Patrick Chen’s Chinatown noir thriller A Father’s Son, a short film/pilot based on characters from Henry Chang’s 90’s NYPD Detective Jack Yu crime series novels, has won the ‘Audience Choice Award’ for Best Short Film from Katra Film Series.
Photo by Lia Chang
Katra Film Series’ screening of Patrick Chen’s A Father’s Son played to a sold-out house at Regal Essex Crossing in New York on April 26, 2023.
KATRA Film Series Founder Geoffrey Guerrero at Regal Essex Crossing in New York on April 26, 2023. Photo by Adam LimFilmmakers during the Q & A after the KATRA Film Series screening at Regal Essex Crossing in New York on April 26, 2023. Photo by Adam LimWing Lee, Henry Chang, Patrick Chen. Photo by Adam LimRow 1: Vera Chow, Jinny Chung. Row 2: Yixin Cen, Kathleen Kwan, Perry Yung, William Hsieh. Row 3: Wing Lee, Adam Lim, Shuhei Kinoshita, Joey Orlando, Tim Liu, Henry Chang, Sean Lau, Karen Tsen Lee, Patrick Chen, Jason Chew, Joe Chan, Evan Lam, Dave Chan. Photo by Nano LeonHenry Chang, Perry Yung, Wing Lee, Patrick Chen. Photo by Adam LimJinny Chung, Karen Tsen Lee, Kathleen Kwan, Vera Chow. Photo by Nano Leon
Henry Chang shared, “Winning the ‘Audience Choice Award’ for BEST SHORT FILM demonstrates that viewers appreciate the efforts of cast and crew to portray not only an engrossing story but the culture and language of Chinatown as well. It means that audiences are ready for honest in-depth stories beyond the usual stereotypical fare that is offered. Everyone involved should be most proud. Thank you all!”
Henry Chang. Photo by Patrick ChenFilmmaker Patrick Chen and Henry Chang. Photo by Shuhei KinoshitaPhoto by Patrick ChenSpecial thanks to the entire KATRA TEAM from A FATHER’S SON. Photo by Nanon Leon
A Father’s Son stars Tzi Ma (Rush Hour, The Farewell, Mulan) as Krang Li, Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians, “The Daily Show,” Netflix’s “Asian Comedian Destroys America”) as Detective Jack Yu, Perry Yung (“The Knick,” “Warrior,” “Boogie”) as Jack’s father, Wang Kei Yu and Kathleen Kwan as Lai Jean Li.
Perry Yung and Ronny Chieng in A FATHER’S SON. Photo by Lia Chang
The cast also features Christopher Randolph as Captain Salvatore Marino, Wai Ching Ho as Soo Hing Li, Cathy Salvodon as Crystal Jones, Adam Lim as Billy Bo, Tim Liu as Officer Dennis Wong.
Ronny Chieng, Wai Ching Ho, Tzi Ma, Kathleen Kwan and Madelyn Bae. Photo by Lia Chang
Set in the early ’90s when local street gangs terrorized Manhattan’s Chinatown, the story centers on Detective Jack Yu – torn between his identity of his community and the NYPD, Detective Jack Yu delivers news of a son’s murder to the victim’s parents at the height of a gang turf war in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
The latest awards tally for A Father’s Son include the 2022 Canada China International Film Festival Best Supporting Actor Award for A Father’s Son’s star Tzi Ma, a 2022 New York Shorts International Film Festival Special Mention Honors, A 2022 Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Filmfest Best Adaptation from a Book Award and a 2022 KAFFNY Infinite Cinema Short Film Audience Award.
Credits for teaser trailer include Patricia Ma (Editor), Phil Choe (Colorist), William Hsieh (Sound Designer), David Bettencourt (Graphics Designer), Mike J. Kelly (Music) and Film Composer CHOPSmusic.
The creative team includes music by Scott Chops Jung, Cinematography by Jason Chew, Film Editing by Xiaoya Ma, Production Design by Wing Lee, Costume Design by Vera Chow, Makeup Artists Glenda Remo Jinks and Jiamin Zhou, Belén Orsini (1st Assistant Director), Yixin Cen (2nd Assistant Director), Set Dresser Jinny Chung, Assistant Art Directors Melody Wong and Hu Yawen, Boom Operator and Sound Mixer Sebastian Hoist, Sound Designer/Supervisor William Hsieh, Fight Choreographer Lang Yip, Lia Chang (Still Photographer), Cindy Chen (1st Assistant Camera), Derrick Chen (2nd Assistant Camera), Arseniy Grobovnikov (Gaffer), Manoj Gurung (Gaffer), Brittany Jeffrey (Key Grip), Jason H. Kim (Key Grip), Bruna Lacerda (1st Assistant Camera), Brandon Lee (2nd Assistant Camera), Justine Onne (Key Grip), Samon (Grip), Chris Ungco (Steadicam Operator), Shannon Ko (Script Supervisor), David Bettencourt (Campaign Manager), Joe Chan (Dialect Coach), Grayson Chin (Key Production Assistant) and Oliver Chiu (Production Assistant).
Patrick Chen’s Chinatown noir thriller A Father’s Son, a short film/pilot based on characters from Henry Chang’s 90’s NYPD Detective Jack Yu crime series novels, is an official selection of the Katra Film Series and will screen on Wednesday, April 26 at Regal Essex Crossing (129 Delancey Street) near Manhattan’s Chinatown at 6:15pm, after which there will be a filmmaker Q&A.
A Father’s Son stars Tzi Ma (Rush Hour, The Farewell, Mulan) as Krang Li, Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians, “The Daily Show,” Netflix’s “Asian Comedian Destroys America”) as Detective Jack Yu, Perry Yung (“The Knick,” “Warrior,” “Boogie”) as Jack’s father, Wang Kei Yu and Kathleen Kwan as Lai Jean Li.
Perry Yung and Ronny Chieng in A FATHER’S SON. Photo by Lia Chang
The cast also features Christopher Randolph as Captain Salvatore Marino, Wai Ching Ho as Soo Hing Li, Cathy Salvodon as Crystal Jones, Adam Lim as Billy Bo, Tim Liu as Officer Dennis Wong.
Ronny Chieng, Wai Ching Ho, Tzi Ma, Kathleen Kwan and Madelyn Bae. Photo by Lia Chang
Set in the early ’90s when local street gangs terrorized Manhattan’s Chinatown, the story centers on Detective Jack Yu – torn between his identity of his community and the NYPD, Detective Jack Yu delivers news of a son’s murder to the victim’s parents at the height of a gang turf war in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
The Katra Film Series program will screen four other shorts including Never Forget, The Blue Line, OVERDUE, Rose, At Last…, Wendy, and The Hope Chest Has a Secret Drawer.
The latest awards tally for A Father’s Son include the 2022 Canada China International Film Festival Best Supporting Actor Award for A Father’s Son’s star Tzi Ma, a 2022 New York Shorts International Film Festival Special Mention Honors, A 2022 Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Filmfest Best Adaptation from a Book Award and a 2022 KAFFNY Infinite Cinema Short Film Audience Award.
Credits for teaser trailer include Patricia Ma (Editor), Phil Choe (Colorist), William Hsieh (Sound Designer), David Bettencourt (Graphics Designer), Mike J. Kelly (Music) and Film Composer CHOPSmusic.
The creative team includes music by Scott Chops Jung, Cinematography by Jason Chew, Film Editing by Xiaoya Ma, Production Design by Wing Lee, Costume Design by Vera Chow, Makeup Artists Glenda Remo Jinks and Jiamin Zhou, Belén Orsini (1st Assistant Director), Yixin Cen (2nd Assistant Director), Set Dresser Jinny Chung, Assistant Art Directors Melody Wong and Hu Yawen, Boom Operator and Sound Mixer Sebastian Hoist, Sound Designer/Supervisor William Hsieh, Fight Choreographer Lang Yip, Lia Chang (Still Photographer), Cindy Chen (1st Assistant Camera), Derrick Chen (2nd Assistant Camera), Arseniy Grobovnikov (Gaffer), Manoj Gurung (Gaffer), Brittany Jeffrey (Key Grip), Jason H. Kim (Key Grip), Bruna Lacerda (1st Assistant Camera), Brandon Lee (2nd Assistant Camera), Justine Onne (Key Grip), Samon (Grip), Chris Ungco (Steadicam Operator), Shannon Ko (Script Supervisor), David Bettencourt (Campaign Manager), Joe Chan (Dialect Coach), Grayson Chin (Key Production Assistant) and Oliver Chiu (Production Assistant).
Lia Chang, co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, has launched her latest venture, BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, an Arts and Entertainment program produced weekly at the studios of MNN.org.
Lia Chang and André De Shields
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a photo activist and documentarian, who lifts up and amplifies BIPOC communities and artists and the institutions that support them. Bev’s Girl Films collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Updated: 1/5/23
The seventeenth episode of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, executive produced and hosted by Lia, aired on January 1 at 6:30 pm (EST) on FIOS 34, RCN 83, and Spectrum 56/1996, and streams on MNN2. If you miss the episode, it is archived on my youtube channel.
André De Shields, LaChanze and Alex Lacamoire receive 2022 BIV Awards at BIV’s BETTER DAYS: Fundraising Cocktail Party and Award Ceremony in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre’s Penthouse Lobby in New York on October 24, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
This edition of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang celebrates Tony, Grammy and Emmy winning Death of A Salesman Star André De Shields and Tony, Obie and Emmy Award winning Hadestown star Lillias White.
Last October, Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) honored Tony André De Shields (Death of a Salesman, Becoming Lincoln, Hadestown), Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Color Purple, Producer: TopDog/Underdog, Kimberly Akimbo), and three-time Tony Award winner Alex Lacamoire (VIVO, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton) for being true agents of INSPIRATION using the arts as a conduit for social change, at their BETTER DAYS: Fundraising Cocktail Party and Award Ceremony in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre’s Penthouse Lobby. Lillias White presented the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award to André.
2022 BIV Inspiration Award Honoree André De Shields and Lillias White. Photo by Lia Chang
On December 2, Lillias, who plays Mrs. Hermes in Hadestown, was honored with a Richard Baratz caricature, presented by Sardi’s owner Max Klimavicius at Sardi’s.
André De Shields and Lillias White pose with Lillias’ caricature at Sardi’s in New York on December 2, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
On Nov. 28, Lillias received a 2022 AUDELCO for Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in the New Group’s off-Broadway production of Tariq Trotter’s Black No More, which opened in January 2022. Lillias White’s performance in Cy Coleman’s Broadway musical, The Life, won her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She was nominated for a second Tony Award for her brilliant work in Fela! Additional Broadway credits include Barnum, Dreamgirls, Cats, Carrie, Once on This Island, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Chicago. Other Off-Broadway and regional credits include The Public Theater’s Romance in Hard Times, for which she won the Obie® Award, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (directed by Phylicia Rashad), for which she won the NAACP Award, and the Carnegie Hall Concert version of South Pacific, starring Reba McEntire, which was also broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances. In addition to receiving Broadway acclaim, White is internationally recognized for her TV and film work. She received the Daytime Emmy Award for her role as Lillian Edwards for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series on Sesame Street in 1992 and is beloved by audiences around the world for voicing the lead muse Calliope in Disney’s animated feature Hercules. Film credits include Pieces of April (starring Katie Holmes) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (starring Jim Carrey). TV credits include the Baz Luhrmann-directed Netflix series “The Get Down,” as well as “Russian Doll” and “Search Party.” She has appeared in cabarets and concert halls around the world, including The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. She can be heard on several Broadway cast albums, in addition to her critically acclaimed albums Get Yourself Some Happy! and From Brooklyn to Broadway. She starred on Broadway in the musical, CHICAGO, as Matron “Mama” Morton and off-Broadway in Tariq Trotter’s Black No More, which opened in January 2022.
Lillias White with her guests after the unveiling of Lillias’ caricature at Sardi’s in New York on December 2, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
HIGHLIGHTS OF BETTER DAYS: Fundraising Cocktail Party and Award Ceremony in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre’s Penthouse Lobby. (Full coverage will be featured in an upcoming article)
McKinley Belcher III, André De Shields and Sharon D Clarke. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields, Allyson Tucker-Mitchell and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Photo by Lia ChangAllyson Tucker-Mitchell and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangCassondra James, Grace Stockdale, Daniel J. Watts, Oneika Phillips and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangGrace Stockdale, Lillias White, Daniel J. Watts, Oneika Phillips and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangJohn Eric Parker and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLaChanze and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLaChanze and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAlex Lacamoire, LaChanze and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAllen René Louis, Alex Lacamoire, LaChanze, André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAdriane Lenox, André De Shields and Angela Robinson. Photo by Lia ChangZane Mark and André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang
Lillias White presented the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award to André De Shields.
Lillias White. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields, Celia Rose Gooding, LaChanze, Ileana Ferreras and Alex Lacamoire. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields, Celia Rose Gooding, LaChanze, Ileana Ferreras and Alex Lacamoire. Photo by Lia Chang
Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) is a diverse community choir of Broadway professionals united to change lives through the power of music and service. BIV is committed to supporting and strengthening communities in need.
Broadway Inspirational Voices. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAngela Grovey, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Allyson Tucker-Mitchell, Lillias White, André De Shields, Sharon D Charle and McKinley Belcher III. Photo by Lia ChangMcKinley Belcher III, Sharon D Clarke, LaChanze, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang
For more information – and for ways to DONATE – go to www.BIVoices.org. You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at handle @BIVoices.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist, documentarian and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, an Arts and Entertainment and Lifestyle program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996, and streams at MNN2.
Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. Her short film, When the World Was Young garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Lia is the recipient of the 2022 Prospect Muse Award, 2000 OCA Chinese American Journalist Award, the 2001 AAJA National Award for New Media. Lia is an AAJA Executive Leadership Graduate (2000), a Western Knight Fellow at USC’s Annenberg College of Communications for Specialized Journalism on Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age (2000), a National Press Photographers Association Visual Edge/Visual Journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute for New Media (2001), a Scripps Howard New Media Fellow at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism (2002), and a National Tropical Botanical Garden Environmental Journalism Fellow (2003).
Lia Chang, co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, has launched her latest venture, BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, an Arts and Entertainment program produced weekly at the studios of MNN.org.
Lia Chang
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a photo activist and documentarian, who lifts up and amplifies BIPOC communities and artists and the institutions that support them. Bev’s Girl Films collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Lia Chang and Henry Chang. Photo by Jason Chew
The sixteenth episode of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, executive produced and hosted by Lia, aired on December 25 at 6:30 pm (EST) on FIOS 34, RCN 83, and Spectrum 56/1996, and streamed on MNN2. If you missed the episode, it is archived on my youtube channel or you can watch below.
Lia Chang and Henry Chang. Photo by Lori Tan Chinn
This edition of Backstage Pass with Lia Chang feature a short story reading with Crime Novelist Henry Chang at Yu & Me Books; A Child’s Christmas in Wales‘ Featuring Ali Ewoldt and Kylie Kuioka; Latest Awards Tally for A Father’s Son; and Christmas with You Production Designer Wing Lee.
Kylie Kuioka, Ali Ewoldt and Lia Chang at A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES.
It was a dark and stormy night on the 1st Tuesday of December when I joined my friend, Crime Fiction Novelist Henry Chang at my favorite bookstore, Yu & Me Books located at 44 Mulberry St. in Manhattan’s Chinatown to read excerpts from his latest short story “A-LI-EN”.
A-LI-EN, a short story by Henry Chang, featured in the new anthology, The Perfect Crime. Photo by Lia Chang
Henry’s short story is part of an anthology called The Perfect Crime. From Lagos to Mexico City, Australia to the Caribbean, Toronto to Los Angeles, Darjeeling to rural New Zealand, London to New York – twenty-two bestselling crime writers from diverse cultures come together from across the world in a razor sharp and deliciously sinister collection of crime stories. Published by HarperCollins and edited by Vaseem Khan and Maxim Jakubowski.
The Perfect Crime. Photo by Lia Chang
Featuring Oyinkan Braithwaite, Abir Mukherjee, S.A. Cosby, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, J.P. Pomare, Sheena Kamal, Vaseem Khan, Sulari Gentill, Nelson George, Rachel Howzell Hall, John Vercher, Sanjida Kay, Amer Anwar, Henry Chang, Nadine Matheson, Mike Phillips, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Felicia Yap, Thomas King, Imran Mahmood, David Heska Wanbli Weiden and Walter Mosley.
I have been a fan of Henry’s crime fiction- the Detective Jack Yu Investigative Series – for years. The Series has been adapted to an award-winning short film – Patrick’s Chen’s A Father’s Son – starring Tzi Ma, Ronny Chieng, Perry Yung and Kathleen Kwan, and is dedicated to the Chinatown community where Chang still resides.
Author Ed Lin and Henry Chang. Photo by Lia Chang
Henry Chang and Clara Hsu. Photo by Lia Chang
Yixin Cen, Henry Chang and Jason Chew. Photo by Lia Chang
Henry Chang and friends. Photo by Lia Chang
Lia Chang and Henry Chang. Photo by Jason Chew
Henry Chang and Gloria Sangirardi Jung. Photo by Lia Chang
Lori Tan Chinn. Photo by Lia Chang
Lori Tan Chinn and Henry Chang. Photo by Lia Chang
Henry Chang and Vic Huey. Photo by Lia Chang
His debut novel Chinatown Beat garnered high praise from the New York Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Mystery Newsand January Magazine among others. Additional stories have appeared in Murdaland, Asian Pulp, The NuYorAsian Anthology, On a Bed of Rice, The Usual Santas, and The Perfect Crime.
Henry Chang. Photo by Lia Chang
He has appeared in Chinatown “tours” via Henry Chang SinoVision (2017), Chinatown Beat New Yorker video (2021), and continues to advocate for the Community. Visit Henry Chang at “Detective Jack Yu Investigative Series”.
Henry Chang, Wing Lee, Ronny Chieng, Patrick Chen and Lia Chang attend the New York Shorts International Film Festival at Cinema Village in New York on Oct. 26, 2022.
The latest awards tally for A Father’s Son include the 2022 Canada China International Film Festival Best Supporting Actor Award for A Father’s Son’s star Tzi Ma, a 2022 New York Shorts International Film Festival Special Mention Honors, A 2022 Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Filmfest Best Adaptation from a Book Award and a 2022 KAFFNY Infinite Cinema Short Film Audience Award.
Also a special shoutout to Wing Lee, our Production Designer for A Father’s Son and one of the co-producers , for his special mention in Variety for this work on the Netflix Holiday Movie, Christmas with You starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Aimee Garcia.
Joe Chan, Wing Lee and Lia Chang in ‘Grampa’s Mixed Nuts’ design by Wing.
Yu and Me books is the first female owned Asian-American bookstore in New York City located in historical Manhattan Chinatown at 44 Mulberry St.
Henry Chang and Lucy Yu. Photo by Lia Chang
Lucy Yu, the owner of Yu & Me Books, says that her dream was always to create a home that she never found in a bookstore growing up. Yu and Me Books is a bookstore / café / bar that focuses on the strong, diverse voices of our community, with a focus on immigrant stories. The initials of the bookstore, YM, are actually her mother’s initials to showcase the stories and love in different languages that have been passed down for generations.
Yu & Me Books. Photo by Lia Chang
Lucy’s dream was to create a space where we can dream together, share our passion, strive for change, and push systems closer to justice. There is a huge lack of representation within the literary space, and she has created a space where everyone feels welcomed and heard. It’s something special to read a story that you relate to and see yourself represented after a lifetime of not being able to.
Henry Chang, Lia Chang, Lori Tan Chinn and Lucy Yu. Photo by Gloria Sangirardi Jung
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist, documentarian and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, an Arts and Entertainment and Lifestyle program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996, and streams at MNN2.
Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. Her short film, When the World Was Young garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Lia is the recipient of the 2022 Prospect Muse Award, 2000 OCA Chinese American Journalist Award, the 2001 AAJA National Award for New Media. Lia is an AAJA Executive Leadership Graduate (2000), a Western Knight Fellow at USC’s Annenberg College of Communications for Specialized Journalism on Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age (2000), a National Press Photographers Association Visual Edge/Visual Journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute for New Media (2001), a Scripps Howard New Media Fellow at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism (2002), and a National Tropical Botanical Garden Environmental Journalism Fellow (2003).
Lia Chang, co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, has launched her latest venture, BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, an Arts and Entertainment program produced weekly at the studios of MNN.org.
Arthur Dong and Lia Chang at the opening reception of HOLLYWOOD CHINESE: The First 100 Years at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA on Nov. 4, 2022. Photo by Tami Chang
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a photo activist and documentarian, who lifts up and amplifies BIPOC communities and artists and the institutions that support them. Bev’s Girl Films collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
The tenth episode of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, executive produced and hosted by Lia, aired on November 13 at 6:30 pm (EST) on FIOS 34, RCN 83, and Spectrum 56/1996. If you miss the episode, it is archived on my youtube channel.
Watch below:
On this edition of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, I’ll be shining the spotlight on my Asian American colleagues taking centerstage.
Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Arthur Dong has curated a terrific film series presented by The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Hollywood Chinese: The First 100 Years. Screenings of all 27 films in the series take place at the museum’s state of the art Ted Mann Theater in Los Angeles through Nov. 27.
The film series both critiques and celebrates Hollywood’s depictions of the Chinese, and presents groundbreaking Chinese American artists who navigated industry challenges from the beginning of film history to now.
On the opening weekend, I flew to LA to celebrate the 15th anniversary since the release of Arthur Dong’s Hollywood Chinese documentary, and it was screened as the kick-off of the 27-film series.
TOP: Joan Chen, James Hong, Nancy Kwan, Ang Lee, Christopher Lee. MIDDLE: Luise Rainer, James Shigeta, Amy Tan, B.D. Wong, Wayne Wang. BOTTOM: Tsai Chin, David Henry Hwang, Lisa Lu, Justin Lin, Turhan Bey.
I watched a double bill of Anna May Wong in Daughter of the Dragon and King of Chinatown and then reconnected with my Big Trouble in Little China cast mates James Hong, Peter Kwong, Dennis Dun and Gerald Okamura at a screening of the film, followed by Q & A.
Irene Tsu, Joycelyne Lew, Peter Kwong, Rhonda Wong, James Hong, Dennis Dun, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, Arthur Dong. Photo by Tami Chang
Click here for tickets and more information on the film series.
Click here to purchase Hollywood Chinese:The Chinese in American Feature Films.
Saturday evening served as a tribute to James Hong, which you can watch on my episode airing on Nov. 20.
Featured on the show:
Patrick Chen’s award winning short film, A Father’s Son, starring Tzi Ma, Ronny Chieng, Perry Yung and Kathleen Kwan.
Henry Chang, Wing Lee, Ronny Chieng, Patrick Chen and Lia Chang attend the New York Shorts International Film Festival at Cinema Village in New York on Oct. 26, 2022.
Yilong Liu’s Good Enemy at Minetta Lane Theatre – through Nov. 27
Ryan Spahn, Ron Domingo, Chay Yew, Francis Jue, Yilong Liu, Geena Quintos, Jeena Yi, Tim Liu, Alec Silver, Emilia LaPenta – Producer of New Play Development and Commissions for Audible Theater. Photo by Lia Chang
Audible, Inc.’s production of Yilong Liu’s Good Enemy, directed by Chay Yew and featuring Francis Jue, Ron Domingo, Tim Liu, Geena Quintos, Alec Silver, Ryan Spahn and Jeena Yi.
A father learns that closing the door to his past means shutting his daughter out in Good Enemy, Yilong Liu’s haunting and hopeful new play. When Howard (Francis Jue) makes a surprise cross-country trip to visit his college-age, Tik Tok-loving daughter, he’s forced to confront the realities of their relationship and the rift between them—a rift caused by Howard’s refusal to face memories of his life as a young man in China. In a smart, thrilling story that deftly weaves two generations and two continents amidst sweeping social changes, Good Enemy explores the power of human connections…affirming that no one lives an “ordinary” life, no matter how hard they might try.
Performances at Minetta Lane Theatre through Nov. 27. Tickets from $35 for Good Enemy are on sale now at www.Audible.com/MinettaLane.
Audible Theater is proud to collaborate with TodayTix to offer $20 mobile rush tickets beginning at 10am each performance day. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis exclusively through the TodayTix app.
Ryan Spahn, Ron Domingo, Chay Yew, Francis Jue, Yilong Liu, Geena Quintos, Jeena Yi, Tim Liu, Alec Silver, Emilia LaPenta – Producer of New Play Development and Commissions for Audible Theater. Photo by Lia Chang
Playwrights Horizons’ hosted a special AAPI night for Mia Chung’s Catch as Catch Can, directed by Daniel Aukin, which has performances through November 20.
Set deep in blue-collar New England, Catch as Catch Can centers on the Phelans and the Lavecchias as they welcome home a recently-engaged prodigal son-setting off an evolving crisis that reshapes their lives, and the play itself.
Cindy Cheung and Jon Norman Schneider in Playwrights Horizons’ production of Mia Chung’s CATCH AS CATCH CAN. Photo by Joan Marcus
In this surprising, theatrically demanding work, actors double in roles of father and daughter, mothers and sons. As the families gather for the holidays, the weight of familial expectations bears down on the younger generation; such community pressure and the very meaning of family finds heightened expression in a theatrical high-wire act, as the actors acrobatically play across gender, generation, and race.
Rob Yang and Cindy Cheung in Playwrights Horizons’ production of Mia Chung’s CATCH AS CATCH CAN. Photo by Joan MarcusJon Norman Schneider, Cindy Cheung, Rob Yang. Photo by Lia Chang
The cast includes Cindy Cheung (Playwrights: Log Cabin; The Civilians’ The Great Immensity) as father Lon Lavecchia and daughter Daniela Lavecchia; Jon Norman Schneider (Awake and Sing!, The Oldest Boy) as mother Roberta Lavecchia and son Robbie Lavecchia; and Rob Yang (Succession, American Rust) as mother Theresa Phelan and son Tim Phelan.
Amaterasu Za is presenting Chushingura – 47 Ronin, adapted and directed by Ako Dachs, The production will be performed mainly in Japanese with English subtitles. Chushingura – 47 Ronin has been extended through November 13 at the A.R.T./New York Mezzanine Theater, 502 W. 53rd Street.
Chushingura – 47 Ronin is based on one of the most enduring stories in Japan. Portraying real events that took place in 1702-1703 during Japan’s Shogun-led Edo period, this sprawling story of honor, betrayal, clan loyalty, sacrifice, justice, and revenge has been told and retold in hundreds of ways in Japanese books, plays, movies, television dramas, and animated series. This new stage adaptation is performed mainly in Japanese with some English and supertitles translation throughout.
The cast includes Ako (FX’s “Shogun.” Off Broadway: God Said This -Lortel nom.), Yoshi Amao (TV: “Shogun,” “Mr. Robot.”), Saori Goda, (NBC’s “Love Your Selfie”), Tatsuo Ichikawa (Apple TV+, “We Crashed”), Rina Maejima (A Chorus Line), Jun Suenaga (Film: Mother’s Day), Yasu Suzuki (Film: College Road Trip. NETFLIX’s “Daredevil”), Hiroko Yonekura (Regional: Avenue Q), and Minami Yoshimura (Regional: Godspell).
Lloyd Suh’s The Far Country at Atlantic Theater Company – Nov. 17-Jan. 1
Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is presenting the world premiere production of The Far Country, an Atlantic commissioned play by Guggenheim fellow Lloyd Suh, directed by Obie Award winner Eric Ting.
The Far Country features Ben Chase (Mondo Tragic), Jinn S. Kim (Race, Religion & Politics), Whit K. Lee (Assassins), Christopher Liam Moore (All The Way), Shannon Tyo (The Chinese Lady), Amy Kim Waschke (Off-Broadway debut), and Eric Yang (Legacy).
The Far Country begins performances on Thursday, November 17th, and will open Monday, December 5th, for a limited engagement through Sunday, January 1st, 2023 Off-Broadway at the Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street).
An intimate epic that follows an unlikely family’s journey from rural Taishan to the wild west of California in the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Schedule:
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 7pm, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm.
Monday evening performance on 12/26 at 7pm.
Wednesday matinee performance on 12/7, 12/21 & 12/28 at 2pm.
No Sunday evening performance on 12/11.
No performance on Saturday, 12/24 and Sunday, 12/25.
Tickets:
Regular tickets begin at $75. Order online at atlantictheater.org or by calling AudienceView at 646-989-7996.
Atlantic is committed to connecting deeply and authentically with audiences from a broad range of economic backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, and perspectives. Its access ticket initiative makes $25 tickets available to every preview performance in the 2022|2023 season. Access tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis via Atlantic’s website beginning 2 weeks prior to the first performance of each Atlantic Theater Company 2022|2023 production. $25 access tickets for The Far Country are on sale now.
Thom Sesma in Classic Stage Company’s A Man of No Importance
Ken Leung in Will Arbery’s Evanston Salt Costs Climbing In previews
KPOP- Eddy Lee, Lina Lee, Kate Mina Lin, Jully Lee, Woo Sung Hyun ( kevin woo ), Zachary Noah Piser, Jinwoo Jung
Vichet Chum’s BALD SISTERS at Steppenwolf in Chicago – Dec. 1-Jan. 15, 2023
The cast of BALD SISTERS includes, Francesca Fernandez McKenzie, Jennifer Lim, Coburn Goss, Wai Ching Ho and Nima Rakhshanifar.
Rehearsals are underway for Steppenwolf’s world premiere of BALD SISTERS, written by Vichet Chum, directed by Jesca Prudencio. The next show in their new in-the-round Ensemble Theater in Chicago, BALD SISTERS invites you to get up close and personal with all the family drama—and comedy. The cast includes Francesca Fernandez McKenzie, Jennifer Lim, Coburn Goss, Wai Ching Ho and Nima Rakhshanifar. FF10 online to get $10 off TICKETS to any preview or regular public performances. Click here for more information regarding discounted tickets. Steppenwolf Theatre Company is located at 1650 N Halsted Ave, Chicago, IL 60614.
RECENTLY STAGED PRODUCTIONS
R.A. Shiomi’s Fire in the New World
Gregory Yang as Sam Shikaze and Anna Hashizume as Yumiko Alexander. Photo by LKBachman
Full Circle Theater presented the World Premiere of Fire in the New World, written and directed by Full Circle Co-Artistic Director R.A. Shiomi, at Park Square Theatre’s Proscenium Stage through Nov. 6.
The World Premiere was the third installment of Shiomi’s noir-style detective comedies featuring Sam Shikaze, the hard-boiled private eye who fights crime in Vancouver’s Japantown and beyond in the years after WWII. This time, Sam is up against a big time developer intent on bulldozing his community. But Sam is also hired to find the developer’s missing Japanese American wife. The play is a smart and fun detective comedy chock full of social commentary and sly intrigue.
The cast includes Gregory (Greg) Yang (he/him) as Sam Shikaze, Brian Joyce (he/him) as Jonathan Webster, Anna Hashizume (she/her) as Yumiko Alexander, Alice McGlave (she/her) as Rosie Ohara, Joe Allen (he/they) as Roderic Alexander, Keivin Vang (he/him), Song Kim (he/him) as Mas Matsumoto and Alec Berchem (he/him) as Tom Williams.
Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone at The Guthrie
In October, The Guthrie Theater presented Vietgone by Qui Nguyen, with original music by Shane Rettig and directed by Mina Morita on the Wurtele Thrust Stage at 818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN.
Hyunmin Rhee, Rebecca Hirota, Eric Sharp, Viet Vo, and Emjoy Gavino in Qui Nguyen’s VIETGONE at The Guthrie Theater. Photo: Dan Norman
Part history play and part memoir, Nguyen’s irreverent, whip-smart comedy uses flashbacks and bursts of rap music to share a human-centered view of the Vietnam War and its aftermath. When Saigon falls in 1975, Vietnamese refugees Quang (Hyunmin Rhee) and Tong (Emjoy Gavino) find themselves living in the land of “cheeseburgers, waffle fries and cholesterol” (aka America) — an intoxicating adventure that leads them to question their futures, both together and in their new country.
The cast of Vietgone features Emjoy Gavino (Guthrie: A Christmas Carol) as Tong/Ensemble, Rebecca Hirota (Guthrie: debut) as Thu/Huong/Ensemble, Hyunmin Rhee (Guthrie: debut) as Quang, Eric Sharp as Nhan/Khue/Ensemble (Guthrie: A Christmas Carol, As You Like It) and Viet Vo (Guthrie: debut) as Playwright/Bobby/Giai/Ensemble.
Viet Vo, Eric Sharp, Hyunmin Rhee in Qui Nguyen’s VIETGONE at The Guthrie Theater. Photo: Dan Norman
Jiehae Park’s peerless
Sasha Diamond, Benny Wayne Sully, Shannon Tyo in Jiehae Park’s peerless. Photo: James Leynse
PRIMARY STAGES and 59E59 Theaters, in association with Jamie deRoy, is presenting peerless, by Jiehae Park (Hannah and the Dread Gazebo) and directed by Margot Bordelon (… what the end will be). peerless played a limited run at 59E59’s Theater A (59 E 59th Street) through Nov. 6.
The cast of peerless features Marié Botha as “Dirty Girl/Preppy Girl,” Anthony Cason as “BF,” Sasha Diamond as “M,” Benny Wayne Sully as “D/Brother” and Shannon Tyo as “L.”
A darkly comedic twist on Shakespeare’s Macbeth set in the cutthroat world of elite college admissions, Jiehae Park’s clever and incisive adaptation, peerless, is a comedy…until it’s not.
This new version of the classic story centers on M and L, twin Asian-American siblings who have given up everything to get into The College. When another classmate claims what they feel is rightfully “their spot,” the twins decide they have only one option: murder.
David Zayas, Katy Sullivan, Kara Young and Gregg Mozgala. Photo by Zachary Maxwell Stertz
Manhattan Theatre Club extended the Broadway premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Cost of Living, written by Martyna Majok (Sanctuary City, Ironbound) and directed by Obie Award winner Jo Bonney, at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through November 6.
Cost of Living‘s cast features acclaimed original stars Gregg Mozgala (Lucille Lortel Award winner for his performance) and Katy Sullivan (Theatre World Award winner for her performance), who reunite for the Broadway production; Tony Award nominee Kara Young (Clyde’s, The New Englanders at MTC); and David Zayas (“Dexter,” Anna in the Tropics).
Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize, Martyna Majok’s powerhouse play receives its Broadway premiere after a celebrated run at MTC’s Stage I. Hailed by The New York Times as “gripping, immensely haunting and exquisitely attuned,” this insightful, intriguing work is about the forces that bring people together, the complexity of caring and being cared for, and the ways we all need each other in this world. Kara Young and David Zayas join acclaimed original stars Gregg Mozgala and Katy Sullivan in this production, again directed by Obie Award winner Jo Bonney.
Jason Ma, Francesca Fernandez McKenzie, Jojo Gonzalez, Eileen Rivera, Nelson T. Eusebio III, Valérie Thérèse Bart, Lia Chang. Photo by Rani O’Brien
Kansas City Repertory Theatre production of Twelfth Night – chatting with Nelson Eusebio, composer Jason Ma, Jojo Gonzalez.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, a new Arts and Entertainment program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996.
Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. Her short film, When the World Was Young recently garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Lia Chang, co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, has launched her latest venture, BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, an Arts and Entertainment program produced weekly at the studios of MNN.org.
Lia Chang and André De Shields at the opening night of DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Hudson Theatre in New York on October 9, 2022.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a photo activist and documentarian, who lifts up and amplifies BIPOC communities and artists and the institutions that support them. Bev’s Girl Films collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
The ninth episode of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, executive produced and hosted by Lia, aired on October 30 at 6:30 pm (EST) on FIOS 34, RCN 83, and Spectrum 56/1996. If you miss the episode, it is archived on my youtube channel.
On this edition of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, I’ll be featuring a Backstage Pass to the opening nights of the Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman, directed by Miranda Cromwell, and starring Wendell Pierce, Sharon D Clarke, Khris Davis, McKinley Belcher III, André De Shields, Blake DeLong, Lynn Hawley, Grace Porter, Kevin Ramessar, Stephen Stocking, Chelsea Lee Williams, and Delaney Williams; Two River Theater’s production of Alice Childress’s Wine in the Wilderness, directed by Brandon J. Dirden and starring Crystal Dickinson, Brittany Bellizeare, Ricardy Fabre, Korey Jackson, and Keith Randolph Smith; and the New-York Historical Society’s opening reception of Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite.
Updated: 10/30/22
You can watch the episode below.
McKinley Belcher III, Sharon D Clarke, Wendell Pierce, André De Shields and Khris Davis at the opening night of DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Hudson Theatre in New York on October 9, 2022. Photo by Lia ChangKeith Randolph Smith, Brandon J. Dirden, Korey Jackson, Crystal A. Dickinson, Brittany Bellizeare and Ricardy Fabre at the opening night curtain call of WINE IN THE WILDERNESS at Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ on October 21, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
The opening night reception of Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, currently on view at New-York Historical Society through January 15, 2023. Photo by Don PollardGrandassa Models and the family of Kwame Brathwaite attend the opening reception of Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite at the New-York Historical Society in New York on October 19, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
The New-York Historical Society is the exclusive New York City is presenting the traveling exhibition Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, the first major show dedicated to this pivotal figure who helped launch and popularize the “Black Is Beautiful” movement of the 1960s. On view through January 15, 2023, the exhibition features 40 large-scale color and black-and-white photographs that document how Brathwaite helped change America’s political and cultural landscape during the so-called Second Harlem Renaissance, using his art to affirm Black physical beauty, celebrate African American community and identity, and reflect the vibrancy of Harlem’s jazz scene, local businesses, and events.
Organized by Aperture in partnership with Kwame S. Brathwaite, Brathwaite’s son and director of the Kwame Brathwaite Archive, the photographs—mostly shot in Harlem and the Bronx—tell a story of a movement and a time. Following its presentation at New-York Historical, the exhibition travels to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for the Abroms‐Engel Institute for the Visual Arts in February 2023.
The exhibition is accompanied by the first monograph dedicated to Kwame Brathwaite. Featuring essays by Tanisha C. Ford and Deborah Willis and more than 80 images, Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful (Aperture, 2019) offers a long-overdue exploration of Brathwaite’s life and work and is available from the NYHistory Store.
Lia Chang
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, a new Arts and Entertainment program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996.
Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. Her short film, When the World Was Young recently garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Lia Chang, co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, has launched her latest venture, BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, an Arts and Entertainment program produced weekly at the studios of MNN.org.
Lia Chang and André De Shields at the opening night of DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Hudson Theatre in New York on October 9, 2022.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a photo activist and documentarian, who lifts up and amplifies BIPOC communities and artists and the institutions that support them. Bev’s Girl Films collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
The ninth episode of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, executive produced and hosted by Lia, aired on October 30 at 6:30 pm (EST) on FIOS 34, RCN 83, and Spectrum 56/1996. If you miss the episode, it is archived on my youtube channel.
On this edition of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, I’ll be featuring a Backstage Pass to the opening nights of the Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman, directed by Miranda Cromwell, and starring Wendell Pierce, Sharon D Clarke, Khris Davis, McKinley Belcher III, André De Shields, Blake DeLong, Lynn Hawley, Grace Porter, Kevin Ramessar, Stephen Stocking, Chelsea Lee Williams, and Delaney Williams; Two River Theater’s production of Alice Childress’s Wine in the Wilderness, directed by Brandon J. Dirden and starring Crystal Dickinson, Brittany Bellizeare, Ricardy Fabre, Korey Jackson, and Keith Randolph Smith; and the New-York Historical Society’s opening reception of Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite.
Updated: 10/30/22
You can watch the episode below.
McKinley Belcher III, Sharon D Clarke, Wendell Pierce, André De Shields and Khris Davis at the opening night of DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Hudson Theatre in New York on October 9, 2022. Photo by Lia ChangKeith Randolph Smith, Brandon J. Dirden, Korey Jackson, Crystal A. Dickinson, Brittany Bellizeare and Ricardy Fabre at the opening night curtain call of WINE IN THE WILDERNESS at Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ on October 21, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
The opening night reception of Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, currently on view at New-York Historical Society through January 15, 2023. Photo by Don PollardGrandassa Models and the family of Kwame Brathwaite attend the opening reception of Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite at the New-York Historical Society in New York on October 19, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
The New-York Historical Society is the exclusive New York City is presenting the traveling exhibition Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, the first major show dedicated to this pivotal figure who helped launch and popularize the “Black Is Beautiful” movement of the 1960s. On view through January 15, 2023, the exhibition features 40 large-scale color and black-and-white photographs that document how Brathwaite helped change America’s political and cultural landscape during the so-called Second Harlem Renaissance, using his art to affirm Black physical beauty, celebrate African American community and identity, and reflect the vibrancy of Harlem’s jazz scene, local businesses, and events.
Organized by Aperture in partnership with Kwame S. Brathwaite, Brathwaite’s son and director of the Kwame Brathwaite Archive, the photographs—mostly shot in Harlem and the Bronx—tell a story of a movement and a time. Following its presentation at New-York Historical, the exhibition travels to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for the Abroms‐Engel Institute for the Visual Arts in February 2023.
The exhibition is accompanied by the first monograph dedicated to Kwame Brathwaite. Featuring essays by Tanisha C. Ford and Deborah Willis and more than 80 images, Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful (Aperture, 2019) offers a long-overdue exploration of Brathwaite’s life and work and is available from the NYHistory Store.
Lia Chang
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, a new Arts and Entertainment program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996.
Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. Her short film, When the World Was Young recently garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
HIFF is hosting a free screening of Director Bao Nguyen’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary BE WATER, followed by an after-film panel featuring Director Nguyen, Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee, Angry Asian Man founder and culture writer Phil Yu, Chi-hui Yang of the Ford Foundation, Momofuku founder and ‘Ugly Delicious’ host Dave Chang, and Kindred Ventures’ Founder Steve Jang on Friday, November 27 to celebrate Bruce Lee’s 80th birthday. The panel discussion will be moderated by New York Magazine’s Chris Lee.
Presented by ESPN and storyspaces. BE WATER will be available to screen online in North America, starting at 3pm HST/5:00 p.m. PST/ 8:00 p.m. EST. Although FREE, a ticket is still required to view the film on HIFF’s streaming platform. Click here to RSVP.
BE WATER is a feature-length documentary that offers a unique glimpse into the man behind the myth, featuring interviews from celebrity friends, members of his own family, and even private letters written by Bruce Lee. BE WATER premiered at Sundance 2020 and competed in the U.S. Dramatic Feature competition. In June, it had its U.S. broadcast debut on ESPN as part of the sports broadcaster’s 30 on 30 documentary series, breaking ratings records. It is an official selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Classics section.
Martial artist. Actor. Philosopher. Choreographer. Filmmaker. Legend. These words summarize the Asian American icon who inspired the world with his groundbreaking work before dying mysteriously and suddenly at the age of 32. Yet many often forget that he was a man who struggled against many limitations: racism, xenophobia, and even his own ego. Bruce Lee made the most of his time on Earth, reminding us all of the importance of adaptation, persistence, and ambitious in the pursuit of greatness: in short, to be water. Synopsis written by: Lee Ngo
Bev’s Girl Films is delighted to be included in the inaugural San Francisco Chinatown Community Film Festival featuring works by Asian American filmmakers at Clarion Performing Arts Center, 2 Waverly Place, San Francisco, CA 94108, from Friday, March 20 – Sunday, March 22, 2020.
Over the course of three days, the filmmakers who will be showcased include Elaine Mae Woo, Arthur Dong, Rick Quan, Crystal Kwok, Lia Chang, Garth Kravits and Felicia Lowe. Q & A’s with the filmmakers will follow the screening.
Four Bev’s Girl Films shorts will be screened on Sunday, March 22 at 3pm. I’ll be participating in a Q & A following the screenings with writer/director Garth Kravits, and my castmates Virginia Wing and Jason Ma.
Jo Yang, Garth Kravits, Virginia Wing, Jason Ma and Lia Chang attend Asian American Night of CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND at Pershing Square Signature Center in New York on February 9, 2020. Photo by Alex Sanchez
Tickets are $12 at Eventbrite.com. Students $5 at the door. Each ticket is good for the day of the festival. VIP tickets are $200 with two passes for the entire festival.
Below is the full lineup. Friday, March 20, 2020
5:30 pm
Doors Open – Guzheng music during seating
6:00 pm “Anna May Wong ~ Frosted Yellow Willows” Q & A with filmmaker Elaine Mae Woo.
With disarming sensuality and commanding presence, Anna May Wong defined the role of the ‘Dragon Lady’. Narrated by Nancy Kwan, “Anna May Wong ~Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times, and Legend” is a story about the first Chinese American woman who endured many hardships and heartaches to become an international film star. From humble beginnings in a Chinese laundry, she went on to star in pictures such as Technicolorʼs Toll of the Sea (1922), E.A. Dupontʼs Piccadilly (1929) and Josef von Sternbergʼs Shanghai Express (1932) with Marlene Dietrich. Never one to rest on her laurels, Anna would utilize her fame to aid her country and the country of her ancestors during times of war. Her body of work in film, radio, stage and television established her as a true pioneer of early cinema and the performing arts both in Hollywood and internationally.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
In the early 1990s, a well known director at a reception following the screening of a Kurosawa film brought Anna May Wong to Elaine Mae Wooʼs attention. Elaine admitted that she knew nothing about Anna. The director shook his head, said a couple of words and then walked away. It was at this point that Elaine swore that she would learn about Anna before she would ever see this director again. This is how the making of “Anna May Wong ~Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times and Legend” and Elaine’s first film began.
Nearly ten years in the making, this biographical documentary film was finally presented its world premiere at Italy’s famous Le Giornate del Cinema Muto – Pordenone Silent Film Festival in late 2007.
7:30 pm
The Chinatown Films of Arthur Dong: “Forbidden City, USA,” “Hollywood Chinese,” “Sewing Woman,” and “Living Music for Golden Mountains.”
Synopsis:
For the past 40 years, San Francisco native Arthur Dong has been a pioneer in the production of groundbreaking documentaries about the history and life in Chinatown, covering topics such as immigration, the bachelor society, sewing factories, Cantonese musical traditions, World War II nightclubs, and Hollywood’s mis-representations and stereotypes. To mark the inaugural Chinatown Community Film Festival, select scenes from his Chinatown-themed films will be screened, to be followed by an intimate on-stage conversation with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker and Felicia Lowe. www.deepfocusproductions.com
9:00 pm Welcome wine reception to thank sponsors.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
5:30 pm Doors Open – Guzheng music during seating
6:00 pm “Dorothy Toy Story”. Filmmaker, Rick Quan Q & A with Cynthia Yee, dancer.
7:00 pm “The Mistress” Filmmaker Crystal Kwok
Q & A with Crystal Kwok. Mimi Chin will talk about her Experiences as the former owner of Dragon A-GoGo and Gentlemen clubs.
Sunday March 22, 2020
2:30 pm Doors Open – Guzheng music during seating
3:00 pm “Hide and Seek” features Lia Chang and Garth Kravits, co-written by Lia Chang and Garth Kravits and executive produced by Lia Chang/Bev’s Girl Films.
Hide and Seek is a short film that speaks to the societal challenge that women, and especially women of color, endure every day. To look in the mirror and to hope to see a face other than your own. One that is closer to what magazines, television and movies define as beautiful or even normal. What face do you see when you look in the mirror?
Rom-Com Gone Wrong is a new comedy short produced by Bev’s Girl Films and Cut & Dry Films. Written and directed by Garth Kravits, the films stars Lia Chang, Eric Elizaga and Brian Kim.
A romantic encounter, ten years in the making.
Official Selection of Disorient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon and 10th Annual Queens World Film Festival.
Bev’s Girl Films presents Belongingness, a new short film starring Isabela Sanchez and Lia Chang.
Written, directed and edited by Cut & Dry Films’ Garth Kravits, Belongingness follows a young girl’s search for identity and a sense of belonging, which comes from an expected source. Original Score by John Tyler Kent. Official Selection of the Asian Film Festival.
Bev’s Girl Films presents WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG, starring Virginia Wing, Jason Ma and Lia Chang. The cast also features Jo Yang, Daniel Dunlow, Michelle Miller and Mark York.
When siblings Benjamin and Audrey return home to confront their Mother’s memory loss, they discover a hidden key to her past.
Jason Ma, Virginia Wing and Lia Chang in WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG. Photo by Garth Kravits
Written and directed by Garth Kravits, the film is Executive Produced by Bev’s Girl Films, with producers Garth Kravits of Cut & Dry Films and Eric Elizaga. Hair and makeup by Dorothy Bhadra.
I’ll be participating in a Q & A following the screenings with writer/director Garth Kravits, and my castmates Virginia Wing and Jason Ma.
“Chinatown” takes you inside the tumultuous and inspiring history to witness how the past and present live together inSan Francisco’s oldest neighborhood. Through a vivid mixture of personal recollections, archival photos, poetry and narration, “Chinatown” recalls the days when the neighborhood was shut out from society, a distinct ghetto and a refuge for new immigrants. Winner of EMMY for “Best Cultural Documentary.”
Part memoir, part history, part investigation, the filmmaker’s search for answers about her mother’s emigration to America during the Chinese Exclusion era reveals the often painful price paid by immigrants who abandoned their personal identity, the burden of silence they passed on to their offspring and the intergenerational strife between immigrants and their American born children. www.chinesecouplets.com
Q & A with Filmmaker Felicia Lowe.
For more information on The Festival, Click on Clarionmusic.com.
—Jointly produced by the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC), in partnership with TCG (Theatre Communications Group), the Asian American Arts Alliance, Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center with Fordham University Theatre Program—
(NEW YORK)—How can the creative community advance race equity in the theatre? How do artists and producers agree to work together to eradicate yellowface and brownface? What are lessons learned that can be shared? On Monday, May 2nd, 2016, at 7 pm, Beyond Orientalism: The Forum will be held at Fordham University’s Pope Auditorium to explore these vital questions. This interactive public event, in which every attendee will play a role and have a voice, features panel conversations, a breakout session, and multimedia components, more than just a series of talking heads.
This three-hour forum will include two panels and a breakout session. The first panel will be a conversation among influencers in the American theatre—artistic directors and producers impacting the American theatre landscape. The second panel will feature Asian Pacific Islander (API) artists who are activists for diversity in the theatre community. Composed of theatre artists and allies, the public forum will also explore collaborations among API and primarily white arts organizations around the country. The first panel features cultural influencers Chay Yew of Victory Gardens, David Wannen of New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players and other panelists pending. The second panel features playwright Lloyd Suh, director Nelson Eusebio and NAATCO artistic director and actor Mia Katigbak..
Panelists confirmed include:
James Nicola, Artistic Director New York Theatre Workshop
Neil Pepe, Artistic Director Atlantic Theater Company
Randy Skinner, Director, Dames at Sea on Broadway
David Wannen, Exec Dir, NY Gilbert and Sullivan Players
Chay Yew, Artistic Director Victory Garden Theatre, Chicago
Mia Katigbak, Artistic Director National Asian American Theatre Co
Nelson Eusebio, former Artistic Director Leviathan Lab, co-founder Creative Destruction
Moderated by Carmen Morgan, founder ArtEquity.
After a series of yellowface/brownface productions across the United States in 2015, including multiple revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan’s THE MIKADO, API theatre artists across the country felt a necessary dialogue was missing from the theatre community. Beyond Orientalism conversations began in November 2015 with a Town Hall gathering of API theatre artists in response to the persistent practice of racial impersonation in U.S. theatre. Beyond Orientalism: The Forum is the launch of a national initiative to directly address the harmful effects of yellowface and brownface in US theatre, while advocating for diverse representation of API people– and all characters of color – on all stages.
“The Asian American Arts Alliance is proud to be working with our tremendous partners on Beyond Orientalism: The Forum,” said Alliance Executive Director Andrea Louie. “In a political climate that is increasingly polarized, the issues of yellowface and brownface have never been more important. Asian Americans make up 15% of the NYC population and represent its fastestgrowing racial group. But there is a glass ceiling in nearly every sector of the creative workforce, most obviously on New York City stages, which do not reflect the vibrant and diverse world in which we live.”
Angel Desai, a steering committee member of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC), said, “There is an imbalance in the theatrical world, a gap between how Asian Pacific Islanders see ourselves and how some theatre makers see us. Yellowface/brownface is but one symptom of this imbalance. We hope our May 2nd forum can be a step toward bridging that gap. AAPAC is excited to share the conversation about Asian American representation in New York City theatre with such dedicated, passionate partners.”
“TCG renews our call for color-conscious casting to help end the harmful practices of yellow face and brownface,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. “We’re proud to partner with organizations who have been leading that work for years, and hope that Beyond Orientalism: The Forum will spark transformative conversations about cultural appropriation, stereotype, racial equity, and more.”
“It seems every day brings a new account of a film, of a TV show, of a theatre production, that fails to represent the variety and breadth of America’s cultural life, and in many cases, with seeming intent, denies truthful depictions of our diversity. Only by engaging with one another, and challenging practices that create barriers, can we ever hope to have our entertainment reflect the true nature of the country,” said Howard Sherman, interim director of Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts.
Fordham Theatre is proud to present the AAPAC Forum because it is fitting conclusion to their 2016/17 season, “A Season at the Mountaintop,” which has been devoted to the vision of a society in which everyone is included.
Beyond Orientalism: The Forum will take place from 7 to 10 pm at Pope Auditorium on Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus, located at 113 West 60th Street in Manhattan. Admission is free. Interested attendees should RSVP.
Asian American Arts Alliance is dedicated to strengthening Asian American arts and cultural groups through resource sharing, promotion, and community building. Since 1983, the Alliance has sought to unify, promote, and represent the artistic and cultural producers of one of New York City’s fastest-growing ethnic populations. The organization is a diverse alliance of artists, organizations and arts supporters who believe that working together as a pan-ethnic, multidisciplinary community is essential to nurturing the development of artists and arts organizations and to providing meaningful and innovative ways for civic engagement in society www.aaartsalliance.org
The mission of Asian American Performers Action Coalition is to expand the perception of Asian American performers in order to increase their access to and representation on New York City’s stages.
Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the U.S. theatre, was founded in 1961 with a grant from the Ford Foundation to foster communication among professional, community and university theatres. Their mission is to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. www.tcg.org
The Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts is America’s leading advocate for full diversity as a key to the vitality and dynamism of American theatre, film, and television, with a particular focus on artists of color and artists with disabilities. www.inclusioninthearts.org
The Fordham University Theatre Program is regarded as one of the most outstanding BA theatre training programs in the country. The program combines the intimacy of a small conservatory with an exceptional liberal arts education, and the rich resources and opportunities available in the world capital of the performing arts. Ignite your vision at fordham.edu/theatre
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
Lia Chang. Photo by Garth Kravits
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the filmsWolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Examiner.com, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
The film series both critiques and celebrates Hollywood’s depictions of the Chinese, and presents groundbreaking Chinese American artists who navigated industry challenges from the beginning of film history to now.
On the opening weekend, I flew to LA to celebrate the 15th anniversary since the release of Arthur Dong’s Hollywood Chinese documentary, and it was screened as the kick-off of the 27-film series.
Chushingura – 47 Ronin is based on one of the most enduring stories in Japan. Portraying real events that took place in 1702-1703 during Japan’s Shogun-led Edo period, this sprawling story of honor, betrayal, clan loyalty, sacrifice, justice, and revenge has been told and retold in hundreds of ways in Japanese books, plays, movies, television dramas, and animated series. This new stage adaptation is performed mainly in Japanese with some English and supertitles translation throughout.
The Far Country features Ben Chase (Mondo Tragic), Jinn S. Kim (Race, Religion & Politics), Whit K. Lee (Assassins), Christopher Liam Moore (All The Way), Shannon Tyo (The Chinese Lady), Amy Kim Waschke (Off-Broadway debut), and Eric Yang (Legacy).
Phil Wong
HIFF is hosting a free screening of Director Bao Nguyen’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary BE WATER, followed by an after-film panel featuring Director Nguyen, Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee, Angry Asian Man founder and culture writer Phil Yu, Chi-hui Yang of the Ford Foundation, Momofuku founder and ‘Ugly Delicious’ host Dave Chang, and Kindred Ventures’ Founder Steve Jang on Friday, November 27 to celebrate Bruce Lee’s 80th birthday. The panel discussion will be moderated by New York Magazine’s Chris Lee. 
BE WATER is a feature-length documentary that offers a unique glimpse into the man behind the myth, featuring interviews from celebrity friends, members of his own family, and even private letters written by Bruce Lee. BE WATER premiered at Sundance 2020 and competed in the U.S. Dramatic Feature competition. In June, it had its U.S. broadcast debut on ESPN as part of the sports broadcaster’s 30 on 30 documentary series, breaking ratings records. It is an official selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Classics section. 
6:00 pm “Anna May Wong ~ Frosted Yellow Willows” Q & A with filmmaker Elaine Mae Woo.
Bev’s Girl Films presents Belongingness, a new short film starring Isabela Sanchez and Lia Chang.
Bev's Girl Films 