The strong cast and earnest production that has gone into Beijing Spring, on stage now in Little Tokyo with East West Players, is witness to a couple of things: First, the Asian American community outside of China has not forgotten about the Tiananmen Square student uprising, and second, that Asian American talent is abundant and thriving in the U.S.
The somber and compelling musical had its opening night on Wednesday, May 21 and after its second show on Thursday night there was a Q & A with the director, Tim Dang, and the cast.
Dang said over 300 mostly local-LA Asian Americans came out for the auditions, and he noted to the audience and any possible directors or talent scouts in the audience that anyone who says the talent pool is lacking in the country for Asian Americans is completely misguided.
One of the more experienced cast members, Marc Oka, who played Yeh Yeh, the grandfather role, spoke of what amazing change he has seen unfold within the Asian American acting community since he began many years ago. He thought back to 1990-1991 when he was cast in Broadway productions Shogun: The Musical, and Miss Saigon. He said to get enough Asian-looking people to fill the stage, they found high school students and had to coach them on simple stage terms because they were not trained actors. Whether he was jokingly exaggerating or not, this speaks volumes to the tremendous growth that has been witnessed.
Daniel May, who portrayed the role of Xian, a passionate student activist, spoke about his acting process and what it took to get himself in the mindset for the role. While he, along with the majority of the cast, are not ethnically Chinese, he shared how the process of putting himself in the shoes of those students 25 years ago was meaningful.
“For the better of the country, for the better of the people, and that’s why we’re fighting,” he said, voicing what the students would have said of themselves in Beijing. “That was a different place for me to come from, because for me, ‘what am I going to get, this is my dream, how am I going to achieve it,’ so, ‘we’re going to fight for something and it’s really for the good of everyone,’ having that different perspective was eye-opening for me.”
The theatrical production is on stage until June 15. The Beijing Spring website, with bios of the full cast, show times, and other information, can be found at: http://eastwestplayers.org/2013-2014-season/beijing-spring.
Eva Cohen
Check out her blog at www.evacohenemedia.com
