August 15, 2022

 

Aloha from Denver!

We began rehearsals last week for Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady at Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The production runs September 9 - October 16, 2022. Scroll down for the cast and creative team.

 The script and production are customized for Denver. DCPA's Director of Community Engagement, Jesús Quintana Martinez, and I spent the past five months consensus organizing with the local Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.

As a result, playwright Lloyd Suh updated his script, adding reference to the 1880 anti-Chinese race riot where 3,000 White rioters destroyed every single structure in the Denver's Chinatown, chased out the Chinese, and murdered, beat and hung one Chinese man from a lamp post. In Suh's haunting new text, Look Young, the name of the man who was murdered is spoken out loud and Denver's historic Chinatown is remembered.

Gil Asakawa, Harry Budisidharta, Soyon Bueno, Joie Ha, James Ma, Dr. William Wei, Soon Beng Yeap, Erin Yoshimura, and members of Denver Asian American Pacific Islander Commission (DAAPIC) generously shared their time, teaching us about the communities' interests and goals, thus helping us activate the production and surrounding activities to serve local needs. We cultivated a partnership with Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU) where their traveling exhibit will be featured in the lobby of the Denver Center as well as at the Auraria Library. Local community members Joanne Liu, Annie VanDan, Deborah Yim and Joie Ha will facilitate talkbacks following the performances on Sept 20, 22, 29, and Oct 6. An advance film screening of I Am Denver: Chinatown will take place at DCPA in collaboration with the City and County of Denver and the Office of Storytelling on September 21. I am excited for these collaborations and grateful to the local AAPI communities and DCPA.

 

Here's the team:

Denver Center for the Performing Arts

Chris Coleman, Artistic Director

 

The Chinese Lady

By Lloyd Suh

Directed by Seema Sueko

Scenic Design by Alan E. Muraoka

Costume Design by Meghan Anderson Doyle

Lighting Design by Charles MacLeod

Sound Design by André Pluess

Dramaturgy by Katherine Chou

Voice and Dialect Coaching by Eva Breneman

Intimacy Consulting by Samantha Egle

Casting by Grady Soapes, CSA

Executive Director, Equity and Organization Culture, Lydia Garcia

DCPA Team

 

Narea Kang as Afong Moy

Sky Smith as Atung

 

Stage Manager: Malia Stoner

Assistant Stage Manager: Kristin Sutter

Stage Management Apprentice: Angela Salazar

 

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