on the Conservancy’s website.
Contact: arts@bcnc.net, 617.863.9080
In collaboration with Greenway Conservancy, Pao Arts Center and Curator Leslie Anne Condon curates this summer 2022 outdoor performance series which celebrates the cultural power that flows through AAPI communities across the Asian diaspora, in ways that vocalize both struggles and joys. Featuring live performances by Boston-area spoken artists and performers who draw upon a wide range of artistic styles, cultural traditions, and languages from AAPI communities and beyond, the event series activates artist Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong’s YEAR OF THE TIGER installation in Mary Soo Hoo Park. Through their words, dance, creative gestures, and songs, each artist brings greater visibility to our interconnected histories and current realities while offering more playful and empowering visions of our collective future.
Saturday, July 16 | 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Performances featuring: Cynthia Lin, Lani Asuncion, Subdrift Boston, and Adobo Fish Sauce.
Free + Suggested Donation $10, Donations go to support Pao Arts Center’s arts and cultural program.
This event is the third of the VISIONS/VOICES: YEAR OF THE TIGER performance series. Through a partnership with the Greenway Conservancy, Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong has been commissioned to create an artwork celebrating the Year of the Tiger, as part of an annual project honoring the Chinese Zodiac on The Greenway. Her upcoming artwork, YEAR OF THE TIGER, is a community pavilion and a site-specific public artwork composed of vibrantly colored seating, podiums and sprawling floor motifs. As both stage and seating, YEAR OF THE TIGER creates a new, intergenerational hub to gather outdoors, perform or engage in public programs. Pao Arts Center is proud to partner with the Greenway to bring public events to Mary Soo Hoo Park.
See the full performance schedule.
Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong is a New York-based artist working at the boundary of art and architecture. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Cheryl received her B.A. in Art and Italian at UC Berkeley and her Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP. Her work has been commissioned by the NY State Thruway Authority, NYC Parks Department, City of Inglewood, City of Calgary and by the Washington DC Government.
About our Partner:
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy
The Greenway is a contemporary public park in the heart of Boston. The Greenway welcomes millions of visitors annually to gather, play, unwind, and explore. The Greenway Conservancy is the non-profit responsible for the management and care of The Greenway. The majority of the public park’s annual budget is generously provided by private sources.
The Greenway Conservancy Public Art Program brings innovative and contemporary art to Boston through free, seasonal exhibitions that engage people in meaningful experiences, interactions, and dialogue with art, each other, and the most pressing issues of our time. Past Greenway exhibitions can be viewed on the Conservancy’s website.
Contact: arts@bcnc.net, 617.863.9080
The Ghost of Keelung, a Radio Play Presentation
Written by Jamie Lin
Directed by Audrey Seraphin
In the present, a woman visits her family home in Taiwan to appease an ancestral wrong. Back in 1956, a young woman begins working at a bar for American sailors and falls for one of them with dire consequences.
Location: YEAR OF THE TIGER installation at Mary Soo Hoo Park on The Greenway
Performance Time: Saturday, June 25, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Language: English with Mandarin and Hokkien
Pricing : Free, suggested donation $10
About Found in Translation
“Found in Translation” is a play-reading and community workshop series through Winter 2021 to Spring 2022 that amplifies the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as AAPI in Greater Boston.
About the Playwright
Jamie Lin
Jamie Lin (she/her) is a Taiwanese-American theater artist who is psyched to watch her script come to life with this incredible team! Previously, she had the distinct pleasure of playing AAPI icons Sulu (Gender-Swapped Star Trek, PMRP) and Rose Tico (Jedi the Last, The Opposite of People), as well as directing Radial Gradient for Samuel-Lancaster Productions. Jamie hosts the monthly cooking/comedy show, Cook it Right!, on 2MBStudios and writes and performs sketches with Friend Club. Both on and offstage, she's passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and noodles.
Audrey Seraphin (Director)
Audrey Seraphin is director, actor, civil servant, and lifelong Massachusetts resident. She serves Boston City Hall as the Director of SPARK Boston, Mayor Wu's volunteer civic engagement council for 20 to 35 year old Bostonians. Recent directing projects include Company at Clark Musical Theatre; Muthaland, an online production from Samuel-Lancaster Productions; and The Rooster & The Magnet, Episode 5 of Camp Strangewood, a live streamed anthology from Sparkhaven Theatre.
Yitong Zhu (Cast)
Yitong Zhu is a rising senior at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Born and raised in China, she is so excited to share a different perspective while studying in the US. Yitong is an actor, dancer, and puppeteer; she attended the 2020 Winter Intensive at Double Edge Theater and will be attending the O’Neill Puppetry Conference this summer. Previous credits include Organic (New Rep), Untold, New Music & Puppet Theater (Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble), Somewhere (something wonderful) (Trinity College, Hartford CT), Body Map, Beyond Walls (Boston Conservatory at Berklee). Yitong would like to thank AATAB for this great opportunity! @yitongzhu9
Channing Rion (Cast)
Channing Rion hails from Houston and grew up privately tutored, traveling with her family across the U.S. and worldwide—often to her mother’s homeland of South Korea. Before graduating from Harvard 'with a BA in psychology, she enrolled in drama classes that sparked an interest in acting. During summers in Cambridge, she taught hundreds of students from China, honing their social confidence through theatre. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Dramatic Arts at Harvard, producing original music, and publishing an upcoming historical fiction series for kids set in Boston during the American Revolution.
Karla Lang (Cast)
Karla Lang is delighted to perform in her second Found in Translation production, having also appeared in A DEAL earlier this spring. Favorite roles include Waverly in THE JOY LUCK CLUB (Umbrella Stage Company), Helena in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Hovey Players), April in COMPANY (Longwood Players), and Texas/ “Two Ladies” in CABARET (Milton Players). She has also performed with Reagle Music Theater and Concord Players, and she sings with the New World Chorale.
Malachi Rosen (Cast)
Malachi Rosen is thrilled to be a part of The Ghost of Keelung! Malachi is an actor born and raised just north of Boston and is a graduate from Marymount Manhattan College’s BFA acting program, class of 2020. Recent productions include Patrick Barolow’s The 39 Steps, Carol Curchill’s Love and Information, and Brian Friel’s Translations.Malachi thanks the cast, crew and production team for making The Ghost of Keelung production possible and hopes you enjoy the show!
malachirosen.weebly.com.
Jude Torres (Cast)
Jude Torres (he/him) is an LA-born/Boston-bred actor, singer-songwriter, composer, musician, and voiceover artist who has worked with Company One, ART, Speakeasy Stage, Fresh Ink, New Rep, AATAB, and Boston Playwright’s Theatre. Jude is the DEI Director at The Footlight Club and is in his final semester of graduate school at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, where he pursues an MS in Speech-Language Pathology. He plans on juggling his artistic career with being a voice specialist while advocating for more equitable healthcare and artistic systems. Much love to the cast, crew, KB, and as always, Goku the Cat.
Dylan C. Wack (Cast)
Dylan C. Wack is thrilled to be making his Found in Translation debut with GHOST OF KEELUNG. He has performed with the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Theater in the Open, New Repertory Theatre, Fresh Ink Theatre, and Sparkhaven Theatre, among others. He holds a BFA from Boston University and a Certificate in Classical Acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He can next be seen in Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, performing for free on the Boston Common, starting July 20th. Originally from Newburyport, Massachusetts, Dylan resides in Brooklyn. dylancwack.com | @dylanwack
This event is the second of the VISIONS/VOICES: YEAR OF THE TIGER performance series. Through a partnership with the Greenway Conservancy, Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong has been commissioned to create an artwork celebrating the Year of the Tiger, as part of an annual project honoring the Chinese Zodiac on The Greenway. Her upcoming artwork, YEAR OF THE TIGER, is a community pavilion and a site-specific public artwork composed of vibrantly colored seating, podiums and sprawling floor motifs. As both stage and seating, YEAR OF THE TIGER creates a new, intergenerational hub to gather outdoors, perform or engage in public programs. Pao Arts Center is proud to partner with the Greenway to bring public events to Mary Soo Hoo Park.
See the full performance schedule.
About the Partners
Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston is a social collective that empowers and connects Pan-Asian theatre artists in the Greater Boston area.
CHUANG Stage is the Mandarin-English bilingual, bicultural theater company in Boston, MA that cultivates boundary-breaking stories that bridge the world.
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy
The Conservancy has sole responsibility for managing all aspects of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, including horticulture, programming, public art, maintenance, and capital improvements.
Found in Translation is made possible by a Live Arts Boston grant from the Boston Foundation and the ReOpen Creative Boston Grant from Boston Culture Council.
This project is also supported by Ralph Lauren, Niantic, Inc., The Kresge Foundation, and National CAPACD.
New Narratives Series Present and Future
Saturday, August 13 | 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Performances featuring: Tamiko Beyer, Micah Rose, Juk Sing, and more
In collaboration with Greenway Conservancy, Pao Arts Center and Curator Leslie Anne Condon curates this summer 2022 outdoor performance series which celebrates the cultural power that flows through AAPI communities across the Asian diaspora, in ways that vocalize both struggles and joys. Featuring live performances by Boston-area spoken artists and performers who draw upon a wide range of artistic styles, cultural traditions, and languages from AAPI communities and beyond, the event series activates artist Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong’s YEAR OF THE TIGER installation in Mary Soo Hoo Park. Through their words, dance, creative gestures, and songs, each artist brings greater visibility to our interconnected histories and current realities while offering more playful and empowering visions of our collective future.
Read More About the Partnership
New Narratives Series: Our Past and Present
Saturday, July 16 | 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Performances featuring: Cynthia Lin, Lani Asuncion, Subdrift Boston, and Adobo-Fish-Sauce
Past Events:
Pao Arts Center 5th Anniversary Community Celebration and YEAR OF THE TIGER Opening
May 14 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Five years ago, BCNC and Bunker Hill Community College came together in a visionary collaboration to open Pao Arts Center, Chinatown’s first arts, cultural, and education center.
On May 14th, gather to experience live performances celebrating 5 years of creativity and culture at Pao Arts Center. Featuring the opening of YEAR OF THE TIGER installation by Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong and performances by: Wah Lum Academy, Jennifer Lin and dancers, BHCC student and alumni musicians, Minhua Chen, Elgin Lee, Ba Pham, Patricia Seun, Yu Wang, Chen Chen, Chavi Bansal, IJ Chan, Flora Hyoin Kim Han, and Anju.
The Ghost of Keelung, a Radio Play Presentation
Written by Jamie Lin, Directed by Audrey Seraphin
June 25 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
In the present, a woman visits her family home in Taiwan to appease an ancestral wrong. Back in 1956, a young woman begins working at a bar for American sailors and falls for one of them with dire consequences.
Language: English with Mandarin and Hokkien
July 16, 2022 | 3:00 – 6:00 pm
Performances featuring: Cynthia Lin, Lani Asuncion, Subdrift Boston, and Adobo-Fish-Sauce
About The Artists:
Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong is a New York-based artist working at the boundary of art and architecture. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Cheryl received her B.A. in Art and Italian at UC Berkeley and her Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP. Her work has been commissioned by the NY State Thruway Authority, NYC Parks Department, City of Inglewood, City of Calgary and by the Washington DC Government.
About our Partner:
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy
The Greenway is a contemporary public park in the heart of Boston. The Greenway welcomes millions of visitors annually to gather, play, unwind, and explore. The Greenway Conservancy is the non-profit responsible for the management and care of The Greenway. The majority of the public park’s annual budget is generously provided by private sources.
The Greenway Conservancy Public Art Program brings innovative and contemporary art to Boston through free, seasonal exhibitions that engage people in meaningful experiences, interactions, and dialogue with art, each other, and the most pressing issues of our time. Past Greenway exhibitions can be viewed on the Conservancy’s website.
Contact: arts@bcnc.net, 617.863.9080
Photo Credit from Top to Bottom: Andrew Wang, LeeDaniel Tran, Ethiopiah Al-mahdia
Five years ago, BCNC and Bunker Hill Community College came together in a visionary collaboration to open Pao Arts Center, Chinatown’s first arts, cultural, and education center.
On May 14th, gather to experience live performances celebrating 5 years of creativity and culture at Pao Arts Center. Featuring the opening of “YEAR OF THE TIGER” installation by Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong and performances by: Wah Lum Academy, Jennifer Lin and dancers, BHCC student and alumni musicians, Minhua Chen, Elgin Lee, Ba Pham, Patricia Seun, Yu Wang, Chen Chen, Chavi Bansal, IJ Chan, Flora Hyoin Kim Han, and Anju.
Partners: The Greenway Conservancy
This event is the first of the VISIONS/VOICES: YEAR OF THE TIGER performance series. Through a partnership with the Greenway Conservancy, Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong has been commissioned to create an artwork celebrating the Year of the Tiger, as part of an annual project honoring the Chinese Zodiac on The Greenway. Her upcoming artwork, YEAR OF THE TIGER, is a community pavilion and a site-specific public artwork composed of vibrantly colored seating, podiums and sprawling floor motifs. As both stage and seating, YEAR OF THE TIGER creates a new, intergenerational hub to gather outdoors, perform or engage in public programs. Pao Arts Center is proud to partner with the Greenway to bring public events to Mary Soo Hoo Park.
See the full performance schedule.
About The Artists:
Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong is a New York-based artist working at the boundary of art and architecture. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Cheryl received her B.A. in Art and Italian at UC Berkeley and her Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP. Her work has been commissioned by the NY State Thruway Authority, NYC Parks Department, City of Inglewood, City of Calgary and by the Washington DC Government.
Anju is a singer, songwriter, producer, and performer from Minneapolis. Their music conjures imaginary lovers, scents of citrus, and visions of hairy brown skin under the sun. Anju was highlighted by NPR’s All Songs Considered as an outstanding Tiny Desk Contest entrant, and they were commissioned by South Asian American Digital Archive to create original music for a sound tour of immigrant history in Philadelphia. They are currently teaching piano, viola, and violin to young musicians and working on their debut full-length album.
I.J. Chan
IJ Chan (陳加恩) is a dance artist and educator from Boston, MA. She has dedicated her life to training and performing intensively in multiple dance genres and under many choreographers. In her own choreographic work, IJ is interested in intersecting and exploring the Asian-American narrative. She is committed to bringing quality performing arts instruction to low-income and minority youth populations within Boston. She also works as a freelance graphic designer, visual artist and seamstress.
Chen Chen is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (BOA Editions, 2022) and the forthcoming book of essays, In Cahoots with the Rabbit God (Noemi Press, 2023). His debut book of poems, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. He teaches at Brandeis University.
Minhua Chen
In Minhua Chen’s own words she is “New to real life, new to music. A yet unknown singer who is trying to be better.”
Flora Hyoin Kim Han
Flora Hyoin Kim Han (dance – Boston) is a Korean-American dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. Since earning her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014, she has worked with The Click, Prometheus Dance, Jenna Pollack, Lenora Lee Dance, beheard.world, Jennifer Lin, Deborah Abel Dance Company, Lorraine Chapman, and Urbanity Dance. Flora is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, a Lecturer of Dance at Brandeis University in Fall 2021, a senior faculty at Urbanity Dance and Coastline Ballet Center. Flora’s artistic vision is to bring inclusivity, empowerment, and joy to individuals and communities through the power of dance.
Jennifer Lin is a classically trained dancer, independent choreographer, and teaching artist of American and Korean descent. Raised in the Midwest, she holds degrees from Boston Conservatory and The University of Hawai`i at Manoa. Lin situates her artistic work in interstitial spaces between tradition and modernity, form and expression, and theory and practice. Currently an Artist-In-Residence at Mount Auburn, Lin is creating The Gathering Place, an outdoor site-specific dance that draws inspiration from local history, nature, and human experiences, to be presented in October 2021.
Patricia Seun
I am a proud BHCC Alumni who’s currently in the Voice Performance program at UMass Lowell. I was born in Boston and I’m excited to be able immerse myself into the Boston music scene. Some of my dreams are to be able to write and perform my music as much as I can. I also would like to some day teach voice and help others feel joy and empowered through their voices.
Ba Pham
I was born in Vietnam, inspired and facilitated by my family to learn piano. I developed a love for music from an early age. Since the age of ten, I've been on stage performing for local audiences, and it's always been an exciting feeling. This childhood experience helped shape my musical journey. Later I decided to study classical music and harmony theories. I then learned more about the classical organ and joined choirs and accompanists for churches.Currently, a sophomore majoring in music at Bunker Hill Community College. I am now playing piano and organ in the church for the choir in Everett. I am currently studying and practicing to continue on the musical path in the future.
Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy
Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy of Malden & Quincy, MA, is a world-class representative of the Wah Lum Kung Fu of U.S.A., a kung fu system that has roots in Greater Boston for almost 50 years. The Wah Lum Malden & Quincy Academy has been established for more than 15 years and serves as an anchor for healthy mind, body, spirit, and community development for all ages. Members of Wah Lum Malden & Quincy are not only passionate about promoting the arts of Chinese cultures in dragon dance, lion dance, kung fu, and tai chi, but also committed to meaningful and impactful community and civic leadership.
Yu Wang
My name is Yu Wang and I am a Boston native jpop artist. I am the frontman of the Boston based Japanese pop/rock band @shiori_kubrick. By blending popular online Japanese internet culture with music, I hope to share my unique take on Japanese music with the US.
About our Partner:
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy
The Greenway is a contemporary public park in the heart of Boston. The Greenway welcomes millions of visitors annually to gather, play, unwind, and explore. The Greenway Conservancy is the non-profit responsible for the management and care of The Greenway. The majority of the public park’s annual budget is generously provided by private sources.
The Greenway Conservancy Public Art Program brings innovative and contemporary art to Boston through free, seasonal exhibitions that engage people in meaningful experiences, interactions, and dialogue with art, each other, and the most pressing issues of our time. Past Greenway exhibitions can be viewed on the Conservancy’s website.
This project is supported by Ralph Lauren, Niantic, Inc., The Kresge Foundation, and National CAPACD.
Contact: arts@bcnc.net, 617.863.9080
Our Objects and Possibilities
In Collaboration with Asian Musical Voices of America
Our Objects and Possibilities explores AAPI storytelling through performances of works by AAPI composers, interwoven with readings of works by AAPI writers. Objects—whether they are things of everyday use, poems, or songs—become treasured memories, especially for diasporic and immigrant communities, inspiring our individual and collective destinies. The musical program includes Ken Ueno’s Atlas of Crossed Destinies, duo for violin and viola inspired by Italo Calvino’s work and a facsimile of a 15th century set of illuminated tarot cards, Iman Habibi’s Âhūye Kūhī, a work for violin and cello based on an 8th century Farsi poem in which the composer expresses concern for our displacement and hope for our survival during the climate emergency, JungYoon Wie’s Han, a work for string quartet which includes the use of Korean folk songs and instruments to express the collective suffering of the Korean people, and a live world premiere of Michael Thomas Foumai’s Printing Kapa, duo for violin and harp inspired by kapa prints of contemporary Hawaiian artist Manaola, particularly the design of the ‘ūwila, or lightning bolt, a physical representation of the life force, embodying raw power of nature.
The event will create a collective space for storytelling by our diverse AAPI community of creatives - composers, musicians, and writers - and celebrate our most primal need to connect with our destinies, past, present, and future. Performers include violinists Lucia Lin, Jae Lee, and Hyeyung Sol Yoon, violist Sarah Darling, cellist Leo Eguchi, and harpist Charles Overton.
Pricing: Free, $13 suggested donation
Performance Time: Friday, May 6, 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
COVID-19 Protocol:
In accordance with other performance venues in the City of Boston, Pao Arts Center’s will continue to require proof of vaccinations for entry into any performance or scheduled public program (drop – in gallery visits are exempt). Masks will continue to be required for entry into Pao Arts Center.
About the Artists
Sarah Darling, Viola
(she/her/hers)
Described as “a tireless force of musical curiosity, skill, and enthusiasm” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Sarah Darling enjoys a varied musical career as a performer, educator, and musical co-conspirator on viola and baroque violin. She is a member of the Grammy-nominated self-conducted orchestra A Far Cry, as well as Boston Baroque, and many more Boston-based ensembles.
Leo Eguchi, Cello
(he/him/his)
Boston-based cellist Leo Eguchi, has been described as “copiously skilled and confident” (New York Times) with performances that were "played with passion and vitality" (Boston Music Intellegencer). Leo has performed extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia, and recent performing highlights include several Grammy-nominated recordings from Parma recordings and an artist residency in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Jae Cosmos Lee, Violin
(he/him/his)
American violinist, Jae Cosmos Lee, whose performances have been acclaimed as "Delicate and beautiful" (Syracuse Post-Standard) and "Bursting with color" (Boston Globe), is Concertmaster of the Cape Symphony (Cape Cod, MA), and the Boston Festival Orchestra, co-founder of A Far Cry, Grammy nominated, self conducted, democratically run chamber orchestra in Boston
Lucia Lin, Violin
(she/her/hers)
Lucia Lin is a member of the Boston Symphony orchestra, a founding member of the Boston Trio, and a current member of the Muir String Quartet. Her newest project “In Tandem” is brings new voices to classical music by commissioning ten emerging composers from the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music.
Charles Overton, Harp
(he/him/his)
Charles Overton is a Boston-based harpist and performer of classical, jazz, and world music. He was a finalist in the 2013 American Harp Society National Competition and became the first harpist to be admitted to the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. He is a founding member of the jazz ensemble Charles Overton Group and maintains an active performance career.
Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Violin
(she/her/hers)
Hyeyung Sol Yoon is a violinist and composer whose exploration of identity and belonging is at the center of her creative work. She was a member of the Chiara Quartet until their final season in 2018 and is the founder of AMVA and Open Space Music, whose mission is to gather and sustain a multicultural community of creatives.
Asian Musical Voices of America
Asian Musical Voices of America is a platform where stories can be shared by and for Asian diasporic musicians living and working in the US. AMVA is devoted to community-building and activism for change among Asians and Asian Americans working and creating in classical music. We educate ourselves on the ways structural racism is present in the field and engage in activism to dismantle structural racism, promote equity, and lift up BIPOC musical voices.
Performance of Jungyoon Wie’s Han is supported by the Korean Cultural Society of Boston.
Deep gratitude to the AMVA team, volunteer organizers - Eva Ding, Emily Master, Mansi Shah, April Sun, and founder Hyeyung Sol Yoon
Contact: Ashley Yung, ashley.yung@bcnc.net
Dancers Lynn Huang and Johnny Nguyen, photo credit: Robbie Sweeny
Be the first to experience Convergent Waves: Boston new site-responsive, multimedia experience by Lenora Lee Dance. Immerse yourself in a dance event which celebrates the contributions of activists and non-profit leaders and reclaims space by eliciting stories of community agency, resilience, and transformation. Inspired by rich narrative, this work represents a powerful call for community oriented development in the face of rapid change, making a collective statement for the preservation of community as neighborhoods across the country inhabited for generations face cultural erosion, loss of businesses, and displacement through gentrification. Convergent Waves: Boston highlights successes in preserving the cultural fabric and accomplishments of these communities.
Convergent Waves: Boston is the first iteration of this project and future performances will continue to shed light on the stories of displacement and gentrification in communities across the country. It is touring to San Francisco (June 9, 2022), Los Angeles (Spring 2023), and New York City (Fall 2023). There will also be a virtual screening of Convergent Waves: Boston presented by ArtsEmerson in Fall 2022.
Dates and Times:
Thursday, April 21, 2022 | 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Friday - Saturday April 22 - 23, 2022 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm and 8:30 - 9:30 pm
Post-performance discussion after Saturday, April 23, 8:30 pm show
Run time 60 minutes with no intermission
Pricing: $20.00-$50.00 limit of 50 person each performance, please purchase your tickets early!
Language: English
Conceived, Produced & Directed by Lenora Lee
Choreography by Lenora Lee in collaboration with the performers
Performers / Dance Collaborators: Naoko Brown, IJ Chan, Flora Hyoin Kim Han, Lynn Huang, Johnny Huy Nguyen
Media Design by Lenora Lee
Music
Composed by Vijay Iyer, performed by Fieldwork, Vijay Iyer Trio, Miranda Cuckson, Michi Wianko, Kyle Arrmbust, Kivie Cahn-Lipman, and Wadada Leo Smith. Additional recordings composed and performed by Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith.
Composed and performed by Tatsu Aoki, with Kioto Aoki, Jamie Kempkers, Edward Wilkerson Jr.
Composed by Francis Wong. Performed by Francis Wong, Deszon X. Claiborne, Tatsu Aoki.
Interviewee Voiceover by Susan Chinsen, Ken Eng, Paul Lee, Tunney Lee, Angie Liou, Lydia Lowe, Cynthia Woo, Yu-Wen Wu, Cynthia Yee
Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, incarceration, global conflict, and its impacts, particularly on women and families.
LLD creates works that are both set in public and private spaces, intimate and at the same time large-scale, inspired by individual stories as well as community strength, at times crafted for the proscenium, or underwater, or in the air, and at times are site-responsive, immersive and interactive. For the last 14 years, the company has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia, and immersive dance performance that connects various styles of movement and music to culture, history and human rights issues. Its work has grown to encompass the creation, presentation and screening of films, museum and gallery installations, civic engagement and educational programming.
Photo by Hien Huynh
Lenora Lee
The company is directed by San Francisco native Lenora Lee, who has been a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for the past 23 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. She has been an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater, a 2019 United States Artists Fellow. Lenora is currently artist in residence at Pao Arts Center and ArtsEmerson.
Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz
Vijay Iyer (music compositions, recordings) Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” composer-pianist VIJAY IYER is one of the leading music-makers of his generation. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. His most recent album, a trio session with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh titled Uneasy (ECM Records, 2021), was named Best New Music in Pitchfork and was hailed by the New Yorker as “a triumph of small-group interplay and fertile invention.”
Francis Wong at Fort Funston video shoot by Yumi Hatta, 2020
Francis Wong (music) was dubbed one of “the great saxophonists of his generation” by the late jazz critic Phil Elwood. Few musicians are as accomplished as Wong: for over two decades he has performed his innovative brand of jazz and creative music for audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe. A prolific recording artist, Wong is featured on more than forty titles.
Photo Credit: Peter Bell
Tatsu Aoki (music) is a prolific composer, musician, filmmaker, and educator. Based in Chicago, Aoki works in a wide range of musical genres, ranging from traditional Japanese music, jazz, experimental and creative music. Aoki studied experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently an adjunct Full Professor at the Film, Video and New Media Department, teaching film production and history courses. To this date, Aoki has produced and appears in more than 90 recording projects and over 30 experimental films.
Photo Credit: Steve Pacrate
Naoko Brown
Naoko Brown (dance – Boston) is a native of Nagoya, Japan. At the age of six, she was introduced to the world of classical ballet by Michiko Matsumoto. She continued her training with Barbara Banaskowski Smith in Lansing, MI. While there, she performed with the students of the National Ballet School of Gdansk in Poland, as well as students from Vaganova Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Russia. Brown received her B.F.A. in Dance from The Boston Conservatory. While there, she performed works by Daniel Pelzig, Sean Curran, Lar Lubovitch and José Limón. She also attended the Boston Ballet School Summer Dance Program, Ballet Intensive from Moscow, and was a full scholarship recipient at Summer Stages Dance in 2012. She has performed with Michiko Matsumoto Ballet, Urban Nutcracker, Zoé Dance, Contrapose, Prometheus Dance and Jo-Mé Dance. She is currently a faculty member of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Walnut Hill School for the Arts Community Dance Academy as well as Boston Ballet.
Photo Credit: Patrick Sylvain
IJ Chan
IJ Chan (陳加恩) is a dance artist and educator from Boston, MA. She has dedicated her life to training and performing intensively in multiple dance genres and under many choreographers. In her own choreographic work, IJ is interested in intersecting and exploring the Asian-American narrative. She is committed to bringing quality performing arts instruction to low-income and minority youth populations within Boston. She also works as a freelance graphic designer, visual artist and seamstress.
Lynn Huang
Lynn Huang (dance - San Francisco)Trained in modern dance, ballet, and Chinese dance, Lynn has performed with Lenora Lee, Erin Malley, & Philein Wang in San Francisco, and HT Dance Company, Dance China NY & Ella Ben-Aharon/Sahar Javedani in NYC. She studied at Minzu University Dance Conservatory in Beijing, China on a Fulbright fellowship and graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University.
Photo Credit: Ryan Smith
Flora Hyoin Kim Han
Flora Hyoin Kim Han (dance – Boston) is a Korean-American dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. Since earning her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014, she has worked with The Click, Prometheus Dance, Jenna Pollack, Lenora Lee Dance, beheard.world, Jennifer Lin, Deborah Abel Dance Company, Lorraine Chapman, and Urbanity Dance. Flora is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, a Lecturer of Dance at Brandeis University in Fall 2021, a senior faculty at Urbanity Dance and Coastline Ballet Center. Flora’s artistic vision is to bring inclusivity, empowerment, and joy to individuals and communities through the power of dance.
Photo Credit: Kimberly Arteche
Johnny Huy Nguyen (dance - San Francisco) is a second generation Vietnamese American multidisciplinary dance artist based in Yelamu (aka San Francisco). His practice is centered on the body, recognizing its power as a place of knowing, site of resistance, gateway to healing, and crucible of imagination. Drawing from fluency in multiple movement modalities rooted in a street dance foundation, he weaves together dance with text, ritual, performance art, and other mediums to navigate the intersections between the personal and the political. He has appeared in the works of Lenora Lee Dance, KULARTS, and Embodiment Project and has performed nationally in Oregon, Boston, and NYC. His work has been presented by APAture Festival, the United States of Asian America Festival, and SOMArts, and his most recent solo work, Minority Without A Model, premiered in 2021.
Interviewees In Order of Appearance:
Cynthia Yee, educator, artistic collaborator, and writer at Hudson Street Chronicles, former resident of Hudson Street
Susan Chinsen, Associate Producer at ArtsEmerson & Director of the Boston Asian American Film Festival, former Managing Director of Chinese Historical Society of New England
Paul Lee, Housing Advocate and Retired Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP, Board President, Asian Community Development Corporation, Chair of the Asian Community Fund and Board member of The Boston Foundation, former resident of Hudson Street
Lydia Lowe, Executive Director of the Chinatown Community Land Trust, Former Co-Director and Executive Director of the Chinese Progressive Association
Angie Liou, Executive Director of Asian Community Development Corporation, Board Member of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
Tunney Lee (Rest in Power), Creator of Chinatown Atlas, Distinguished MIT Professor, Former Chief of Planning and Design for the Boston Redevelopment Authority
Yu-Wen Wu, Interdisciplinary Artist at Yu-Wen Wu Studios, based in Boston
Kenneth Eng, Documentary Filmmaker
Cynthia Woo, Director of Pao Arts Center
Convergent Waves: Boston is supported by ArtsEmerson, Pao Arts Center, and by generous individuals. The creation, presentation of and production residency for Convergent Waves: Boston was also made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
Special Thanks to: Asian Community Development Corporation, Carmen Chan, Chinatown Community Land Trust, Chinese Historical Society of New England, Susan Chinsen, Ken Eng, Stephanie Fan, Amy Guen, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Harry Lee, Paul Lee, Tunney Lee, Angie Liou, Lydia Lowe, Cynthia Soo Hoo, Cynthia Woo, and Cynthia Yee.
Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080
Pao Arts Center welcomes rappers jason chu (LA), Alan Z (Atlanta) and Jamel “MC Tingbudong” Mims (NYC) for The Chinatown Tour, a high-energy rap show highlighting Asian American history and the ongoing connections and cultural solidarity between Asian and Black communities.
jason chu and Alan Z will be performing their new project Face Value, exploring Asian American strength and pride rooted in 170+ years of history and community. Bilingual Mandarin/English rapper and Fulbright scholar MC Tingbudong will be sharing Viral 001, a multimedia conversation between China and Black America.
Join us for an evening of music, visuals, and celebration of community.
COVID-19 Protocol:
In accordance with other performance venues in the City of Boston, Pao Arts Center’s will continue to require proof of vaccinations for entry into any performance or scheduled public program (drop – in gallery visits are exempt). Masks will continue to be required for entry into Pao Arts Center.
About the Artists
jason chu
Rapper/activist jason chu has been recognized by the Mellon Foundation, OCA Greater Los Angeles, the LA City Department of Cultural Affairs, BBC, NBC Asian America, and more as a leading voice in Asian American culture. He tours extensively nationwide, centering empathy and storytelling in his work.
Alan Z
Rapper/singer Alan Z is a mainstay in the Atlanta hip-hop scene with a national audience earned from performing coast-to-coast, while building a dedicated online following. He’s been seen going viral on Instagram and TikTok with rap verses about Asian American history and social issues.
MC Tingbudong
Rapper, multimedia artist, and revolutionary Jamel Mims aka MC Tingbudong is on the front lines of resistance against mass incarceration. In 2008, Mims received a Fulbright Scholarship to compile a multimedia ethnography on the hip-hop subculture in Beijing. He works as a Mandarin teacher and leads workshops for Chinese teachers on using hip hop pedagogy in the classroom. His work has been featured in the New York Times and on CBS.
Ava Sophia
Laid-back R&B feels and emotionally-driven honest lyrics define Boston-based singer/songwriter Ava Sophia. Neo-soul and singer-songwriter inspirations ground her distinctive blend of soulful grooves and acoustic pop. Her dedication to authenticity and empowering the voices of marginalized communities through her lyrics make her the unique artist she is today. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Ava continues to share her music in and around Boston.
REX MAC
REX MAC is an Asian American, Boston based hip hop musician, organizer, and journalist. REX MAC is an Asian American, Boston based hip hop musician, organizer, and journalist. Since 2012, Rex has built a discography of entirely self-produced projects. His latest album, ABLOOM, is available now.
A Deal by Zhu Yi
Co-directed by Michelle Aguillon and Tianding He
A young actress from China brands herself as an orphan and human rights victim to enter the mainstream theater scene in America and to obtain her immigration status, while her parents smuggle one million dollars in cash from Shanghai to buy her an apartment in Manhattan.
A Deal is a dark comedy that follows a Chinese family's home buying journey in New York under the backdrop of a China-US economic crisis. Originally taking place in the winter of 2015, it still resonates today. It explores: Chinese versus American values; the importance of family versus the individual; notions of what constitutes truth and in whose eyes; and the immigrant’s dilemma—to remain voluntarily ghettoized or to assimilate.
《杂音》讲述了刚从哥伦比亚大学表演专业毕业的的中国姑娘李苏，梦想在舞台上发光发热，渴望在美国获得成功，可即便拥有名校文凭的她也面临着找不到工作的危机。为了获得关注，李苏不惜将自己伪造成人权受害者。与此同时，李苏的父母筹集了百万美金从上海飞往纽约，想为女儿买一套房，让她更有底气地在美国社会立足，融入精英阶层。这趟美国之旅却导致女儿孤身留美，父母凄惨归国……朱宜敏锐地捕捉到经济波动下人们的焦灼不安，借以极具中国特色的“买房”行为作为故事契机，用黑色幽默的戏谑笔法呈现出东西方意识形态在当代的碰撞。
COVID-19 Protocol:
In accordance with other performance venues in the City of Boston, Pao Arts Center’s will continue to require proof of vaccinations for entry into any performance or scheduled public program (drop – in gallery visits are exempt). Masks will continue to be required for entry into Pao Arts Center.
About Found in Translation
“Found in Translation” is a play-reading and community workshop series through Winter 2021 to Spring 2022 that amplifies the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as AAPI in Greater Boston.
The series and events range from the Vietnamese Buddhist afterlife, the American entertainment industry, and a haunted tavern in Taiwan, we hope to connect the AAPI community through conversations about race, language, identity, and our experiences when it comes to relating to our birth country or immigration timeline.
Production Team
Playwright: Zhu Yi
Directors: Michelle Aguillon and Tianding He
Stage Manager: Jingwen Zhang
Space Designer: Melody Hsu
Sound Designer: Anna Drummond
Lighting Designer: Ashley Yung
Producers: Joey Cosio-Mercado, Alison Qu, Sarah Shin, Ashley Yung
Language: English and Mandarin
Event is free, suggested donation $10.
Performance Time: Saturday, April 2, 7:00 PM (English) & Saturday, April; 9, 7:00 PM (Mandarin)
Zhu Yi (she/her) is an award-winning playwright, based in NYC, born and raised in Shanghai, China. MFA in Playwriting, Columbia University. She received the First Prize at 2015 World Sinophone Drama Competition, and Shanghai Drama Valley's 2015 Outstanding Playwright of the Year Award. She is an alumni of Ensemble Studio Theatre's Obie Award-winning playwrights group Youngblood, 2012-2013 Emerging Artist Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, a member of the Royal Court Theatre's International Playwrights Programme, Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Clubbed Thumb Theater's writers group, and Dramatists Guild of America.
Tianding He - Director for Mandarin Reading
Tianding He is a New York-based director, producer, curator, scholar and puppeteer originally from China. She is the founding artistic director of B·O·N·D International Virtual Performance Festival. Recent directing credits include immersive theatre: The White Night (Margo Feiden Gallery), South Node of the Moon, Me, You, He & She (Dixon Place), Invisible Days (UNFIX Festival). She also produced the Off-Broadway show, The Romantic Misadventures of Ah Q (Theatre Row). Her two master’s degrees are from Tisch school of Arts in NYU and Hunter College, while she is pursuing a PhD at UCI and UCSD.
Michelle Aguillon - Director for English Reading
Michelle M. Aguillon (she series) is a Boston-area director and actor. Recent directing credits includes Passion (Theater Uncorked), Sense and Sensibility (Concord Players), Asian-American Playwright Collective Annual Playfest (Starlight Theater, Cambridge), The Walking Plays (Lyric Stage Company), Boston Resilience Project Plays: East Boston, Nos Vemos (Speakeasy Stage Co.), Fences, The Joy Luck Club, Disgraced, To Kill a Mockingbird, True West (Umbrella Stage Co.), Augusta and Noble (Emerson Theater), Vietgone (Company One), Proof (Central Square Theater). She is the Executive Director of Creative Arts in Reading, MA, and proudly serves on the Board of Directors of the Eastern MA Association of Community Theaters and at StageSource.
CHUANG Stage is the Mandarin-English bilingual, bicultural theater company in Boston, MA that cultivates boundary-breaking stories that bridge the world.
Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston is a social collective that empowers and connects Pan-Asian theatre artists in the Greater Boston area.
Found in Translation is made possible by a Live Arts Boston grant from the Boston Foundation and the ReOpen Creative Boston Grant from Boston Culture Council
Contact: Ashley Yung, 617-863-9080
Due to the recent increase in COVID-19 numbers and for the safety of the community, this weekend’s performance has been cancelled.
We are making this decision with the community’s best interest in mind– we want to prioritize the safety of the Chinatown and local AAPI community as well as our actors and creative team.
We are in the process of discussing the future of Chosen Family. We are invested in Jessica and Cara’s work and hope to stage a reading in the future. We hope to see you at a future “Found in Translation” event.
Chuang Stage, Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), and Pao Arts Center unite for “Found in Translation,” a play reading and community workshop series that amplifies the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as AAPI in Greater Boston.
The first play in this series - Chosen Family weaves together the Vietnamese-American diaspora with Buddhist reincarnation theory. The theory in question for this story is one that claims a person’s soul enters a “void” after passing on. Once in that void, the soul gets to decide if they’d like to live again. In this lies the piece’s Dramatic Question: if you knew everything you know now, would you do it all over again?
Here to answer that question are four “students" and pillars of the Viet-Am experience. Due to not confronting "khổ " ("suffering") during their lifetimes, the four find themselves reuniting in a perpetual place of learning…their old Vietnamese language school.
Age advisory: Appropriate for all ages
Language: English and Vietnamese
Event is free, suggested donation $10.
Performance Time: Friday, Dec 17, 2021 7:00 PM & Saturday Dec 18, 2021 7:00 PM
Jessica Luu Pelletier - Playwright
Jessica Luu Pelletier (she/her) is a New York-based queer biracial Vietnamese-American theatre artist, writer, and actor. She received her BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Born in Hà Nội, Việt Nam and raised in Massachusetts and Guam, Jessica has always identified as a third culture kid and as part of Generation 1.5. Seeking to understand this place in the diaspora, she writes multi-cultural stories that aim to represent her communities, connect generations, and liberate those who have been Othered. Jessica has worked with the Sống Collective as an inaugural member of their Việt Writers' Lab.
Cara Hinh (she/they) is a queer, fat & mixed Viet American director and educator originally from Indiana. As the daughter of a refugee, they are drawn to work about and for people of the diaspora that expands the ideas of American identity. She rejoices in work that speaks to the complicated and messy intersectionalities of holding a multiplicity of cultures and identities. Cara is a 2021-22 Drama League Hangar Fellow and a proud member of the Roundabout Directors Group.
CHUANG Stage is the Mandarin-English bilingual, bicultural theater company in Boston, MA that cultivates boundary-breaking stories that bridge the world.
Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston is a social collective that empowers and connects Pan-Asian theatre artists in the Greater Boston area.
“This project is made possible by a Live Arts Boston grant from the Boston Foundation.”
Contact: Ashley Yung, 617-863-9080
Continuum Dance Project, in collaboration with visual artist Myrna Balk, presents a free performance of their new evening-length dance/theatre work examining contemporary stories of immigration. All stories are true as remembered by project participants. Storytellers are originally from 9 countries including: Columbia, The Dominican Republic, Honduras, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Russia, The US Virgin Islands, and Vietnam.
Age advisory: Appropriate for all ages
Language: English
Event is free, suggested donation $10.
Register below:
Continuum Dance Project (CDP) is a Boston based dance company focused on creating site-specific work, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and reflecting the backgrounds of our collaborating artists. Founded in 2013 by Fernadina Chan, CDP has shown dance in concerts and festivals throughout New England. Co-Directors Brayton and Chan have been creating together since 2007, most notably “Passage Through Blue” (2017) for Boston Center for the Arts, and “Forage in Park" (2020) at Larz Anderson Park.
Contact: Ashley Yung, 617-863-9080
Join Company One Theatre and Pao Arts Center for a virtual concert and conversation featuring songs of a new musical written and performed by Kit Yan & Melissa Li, the 2020-21 C1 PlayLab Pao Fellows. Artists and community members come together to share and celebrate the vibrant Boston Chinatown community, whose stories underpin Li and Yan’s creative process. Together we address the unique and challenging conditions of creation against the backdrop of COVID-19 and the rise in anti-Asian racism, while exploring how community-centered, civically engaged arts practices can combat these forces.
Moderator: Ju Yon Kim (Faculty, Scholar of Asian American Studies at Harvard University)
Speakers:
Kit Yan & Melissa Li (2020-21 C1 PlayLab/Pao Fellows)
Ben Hires (Chief Executive Officer at Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center)
Alison Yueming Qu (Associate Producer/Dramaturg of C1/Pao Chinatown Project)
Christina R. Chan (Community Producer of C1/Pao Chinatown Project)
The 2020-21 C1 PlayLab Pao Fellowship is a two-year long fellowship supporting the creation of community-centered art-making with Kit Yan and Melissa Li, along with Community Producer Christina R. Chan, and Associate Producer/Dramaturg Alison Yueming Qu. The fellowship resulted in a new theatrical work-in-progress that responds to the neighborhood’s vibrancy and perseverance, and reflects a rapidly changing Chinatown.
Melissa Li (she/her) – Writer / Performer
Melissa Li is a composer, lyricist, performer, and writer based in New York and Baltimore. She is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Award, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, a 2019 Lincoln Center Theater Writer-in-Residence, a 2019 Musical Theater Factory Maker, a 2019 Macdowell Colony Fellow, and a former Queer | Art |Mentorship Fellow. Musicals include Interstate (New York Musical Festival, Winner “Outstanding Lyrics”), Surviving the Nian (The Theater Offensive, IRNE Award Winner for “Best New Play” 2007), and 99% Stone (The Theater Offensive). Her works have received support from The 5th Avenue Theatre, The Village Theater, Musical Theater Factory, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts, Dixon Place, and others.
Kit Yan (they/them) – Writer / Performer
Kit Yan is a transgender, Yellow American, New York based artist, born in Enping, China, and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Kit is a 2019 Vivace Award winner, 2019 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, 2019 Lincoln Center Writer in residence, a 2019 MacDowell Fellow, 2019-2020 Musical Theater Factory Makers Fellow, and a 2019-2020 Playwright’s Center Many Voices Fellow. Works include Interstate, which won “Best Lyrics” at the 2018 New York Musical Theater Festival, and Queer Heartache, which won 5 awards at the Chicago and SF Fringe Festivals. Their work has been produced by the American Repertory Theater, the Smithsonian, Musical Theater Factory, the New York Musical Festival, and Diversionary Theater. They have been a resident with the Civilians, Mitten Lab, 5th Avenue Theater, and the Village Theater.
Christina R. Chan (she/her) – Community Producer
Christina R. Chan is a founding member of the Asian American Playwright Collective (AAPC). As an actor, director, and writer, her work focuses on the Asian, Asian American immigration experience. She identifies as a 1.5 generation immigrant: born in Hong Kong, she then immigrated to the US as a toddler, and grew up in Boston. Christina was a Company One 2016 PlayLab Fellow, and her first full length play, Stir Frying Mahjong, was a Eugene O’Neill National Theater Conference 2017 Semi-Finalist. She was commissioned to adapt and direct a play written by Harry H Dow, the first Asian-American lawyer in 1938 to pass the Massachusetts bar. She is the recipient of 2016 and 2017 Live Art Boston grants from The Boston Foundation.
Ben Hires (he/him) CEO, BCNC
Ben has significant experience in nonprofit leadership and serving young people and families. He held leadership positions in programs, strategy, and external relations at the Boston Children’s Chorus where he played a key role elevating the choir’s social justice mission to bring diverse young people and their families together. As Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Boston Public Library, he established and maintained building strong relationships across education, cultural, and civic engagement sectors to advance the Library’s mission of providing free educational and cultural enrichment to Boston residents. Prior to being the CEO, Ben volunteered as a mentor for BCNC’s College Access Program for youth and as a member of the Pao Arts Center Advisory Committee.
Alison Yueming Qu (she/they) – Associate Producer / Dramaturg
Originally from China, Alison Yueming Qu (chi-oo) is a Creative Producer, Director, and a Dramaturg. Graduated from Emerson College with a BFA in Theatre (Directing and Dramaturgy), Alison was the inaugural Cutler Creative Producing & Engagement Fellow at ArtsEmerson, and the Co-Founder of CHUANG Stage—a Boston-based theater collective dedicated to cultivating AAPI narratives. Her current and recent projects include the PRC-USA Artists Connectivity Series (Ping Pong Arts/KMP Artists), Imaginarium (US Producer, Out of the Blue Theatre), Earthquake by Tatyana Emery (Director, Reground Theater Collective), and Waiting for Kim Lee by Vivian Liu-Somers (Director, Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston). Their dramaturgy work for 10 Out of 12 by Anne Washburn (Emerson Stage) received the 2020 LMDA/KCACTF Region 1 Student Dramaturgy Award. She is a proud alumna of the National Theater Institute and an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Ju Yon Kim (she/her) – Moderator
Ju Yon Kim is Professor of English at Harvard University. Her research and teaching interests include Asian American literature and performance; modern and contemporary American theater and drama; and cross-racial and intercultural performance. She is the author of The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday (NYU Press, 2015), which received the 2016 Lois P. Rudnick Book Prize from the New England American Studies Association for best book in American studies published in 2015 by a New England area scholar. Her articles have appeared in Theatre Journal, Modern Drama, The Journal of Transnational American Studies, Modernism/modernity, Theatre Survey, and the Journal of Asian American Studies. She is currently working on a second book project on suspicion and performance.
Join the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Pao Arts Center, and Lenora Lee Dance for a free virtual viewing party for Meditations on the Power of Community. Watch the film here!
Video still Meditations on the Power of Community, dancer Naoko Brown at Shen Wei: Painting in Motion Exhibition (Hostetter Gallery), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, December 3, 2020 – June 20, 2021, courtesy Weiying Olivia Huang.
Meditations on the Power of Community is a short film commissioned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, featuring choreography by Pao Arts Center 2021 Artist-in-Residence Lenora Lee Dance and filmed by Weiying Olivia Huang. The film features interviews with members of Boston’s Chinatown community, in response to the Museum’s exhibition Shen Wei: Painting in Motion.
Following a screening of the film, join Weiying Olivia Huang, filmmaker, Lenora Lee of Lenora Lee Dance, Paul W. Lee, Board President of Asian Community Development Corporation, Cynthia Woo of Pao Arts Center, and moderator Susan Chinsen, Creative Producer/Engagement, Founding Director/Boston Asian American Film Festival, Emerson College Office of the Arts, ArtsEmerson, for a dialogue about the resilience of local activists, dreams turned into reality through art, advocacy, and the healing embrace of culture.
The program will feature a screening of this short film as well as opportunities for the audience to join the conversation.
Lenora Lee is a 2021 Pao Arts Center Artist in Residence, with additional support from ArtsEmerson.
Meditations on the Power of Community will also be screened in Projecting Connections: Chinese American Experiences, presented by ArtsEmerson and the Boston Asian American Film Festival from May 6- 10.
Photo Credit: Hien Huynh
Lenora Lee is a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of Lenora Lee Dance. She pushes the envelope of large-scale multimedia dance performance crafted for the proscenium, underwater, or in the air, and at times is site-responsive, immersive and interactive. Lenora’s work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research related to immigration, global conflict, and human rights.
Paul W. Lee is a retired Partner of Goodwin Procter LLP. Mr. Lee grew up in the Boston Chinatown and Brookline, Mass. His Chinese immigrant parents worked in restaurants and garment factories. After earning a degree in electrical engineering and computer science, he became a lawyer and was a partner at Goodwin Procter specializing in corporate law from 1984-2013. Mr. Lee serves on the boards of The Boston Foundation Board, Conservation Law Foundation, and WGBH, Chair of the Asian Community Fund, and Board President of the Asian Community Development Corporation, which has built over 600 units of housing in Boston Chinatown. In 2019 he received the Sojourner Award from the Chinese Historical Society of New England.
Photo Credit: Sampan/Yiyan Zheng 鄭怡嫣
Susan Chinsen is a Creative Producer at ArtsEmerson. She established the annual Boston Asian American Film Festival in 2008, where she continues as the Festival Director. Previously, she managed the Chinese Historical Society of New England, and was an engagement consultant for the PBS documentary "The Chinese Exclusion Act," building upon her community work and past experience working at WGBH. She is on the Board of Directors at South Cove Community Health Center, MASS Creative and a Steering Committee member of the API Arts Network. Susan is also an alumna of the American Chinese Art Society's traditional dance troupe and Tufts University.
Photo Credit Mengyuan Lin
Weiying Olivia Huang is an award winning documentary filmmaker. Her documentary ‘City as Canvas’ won the Best Human Interest Documentary at the World Premiere Film Awards in 2020. The film, funded by a grant from the Cambridge Arts Council, was also nominated for ‘Best New England Film’ at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It is originally the home of Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose will called for her art collection be permanently exhibited "for the education and enjoyment of the public forever".
ISGM Community programs created in partnership with Pao Arts Center are made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts and Barr Foundation ArtsAmplified initiative.
Education and community programs receive support from the Vertex Foundation, the Rowland Foundation, The Lubin Family Foundation, The Beker Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation, Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation, and the Janet Burke Mann Foundation.
The Gardner Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080
Video still Meditations on the Power of Community, dancer Naoko Brown at Shen Wei: Painting in Motion Exhibition (Hostetter Gallery), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, December 3, 2020 – June 20, 2021, courtesy Weiying Olivia Huang.
In response to the Shen Wei: Painting in Motion exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Pao Arts Center 2021 Artist in Residence Lenora Lee Dance presents a new commissioned work, illuminating stories of the Chinatown community against the backdrop of Wei’s large-scale, immersive paintings. Interviews and contemporary dance choreographed by Lee in collaboration with Lenora Lee Dance and Boston-based dancers, provide a meditation on the experiences of Boston’s Chinatown community. Video by Weiying Olivia Huang. Watch online on May 6.
Virtual screening and Panel May 11
Lenora Lee is a 2021 Artist in Residence at Pao Arts Center and additional Artist Residency support is provided by Arts Emerson.
Credit: Hien Huynh
Lenora Lee is a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of Lenora Lee Dance. She pushes the envelope of large-scale multimedia dance performance crafted for the proscenium, underwater, or in the air, and at times is site-responsive, immersive and interactive. Lenora’s work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research related to immigration, global conflict, and human rights.
Credit Mengyuan Lin
Weiying Olivia Huang is an award winning documentary filmmaker. Her documentary ‘City as Canvas’ won the Best Human Interest Documentary at the World Premiere Film Awards in 2020. The film, funded by a grant from the Cambridge Arts Council, was also nominated for ‘Best New England Film’ at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum invites you to escape the ordinary in a magical setting where art and community come together to inspire new ways of envisioning our world. Embodying the fearless legacy of its founder, the Museum offers an invitation to explore the past through a contemporary lens, creating meaningful encounters with art and joyful connections for all.
ISGM Community programs created in partnership with Pao Arts Center are made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts and Barr Foundation ArtsAmplified initiative.
Education and community programs receive support from the Vertex Foundation, the Rowland Foundation, The Lubin Family Foundation, The Beker Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation, Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation, and the Janet Burke Mann Foundation.
The Gardner Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080
Photo Credit: Olivia Huang
In a video series of interviews and poetry readings, poet Chen Chen explores issues of home, identity, immigration, and coming out. Each poetry reading will be accompanied by interpretive choreography by Chavi Bansal, IJ Chan, and Flora Kim.
Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions), which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. Bloodaxe Books recently published the UK edition. His work appears in many publications, including Poetry and The Best American Poetry (2015 & 2019). He has received a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from Kundiman and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches at Brandeis University as the Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence.
Photo Credit: Redaska
Flora Hyoin Kim is a Korean-American choreographer, performer, and dance educator who earned her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014. As a choreographer Flora has presented her works at various venues including Harvard Kennedy School, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Onstage Dance Company Choreographer Residency Showcase, First Church in Cambridge, Korean Church of Boston and Lotte Cinema World Towel in Seoul, South Korea. Flora has directed and created a fully remote dance video, In Solidarity, as well as performed in a dance, music, and poetry film project, Together 6 Feet Apart, with BeHeard.World company in summer 2020. Flora has performed and presented works by prestigious companies and choreographers in Boston including Prometheus Dance, Deborah Abel Dance Company, BeHeard.World, Korhan Basaran, Riley Watts, Hollis Bartlett, Nattie Trogdon, Lorraine Chapman, Jennifer Lin, and Urbanity Dance. As a dance educator, Flora has taught various age groups at Boston Ballet School, Endicott College, Urbanity Dance, LINX Dance, StyleMe Dance, Boston public schools and dance studios in greater Boston area.
I.J. Chan is a dance artist and educator born, raised, and now based in Boston. In 2015, she graduated from James Madison University with a B.A. in Dance and Journalism. Since then she has dedicated her life to training and performing intensively in multiple dance genres, for multiple local and international dance masters. She has worked with a variety of Boston-based dance artists, including KAIROS Dance Theater, McKersin Previlus/Lakaï Dance Theatre, Jennifer Lin, Jean Appolon Expression, Chavi Bansal and Lenora Lee. In her own choreographic work, I.J. is interested in intersecting and exploring the Asian-American narrative. In addition to performing, she is committed to bringing quality dance instruction to low-income and minority youth populations within the city. She also works as freelance graphic designer and visual artist, with a specific focus on creating marketing materials for other dance artists in the community.
Born and brought up in India, Chavi Bansal’s early dance training was in Bharatanatyam, Bollywood, Martial Arts, and Indian Contemporary dance. Craving a broader dance vocabulary, Chavi moved to the Netherlands, where she earned her B.A. in Dance with a specialization in Choreography from Fontys Hogescholen Voor de Kunsten. In 2010, Chavi founded her company, Vimoksha, or “Liberation” in Sanskrit. Her artistic practice is rooted in Indian martial arts (Kalaripayatt), Yoga, Meditation, and both Indian and modern dance. At its heart, regardless of the form, the practice is focused on three areas: self-inquiry, stillness, and connection. Since moving to Boston in 2014, Vimoksha has found a company of Boston based dancers. Her work has been presented by the University of Stavanger (Norway), Danstalier’s (Rotterdam, NL), Mundial Festival (Netherlands), Boston Center for the Arts (Boston), Dance Complex (Cambridge), India Habitat Center (India), and Omi International Arts Center (NY).
Contact: Ashley Yung
