From the windows of a run-down pho restaurant, Mai watches her neighborhood get gentrified, storefront by storefront. Just as the restaurant seems destined to close, a mysterious tech consultant arrives, helping Mai put the noodle shop on a path to glory. But as Mai discovers the truth of this delectable new reality, she is taken on an unexpected adventure full of Vietnamese cuisine, love, and corrupt technology. Blending speculative comedy with the lived realities of displacement, queer identity, and survival, My Home on the Moon arrives in Boston with unusual urgency.

The production also brings together a team with strong national and regional profiles. Lee’s play originally premiered at San Francisco Playhouse, where it won the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Original Script. Director cara hinh, who returns to Boston for the production, is the Associate Artistic Director at Indiana Repertory Theatre and has worked with theatres around the country including Arena Stage, Atlantic Theatre, Ars Nova, Berkeley Rep, Ma-Yi, MCC, and Working Theatre. The design team for CHUANG Stage’s production includes Hien Nguyen, Qingan Zhang, Kat C. Zhou, Amanda Gibson, and Eric Tran.

For Minna Lee, the Boston production is deeply personal as well as politically resonant. They said:

“It means absolutely everything to me that My Home on the Moon is being supported by a producing team of asian theater makers. This play came from an enormous love for asians everywhere, especially my fellow queer viets, so to be able to celebrate this story with Boston’s asian community is extremely special. Not only that, I get to share this experience with my friend/director, cara hinh, who is tremendously talented! Aside from gay asian fun, I’m also curious to see how the play interacts with Boston’s current relationship with big tech and gentrification, both of which have led to atrocious rent prices. I look forward to learning from local groups that are organizing to make this city a more accessible and affordable place to live.”

That same combination of joy, community, and civic urgency is echoed by cara hinh, whose relationship to both the material and the producing company gives the project added depth. hinh said:

“I am thrilled to get back to Boston and CHUANG Stage, a theatre whose work is so important to the city and the American Theatre. I am always grateful when I get to work in community with my fellow queer Viet creatives and honored to help bring Minna’s relevant and joyous play to life.”

For CHUANG Stage, the production continues the company’s investment in formally adventurous Asian American work that speaks directly to the present moment. Executive Director Alison Yueming Qu said:

“We’re over the moon to be producing the East Coast premiere of My Home on the Moon by Minna Lee, and to welcome back cara hinh as director. Minna’s writing is wildly imaginative and fiercely of-the-moment—I’d even call it explosive, a high-flying theatrical adventure Boston truly needs. We’re also thrilled to be joined by extraordinary collaborators, including Kat C. Zhou on lighting and Hien on sound. At its heart, this play honors matriarchs—the people who keep family businesses alive, whether by blood or chosen family—while asking what it means to preserve our humanity in the age of AI.”

The East Coast cast of My Home on the Moon includes Lee Baladejo as Beau, Christina R. Chan as Lan, Emma Na-yun Downs as Vera, Belle Lê as Mai, and Jenny S. Lee as Gigi.

True to CHUANG Stage’s mission, the production will be offered through the company’s Pay-As-You-Are ticketing model, with prices ranging from $0 to $75. The model is designed to provide radical access to theatre for working-class immigrant communities and communities of color, including those historically underrepresented among Boston’s arts audiences, while inviting attendees to share in the collective responsibility of keeping the arts accessible for everyone.

Performance Information

My Home on the Moon
East Coast Premiere produced by CHUANG Stage
By Minna Lee
Directed by cara hinh

Previews: May 23–26, 2026
Press Opening: May 27, 2026
Closing: June 13, 2026
Location: Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts
Tickets: Pay-As-You-Are ($0–$85)

About the Artists

Minna Lee (they/them/she/her) is a Hmong-Vietnamese American writer and animator whose work takes audiences into whimsical worlds full of queer joy and strange magic. They are a recipient of the Dramatists Guild’s 2024 Lanford Wilson Award, a 2025 New Georges Audrey Resident, and a MacDowell Fellow. Their work includes My Home on the Moon, Last Gold, and ACTING STRANGER.

cara hinh (they/she) is a queer, fat, Việt theatre maker and Hoosier. They are the Associate Artistic Director at Indiana Repertory Theatre and have worked with theatres around the country as a director and educator.

About CHUANG Stage

Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is Boston’s Asian American professional non-profit theatre company, cultivating joyful and radical pan-Asian stories that pioneer translingual activism in the arts. The company is currently a resident theatre company at the Boston Center for the Arts and is nationally recognized for multilingual storytelling and bold artistic collaborations.

The ensemble bringing this sixth chapter of the Ufot Family Cycle to life includes:

Cast (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Kadahj Bennett – EKONG UFOT

• Natalie Jacobs – TOYOIMA UFOT

• Salma Qarnain* – LAXMI “AMMA” SHRESTHA

• Natalya Rathnam* – ANJALI “AUNTIE” KAPALI

• Adrian Roberts* – DISCIPLE UFOT

• Mahima Saigal* – LUMANTI SHRESTHA

• Cheryl Singleton* – ABASIAMA UFOT

• Regine Vital – ADIAHA UFOT

The Ceremony centers on Ekong, the eldest son of the Ufot family, as he prepares to marry Lumanti Rathi, a Nepali-American woman. The couple navigates the beauty and challenges of blending Ibibio and Nepali traditions while facing complicated family histories. With themes of love, legacy, and cultural fusion, the play is both a continuation of Udofia’s sweeping family saga and an intimate, deeply human love story. Tickets are on sale now and offered on a Pay-As-You-Are scale from $0–$85, reflecting CHUANG Stage’s radical commitment to community arts access.

Playwright Mfoniso Udofia shares:

“I’m so incredibly excited to be working with Boston’s preeminent Asian American–run theater company, CHUANG Stage, alongside Boston Playwrights' Theatre and Boston University School of Theatre — with vital inspiration and support from The Huntington.

This sixth play in the Ufot cycle belongs to Ekong. And it looks both forward and back — further illuminating characters we’ve come to know, specifically Disciple, while passing the baton to Ekong as he steps into a new chapter of manhood: the possibility of becoming a husband.”

Director Kevin R. Free adds:

“I have been a fan of Mfoniso Udofia and the Ufot Cycle for over a decade, and working with her on The Ceremony feels like winning the lottery! It is especially gratifying to join the close-knit Boston theatre scene to bring this loving, muscular, joyful play to life. Ekong and Lumanti search for a way their Ibibio and Nepali cultures might intertwine — for how their love can stretch to hold all. Their story is messy, tender, difficult, and — I hope — ultimately fulfilling.”

Alison Yueming Qu, Executive Director of CHUANG Stage, shares:

“Producing The Ceremony is a defining moment for CHUANG Stage — our most ambitious production to date, uniting an extraordinary team of artists to stage a celebration that spans cultures, continents, and generations. For us, producing Ufot Cycle plays is an act of power and purpose — to insist that diasporic stories and languages belong on our stages, on what it means to be descendants of immigrants in America, carrying pride in our skin, our heritage, and our tongues into the heart of American theatre.”

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian notes:

“Boston Playwrights’ Theatre is dedicated to the voice and vision of the playwright – and so nothing could be more exciting to us than participating in a hugely ambitious project designed to uplift the voice and vision of an extraordinary (and locally grown!) writer like Mfoniso. We are honored to be part of the laboratory in which the Ufot Family Cycle is nurtured.”

Dean of Boston University College of Fine Arts Harvey Young reflects:

“Boston University is thrilled to join in this celebration of new work and transformative artistry. It is inspiring to see Boston’s theatre community come together in this way.”

About the Collaboration

Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is Boston’s Asian American professional non-profit theatre company, cultivating joyful and radical pan-Asian stories that pioneer translingual activism in the arts. As lead producer of The Ceremony, CHUANG Stage envisions a future in the American theatre driven by artists and audiences of Asian descent through innovative theatrical productions that honor the diverse language needs of the pan-Asian immigrant community. Nationally recognized for curating Asian American new plays and performances that advance the translingual aesthetic, CHUANG Stage’s work transforms Boston’s cultural landscape through multilingual storytelling and bold artistic collaborations.

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre (BPT) is dedicated to the voice and vision of the playwright. The company focuses on first and second productions of new plays by living writers that are text-forward and technically simple, centering vital questions in the lives of those in the region and amplifying voices historically silenced or ignored. In this time of great uncertainty and great possibility, BPT believes playwrights are essential to reflecting on the past, engaging with present challenges, and shaping the future.

The CFA School of Theatre is a nationally recognized program, with all the opportunities of a larger liberal arts university right at students’ fingertips. The School of Theatre believes each student is unique and should be able to pursue their individual interests while receiving strong foundational techniques within the art form. The Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, home to many BU School of Theatre productions, is a state-of-the-art performance venue located in the heart of Boston University’s Fenway Campus designed to support both intimate storytelling and technically ambitious productions.

True to CHUANG Stage’s mission, The Ceremony will be presented under the company’s Pay-As-You-Are ticketing model — from $0 to $85 — designed to provide radical access to theatre for working-class immigrant communities and communities of color, including those historically underrepresented among Boston’s arts audiences. This model invites all attendees to select a ticket price that reflects their socio-economic status and to share in the collective responsibility of keeping the arts accessible for everyone.

About Mfoniso Udofia and the Ufot Family Cycle

When nationally acclaimed playwright Mfoniso Udofia grew up in Southbridge, Massachusetts and attended Wellesley College, she rarely saw stories about Africans and African Americans that felt true to her own family. Inspired in part by August Wilson’s Century Cycle, Udofia set out to create an emotionally engrossing cycle of nine plays that follows one Nigerian American family through three generations: parents, children, and grandchildren. Each play stands alone brilliantly, yet together they form a stunning tapestry that resonates universally.

The Ufot Family Cycle is an unprecedented two-year, city-wide festival in which theatres and arts organizations across Greater Boston will come together to produce Udofia’s nine-play cycle. This collaborative effort will engage universities, social organizations, non-profits, and a host of community activation partners, beginning this fall, to bring these interwoven stories to life on stages and in communities throughout the region.

The Ceremony

Produced by CHUANG Stage, in partnership with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre

A World Premiere by Mfoniso Udofia

Directed by Kevin R. Free

Previews: September 11 – 18, 2025

Press Opening: September 19, 2025

Closing: October 5, 2025

Location: Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, Boston University

Tickets: Pay-As-You-Are ($0–$85) — On sale now at https://www.chuangstage.org/the-ceremony

Creative Team:

• Mfoniso Udofia – Playwright

• Kevin R. Free – Director

• Amrita Ramanan (she/her) – Co-Dramaturg

• Charles Haugland – Co-Dramaturg

• Jenna Worden* (she/her) – Production Stage Manager

• afrikah selah (they/them) – Assistant Stage Manager

• Aubrey Dube (he/him) – Sound Designer

• Cristina Todesco^ (she/her) – Scenic Designer

• Chloe Moore (she/her) – Costume Designer

• Zoe Charbonneau (she/her) – Props Designer

A poignant, playful, and deeply personal story, Learning How to Read by Moonlight follows six-year-old Eddie, who learns English from his imaginary friend while navigating the complexities of growing up in an undocumented family. This multilingual journey with music—performed in English and Tagalog with subtitles—examines the timely resilience of an undocumented Filipino family, weaving a tale of wonder, love, and unspoken truths.

This production further highlights Boston’s community leaders and activism: a special guest narrator will join the storytelling each night, featuring local artists, community organizers, and elected officials. Playwright Gaven D. Trinidad shares: "American stories like this are threatened with erasure in today’s cultural and political climate, and the humans for whom I’ve written this play are told they have no home. I believe deeply that the performing arts are essential in all our lives. Even in the brief time we share in a theatre, we can help satiate souls in need of care and comfort, remind people how to love, and rekindle our limitless capacity for compassion toward strangers. This is no easy feat, and I am deeply honored that Boston's CHUANG Stage and C1 will be the artists to usher in this world premiere.”

This production intentionally moves between venues—the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre (CHUANG Stage's residency home), Pao Arts Center, and The Umbrella Arts Center—to meet Boston's communities where they are. By traveling between these spaces, Learning How to Read by Moonlight creates deep engagement with audiences in community spaces in service of neighborhood belonging.

This production intentionally moves between venues-the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre (CHUANG Stage's residency home), Pao Arts Center, and The Umbrella Arts Center-to meet Boston's communities where they are. By traveling between these spaces, Learning How to Read by Moonlight creates deep engagement with audiences in community spaces in service of neighborhood belonging.

"At C1, we deeply value our partnership with Boston's rising Asian American theater company, CHUANG Stage and its Executive Director, former C1 staffer Alison Yueming Qu," says C1 Artistic Director Shawn LaCount. "Partnering to produce the world premiere of Gaven D. Trinidad's wildly imaginative and all too timely new play is just the right kind of exciting work we want to be investing in. And bringing back one of our favorite directors and artists, Natsu Onoda Power (Astro Boy and the God of Comics) is just the cherry on top!"

As part of CHUANG Stage and Company One Theatre's joint mission to make theatre accessible to all of Boston-especially working-class immigrants of Asian American descent, Learning How to Read by Moonlight will use a Pay-What-You-Want ticketing model. This approach empowers audiences to select a ticket price that best reflects their socio-economic status, ensuring equitable access to theatre for all.

Alison Yueming Qu, Executive Director of CHUANG Stage, adds: "We are thrilled for this timely world premiere to set stage in and across Boston, helmed by a Southeast Asian American acting ensemble. This experience encapsulates everything CHUANG Stage stands for-joyful, radical, and multilingual storytelling that centers the lives of Asian American immigrants, where every night is a unique communal activism experience with a curated narrator leading the storytelling. Learning How to Read by Moonlight is a testament to our collective resilience, imagination, and the power of our neighborhoods."

>> About the Production

While his mother struggles to earn money in New York City and his father waits alone in Manila for their daily phone calls, six-year-old Eddie learns English from his imaginary friend. Between the War on Drugs in the Philippines and the anti-immigrant movement in the United States threatening their humanity, will this undocumented family be able to pursue their dreams and address unspoken truths? A musical and multilingual journey of childlike wonder, Gaven D. Trinidad’s Learning How to Read by Moonlight is equal parts playful, poignant, and hella Pinoy.

To spotlight Boston’s own community leaders and activism, a new narrator (a fellow artist, community organizer, or elected official) joins the storytelling every night. Learning How to Read by Moonlight is spoken in English and Tagalog with subtitles.

Learning How to Read by Moonlight is produced as a part of CHUANG Stage's LaunchPad theatre residency at Boston Center for the Arts.

>> Company One Theatre and CHUANG Stage are producing Learning How to Read by Moonlight to AMPLIFY:

• the partnership between Company One and CHUANG Stage, and our shared value of activism through joyful, socially-engaged theatre that expands access through Pay-What-You-Want ticketing in Boston's neighborhoods and cultural hubs beyond traditional theatres.

• the Tagalog/English experience of this play as a way to center immigrant visibility in the arts and celebrate authentic, communal storytelling that speaks to people of all language fluencies and cultural backgrounds.

• ongoing relationships with local and national community partners and organizations that support immigration and refugee justice, fight to end deportation, and work to build spaces of sanctuary for our neighbors who are navigating this country's volatile immigration system at a time of mass deportation and separation.

• the imaginative and playful perspective of an immigrant child, which can inspire creativity, joy, and responsibility for the next generation in our collective work toward a better future.

• the voice of first-generation, gender non-conforming, moreno Filipinx American theatre artist Gaven D. Trinidad, whose community-centered work ritualizes civic responsibility, cross-cultural and intergenerational perspectives, and racial healing. 

>> Cast

Elijah Punzal (they/he/siya) - Player 1/Eddie

Jude Torres* (he/him) - Player 2/Jimmy

Christine Armenion (she/her) - Player 3/Nanay

Alfredo Reyes (he/him) - Player 4/Tatay

Nicholas Papayoanou (he/they) - Player 5/Misc.

Jenine Florence Jacinto (they/them) - Understudy for Player 1/Eddie, Player 2/Jimmy

*Appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

>> Production, Creative, and Design Team

Playwright: Gaven D. Trinidad (they/he/siya)

Director & Scenic Designer: Natsu Onoda Power (she/her)

Dramaturg & Tour Director: Michelle M. Aguillon (she/her)

Music Director: Jeffrey Song (he/him)

Production Stage Manager: Becca Cottrell (they/them)

Costume Designer: Yao Kuang Lee (she/her)

Lighting Designer: Ashley Yung (she/her)

Sound Designer: Anna Drummond (they/them)

Props Designer: Kelly Smith (she/her)

Projection Designer: Grace Kroeger (she/they)

In this intimate solo performance, acclaimed writer and performer Zoë Kim shapeshifts into her family members, unraveling a candid semi-autobiographical story about our love languages and how we often fail to communicate with the ones we love the most. Over the course of 75 whirlwind minutes, audiences will experience moments of laughter and heartbreak in an intimate journey that delves into the complexities of family, love, and Korean/American identity.

“Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) is an autobiographical solo show about love. It’s a play about how we learn to love, how we love, and how we love ourselves. It’s a love letter to my inner child and hopefully to yours, too.” shares playwright Zoë Kim. "It’s meaningful for Seoulful Productions to be co-producing our first theatrical endeavor with CHUANG Stage, whose values align so closely with our own. We are thrilled for our collective communities to come together in celebration of Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) and to be able to share stories that center the AANHPI experience with the wider Boston audience." shares The Board of Directors at Seoulful Productions.

The production will include choreography by Christopher Shin, lighting design by Ari Kim, projection design by Michi Zaya, sound design by Katie Kuan-Yu Chen, set and costume design by Szu-Feng Chen.

“As a Director, I created a private space for a life story where it can be seen, felt, and experienced. This space is so small that one can hardly breathe, or it is too big that one gets lost. Sometimes, words and emotions are thrown from everywhere. Often, there are echoes of lost voices that no one listens to,” says Director Chris Yejin. “I admire the bravery of the playwright in opening up this space for us."

CHUANG Stage is currently a resident theatre company at Boston Center for the Arts, committed to fostering joyful and radical stories that transform the narrative of Asian Americans in the city of Boston and beyond. Associate Producer of CHUANG Stage, Jenny S. Lee shares: “It is such an honor and an excitement to be able to bring the world premiere of Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) to life, helmed by visionary director Chris Yejin. Putting the voice of a bilingual, Korean American femme creative in center stage is our version of a love letter to our community in the city of Boston–one that is so deeply personal that it becomes uniquely universal. Kim and Yejin have crafted an experience that will tear you apart, cradle the pieces back together, and leave you pondering what it means to eat and be eaten and therefore to love and be loved.” 

Michaila Cowie is the Director of Theatre Arts at Boston Center for the Arts, and shares her excitement about investing in another season of radically joyful Asian American new work at CHUANG Stage. Cowie shares: “CHUANG Stage is entering their second year as our Launchpad Resident, here at Boston Center for the Arts, and I could not be more excited to have DID YOU EAT? (밥 먹었니?) as their first production of the season. I'm eager to see how this show will elevate conversations about identity, love and connection. CHUANG Stage consistently pushes the boundaries of theatre by showcasing diverse voices and narratives, fostering dialogue within communities, and highlighting underrepresented stories, and this show is a great example of that. I’m honored to collaborate with them as a vital part of BCA’s community.”

Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?), written and performed by Zoë Kim and directed by Chris Yejin. Produced by CHUANG Stage and Seoulful Productions. Venue: Boston Center for the Arts, BCA Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116. For more information, please visit www.chuangstage.org. Tickets are pay-as-you-are, starting at $0. (Suggested Price: $30).

BIOS: 

ZOË KIM (Playwright/Actor) is a storyteller who is passionate about creating art that encourages humanity, compassion, and kindness. She is a classically trained Actor and the Founder of Seoulful Productions, a Korean-American women-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose primary mission is to create artistic experiences that celebrate the culture, artistry, and voices of the Korean Diaspora. Her acting credits include The Heart Sellers, Pride and Prejudice, Eureka Day, Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe in London), 4000 Miles, and The King’s Language (world premiere). She wrote Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) and screenplays for Phone Call, Meet Me at a Funeral (MMF), Say, Do You Wanna Be White?, and multiple episodes of Blue Match Comedy. MMF and Phone Call became official selections at various film festivals and have won her numerous awards including EMERGING FILMMAKER, BEST COMEDY, and BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE. www.thezoekim.com @thezoekim 

CHRIS YEJIN (Director) is a first-generation Korean American who has steadily worked as a Director, Writer, and Dramaturg in theater and film. Strongly influenced by both Korean and American cultures, she has assimilated her experiences and given them a voice through her work. Her theater directing includes Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?), The King's Language (world premiere), I Do for You (musical), Your Final Moment, Three Girls, Their Dreams, The War (world premiere), Medea The Woman, Ahn’s Three Daughters, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her writing includes Belong (screenplay), The King's Language, and Three Girls, Their Dreams, The War. www.chrisyejin.com

ABOUT CHUANG STAGE: 

Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is Boston’s Asian American theatre company, cultivating joyful and radical pan-Asian stories that pioneer a translingual activism in the arts. CHUANG Stage envisions a future in the American theatre moved forward by theatre artists and audiences of Asian descent through innovative productions that focus on the diverse language needs of the pan-Asian immigrant community. For more information, please visit chuangstage.org. 

ABOUT SEOULFUL PRODUCTIONS:

SEOULFUL PRODUCTIONS is dedicated to creating artistic experiences that celebrate the culture, artistry, and voices of the Korean Diaspora through our own eyes and lived experiences. Seoulful Productions strives in uplifting storytelling as a vehicle to dismantle systemic racism, amplify marginalized voices, and advocate for humanity. www.seoulfulproductions.org

ABOUT BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS 

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) supports working artists to create, perform, and exhibit new works; develops new audiences; and connects the arts to community, and has for over five decades engaged the creative community for public good. While the organization’s physical residence is in the historic South End, BCA touches every part of Boston’s cultural ecosystem. A leading force in the city’s cultural community, BCA has supported thousands of individual artists, small organizations, and performing arts companies, who add depth and dimension to the Boston arts ethos. Through residencies and programming, BCA serves as an epicenter for an expanding cohort of artists working across all disciplines, and has catalyzed careers by providing fertile ground for experimentation and artistic risk-taking. To learn more about Boston Center for the Arts, visit bostonarts.org. 

This first-time collaboration between Fresh Ink Theatre Company and CHUANG Stage is dedicated to empowering communities and uplifting stories that reflect the ever-expanding Boston identity. Through new work journeys with two next-generation local Asian American playwrights, this is a joint call-to-action in centering Asian American and Pacific Islander artists and invites them to get messy, explore, and luxuriate in their artistry.

The New Play Development Residency is awarded to Ugly Feelings by Karina Cowperthwaite. The program includes a playwright award, including one-on-one meetings with dramaturgs from both Fresh Ink and CHUANG Stage, an internal workshop, and a public staged reading. This public reading performance will take place at Boston Center for the Arts from March 7 to 9, 2025.

The Inkubation Residency is awarded to Mary Magdalene, Daughter, Boatperson by Diana Khong. The program includes a playwright award and community research funding plus 12 months of personalized dramaturgical support from a professional dramaturg.

Fresh Ink Theatre Company is committed to developing fresh, inclusive, innovative new work with theatre artists in the New England area. The collaboration between Fresh Ink Theatre Company and CHUANG Stage represents a joint invitation and call to action to center Asian American artists and their voices. “It's not often that artists of the global majority have the opportunity to luxuriate in their art making. There is always that pressure to get it perfect the first time, especially for AAPI artists, but at this table, we invite just the opposite. Be messy!  Explore! Fail gloriously! CHUANG Stage and Fresh Ink's new play processes are uniquely built to nurture growth and create a playground for playwrights, and these plays specifically are pushing the bounds of what a play can be through their innovative forms and fearless storytelling.” says Tatiana Gil, Co-Literary Director of Submissions and Operations of Fresh Ink Theatre Company.

As Boston’s Asian American theatre company, CHUANG Stage cultivates joyful and radical pan-Asian stories and is invested in new works and innovative narratives that have deep roots in the Boston local community. “It is truly a revolving door of communion to be able to continuously center and spotlight the incredibly vibrant Asian American voices in our community. We are so honored to be able to hold space for boundary-pushing, radically creative, thoroughly local artists like Karina and Diana. I cannot wait for Boston to encounter the simultaneous hilarity, grief, and catharsis that I experienced when I first encountered these plays!” says Jenny S. Lee, Associate Producer of CHUANG Stage.

This collaboration is part of Fresh Ink Theatre Company’s 2024 - 25 production season at Boston Center for the Arts. Fresh Ink’s 24 - 25 season explores how different intersectional identities collide with all types of intimate relationships: from sex and romance to family and friends. For more information, please visit https://freshinktheatre.org/20242025-season.

>> About Fresh Ink Theatre Company: Fresh Ink Theatre Company is committed to developing fresh, inclusive, innovative new work with theatre artists in the New England area. We believe that representation onstage and community-building offstage has the power to inspire audiences, shift worldviews, foster understanding, and challenge the status quo. We are dedicated to programming artistic work and curating artistic collaborations that uplift and celebrate the diverse range of voices in New England. We seek to empower writers with the tools to craft plays that showcase their creative vision, and we challenge the Boston community to engage in the evolution of dynamic new work as it transforms from first draft to first production, and beyond.

>> About CHUANG Stage: Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is Boston’s Asian American theatre company, cultivating joyful and radical pan-Asian stories that pioneer a translingual activism in the arts. CHUANG Stage envisions a future in the American theatre moved forward by theatre artists and audiences of Asian descent through innovative productions that focus on the diverse language needs of the pan-Asian immigrant community.

Nüwa in Fairyland introduces us to Benji, a Chinese transracial adoptee, whose life takes a magical turn when he is cast as Puck in his high school’s production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Deep into his method-acting preparation, Benji unexpectedly encounters Nüwa, the Chinese goddess of creation, in the mystical foggy forest of Shakespeare's world. This encounter takes Benji on an extraordinary adventure that blends Shakespeare's classics with Chinese folklore to find the realities of the Asian American diasporic experience.

Brandon Zang, the playwright, describes Nüwa in Fairyland as "a love letter to theater, the diaspora, and the eternal quest for home.” Brandon adds: “Created from folklore, stories of transracial adoptees, and my own lived experience, this bilingual play is at its core a coming-of-age story that confronts the most complicated relationships that cannot be described with language. I hope audiences will bring an open mind and leave with a full heart!"

Directed by local bilingual theatre visionary Carla Mirabal Rodríguez, Nüwa in Fairyland will unfold this spring as a heartfelt chronicle for all, exploring themes of identity, culture, and language diversity on stage. "I love plays that go beyond the scope of our own world," says Carla. "Brandon has created a world that combines the reality of high school with the wondrous world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Chinese folklore. There is magic in this play, in the characters, in the setting, in the language, in the relationships. Bi-lingual theatre is transformative, and I'm excited for audiences to take this journey with us."

CHUANG Stage is the current Launchpad Theatre Resident at Boston Center for the Arts, committed to fostering joyful and radical stories that transform the narrative of Asian Americans in the city of Boston and beyond. Executive Director Alison Yueming Qu shares: “Boston local creatives, the next generation of poignant Asian American voices, and works that celebrate the translingual lived experiences are the heart of CHUANG Stage. We are deeply excited and honored to present Nüwa in Fairyland for its first staged production in Boston and kick-start community dialogues on a more just future in Asian American stories.” 

Nüwa in Fairyland, written by Brandon Zang and directed by Carla Mirabal Rodríguez. Produced by CHAUNG Stage. Venue: Boston Center for the Arts, BCA Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116. For more information, please visit www.chuangstage.org. Tickets are pay-as-you-are, starting at $0! (Suggested Price: $25).

About CHUANG Stage 

Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is Boston’s Asian American theatre company, cultivating joyful and radical pan-Asian stories that pioneer translingual activism in the arts. CHUANG Stage envisions a future in the American theatre moved forward by theatre artists and audiences of Asian descent through innovative productions that focus on the diverse language needs of the pan-Asian immigrant community. For more information, please visit chuangstage.org.

About BCA Launchpad Residency 

Launchpad is a 3-year residency that supports Boston-based theater ensembles or companies in the early stages of development by providing space, mentorship, and support in growing their audiences and impact. Resources are designed to meet the needs of the company and include access to rehearsal and performance spaces, mentorship, administrative and production support, marketing, and a platform for producing and performing innovative new work. This program seeks to promote groups who are actively taking artistic risks, exploring multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary creativity, and challenging audiences.

About Boston Center for the Arts 

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) supports working artists to create, perform, and exhibit new works; develops new audiences; and connects the arts to community, and has for over five decades engaged the creative community for public good. While the organization’s physical residence is in the historic South End, BCA touches every part of Boston’s cultural ecosystem. A leading force in the city’s cultural community, BCA has supported thousands of individual artists, small organizations, and performing arts companies, who add depth and dimension to the Boston arts ethos. Through residencies and programming, BCA serves as an epicenter for an expanding cohort of artists working across all disciplines, and has catalyzed careers by providing fertile ground for experimentation and artistic risk-taking. To learn more about Boston Center for the Arts, visit bostonarts.org.

“The NEA is delighted to announce this grant to CHUANG Stage, which is helping contribute to the strength and well-being of the arts sector and local community,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “We are pleased to be able to support this community and help create an environment where all people have the opportunity to live artful lives.”

Found in Translation is a theatrical collaboration produced by CHUANG Stage, in partnership with the social collective Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), and Boston Chinatown art center Pao Arts Center, on a series of multilingual new plays toward a sense of celebration and belonging in Boston Chinatown via the transformative power of theatre.

Found in Translation brings forth a collection of new contemporary plays written by Asian American playwrights, realized by a local creative design team. By embracing the script-in-hand stage reading format, the series highlights the plays’ best potential and invites audiences to explore their bold narratives. Each theatrical activation will be paired with community events that amplify the themes of each play and the goals of the playwrights involved.

“Found in Translation is the program that is most dear to our hearts—it explores intersections between public spaces, Asian American residents, and exciting new work.” Said CHUANG Stage Executive Director, Alison Yueming Qu. “By rooting the new play process in Boston Chinatown in a public art format, we dedicate the series to combat racism, xenophobia, and gentrification in Chinatown by amplifying AAPI community strength.”

Since 2021, the Found in Translation series has activated community spaces via four staged readings by playwrights of the Asian Diaspora, all of which are bilingual theatre works that focus on gathering and uplifting their specific cultural communities, and welcomed over 700 physical audiences and engaged over 50 local artists.

For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

The Fortune Teller takes audiences on a journey through time, offering a glimpse into the lives,  dreams, and struggles of an adoptive family of a Chinese daughter, as they search for destiny and each other connected by heritage and blood. This poignant and deeply moving play explores themes of legacy that are uniquely Chinese American and the spirit of resilience that binds generations together. 

"We are thrilled to kick off our 23-24 season with The Fortune Teller and share this powerful story with Boston," said Alison Yueming Qu, Executive Director of CHUANG Stage. "This play is a testament to the strength and crucial presence of the Chinese immigrant community and their enduring legacy in America. We are here to embrace community dialogues and bring justice to  the underrepresented history of Chinese American legacy in Boston and beyond." 

“The Fortune Teller is the result of a five-year journey within TC2 Theatre Company's Play Lab,  where the play received several readings and benefited from the generous feedback of our artists and audiences," says Rosalind Thomas-Clark, Artistic Director of TC2 Theatre Company.  "TC Squared is delighted to have the opportunity for this collaboration with CHUANG Stage. The  Chinese history that is revealed is important and powerful." 

"The inspiration for The Fortune Teller was based on the origin story of the founding of the  Chinese Historical Society of New England in Boston," shares playwright Christina R. Chan. "The former managing director of CHSNE told me about the dilapidated and neglected gravesites of the early Chinese immigrant men in Boston at Mt Hope Cemetery. What stories were buried  with these men if they have no family to take care of their graves?" 

"We are overjoyed to have Chuang Stage as our current Launchpad Resident," said Michaila  owie, Associate Director of Theatre Arts of BCA. "They are bringing much needed diversity to the New England theatre community by centering AAPI artists and their voices through innovative, bilingual productions that contribute to language access. With their dedication to centering the AAPI experience, they are advancing often overlooked voices throughout Boston's local community, surrounding partners, and more widely on a national scale. We are fortunate  to be able to focus resources towards a theatre company who we believe in." 

The Fortune Teller will undergo an extensive workshop development process, featuring a month-long rehearsal period and multi-day workshop production performances paired with community engagement opportunities and post-show conversations, including a special gathering dedicated to welcoming Asian American adoptee teens and families in the Greater Boston area. 

The presentations will be free and open to the public with optional donation, inviting audiences to join in the conversation and share their own experiences. The play will serve as a focal point for the local Asian American and Boston Chinatown community, providing a hub for dialogue  and reflection on the shared history and experiences of the Chinese immigrant community in  America.

The Fortune Teller, written by Christina R. Chan. Directed by Kai Chao; associate directed by  Alison Qu. Co-produced by CHUANG Stage and TC2 Theatre Company. Venue: Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116. For more information,  please visit www.chuangstage.org. 

About TC Squared Theatre Company 

TC Squared offers a platform for writers to develop scripts from inception to completion through weekly workshops with PlayLab, Directors Lab, and collaborative readings before  diverse audiences. Playwrights are encouraged to push artistic boundaries and to challenge  important, controversial issues in service to their authentic voice. For more information, please  visit tc2theatre.org. 

About CHUANG Stage 

Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is Boston’s translingual Asian American theatre company; its mission is to cultivate joyful and challenging pan-Asian stories that pioneer a new activism in the arts. CHUANG Stage envisions a future in the American theatre moved forward by theatre artists  and audiences of Asian descent through innovative productions that focus on the diverse  language needs of the pan-Asian immigrant community. CHUANG Stage is the Launchpad  Resident of Boston Center for the Arts. For more information, please visit chuangstage.org. 

About BCA Launchpad Residency 

The BCA Launchpad Residency supports the artistic and organizational growth of an emerging  Boston-area performing arts company — a theatre, dance, or music company or ensemble. This  multi-year residency provides resources to further develop artistic excellence, organizational  growth, and audience engagement. We invite taking artistic risks, multidisciplinary and  interdisciplinary creativity, and challenging, provoking, and moving audiences. 

About Boston Center for the Arts 

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) supports working artists to create, perform, and exhibit new  works; develops new audiences; and connects the arts to community, and has for over five  decades engaged the creative community for public good. While the organization’s physical  residence is in the historic South End, BCA touches every part of Boston’s cultural ecosystem. A  leading force in the city’s cultural community, BCA has supported thousands of individual artists,  small organizations, and performing arts companies, who add depth and dimension to the  Boston arts ethos. Through residencies and programming, BCA serves as an epicenter for an  expanding cohort of artists working across all disciplines, and has catalyzed careers by providing  fertile ground for experimentation and artistic risk-taking. To learn more about Boston Center  for the Arts, visit bostonarts.org.

Written by Ethan Luk and directed by Wilson Wang, Flight of a Legless Bird follows the intertwined lives of two queer artists, Robin and Leslie, from the 1980s to the 2000s. The story takes audiences from New York’s West Village to bustling Hong Kong, reminiscing a golden era of pop music, identity, culture, and the transformative power of art in rapidly changing times. 

Flight of a Legless Bird was a finalist at the 2023 National Playwrights Conference (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center) and the recipient of The Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award (Distinguished Achievement) at the 2022 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. It premiered in July 2021 at Ying Drama Studio’s MINI Theater Festival in Beijing and was developed through New York Theater Workshop’s Mind the Gap program with funding from The Sam Hutton Fund and The Sandberg Fund at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

“[This] play is about collisions: what happens when two cultures and languages are forced to be in proximity with one [another,]” said Ethan Luk. “Throughout the development process, I would work closely with audiences and dramaturgs, particularly LGBTQIA+ and AAPI identifying members, through discussions and post-reading feedback to understand our prejudices, stories, and revelations about queer Asian folks.”

The play is a part of Found in Translation, a multilingual play reading and community workshop series produced for Boston. Activated in Chinatown since Fall 2021, Found in Translation is a collaboration between Pao Arts Center, CHUANG Stage and AATAB aiming to celebrate the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as Asian American in Greater Boston through theater. Found in Translation brings forth a collection of new contemporary plays written by Asian American playwrights, realized by a local creative design team. By embracing the script-in-hand stage reading format, the series highlights the plays’ best potential and invites audiences to explore their bold narratives.

“Our vision with the Found in Translation series is to empower AAPI theater-makers to seek and create stories that celebrate the multilingualism that is core to so much of the Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora,” said Ashley Yung, Theater and Performance Manager of Pao Arts Center. “Bringing multilingual stories to Boston’s Chinatown is particularly special because of this community’s own multilingual dynamic and long history of fighting for language access. As someone who grew up speaking Cantonese, being able to work with the Cantonese-English script of Flight of a Legless Bird feels especially meaningful.” 

“It was insightful to hear how the audience reacted to my interpretation of our shared cultural and historical experience of China/Hong Kong in the 80s to 00s, and also to the events in the U.S.,” said Ethan Luk. “Many of the Beijing audience members had no previous exposure to the AIDS crisis or even seeing queer Chinese representation onstage prior to this play. Bringing the play to an American audience would be a way of completing the circle, allowing the play to receive feedback from both of the worlds that are integral to the construction of the play.”

Post-show activities have been planned for both days to further enrich this cultural experience. Friday’s audiences will be provided with an opportunity to engage in a post-show conversation with the cast and creative team. Saturday will culminate in a “Red Heels” Cantopop Dance Party, celebrating the Cantopop music legend, Leslie Cheung’s iconic queer stage moments to mark a vibrant ending. 

“Flight of a Legless Bird is about an incredible era of music, art, and cultural queer becoming that defines intergenerational memory, and brings people together in both joy and grief, ” said Alison Yueming Qu, Co-Founder and Executive Director of CHUANG Stage. “We are deeply privileged to honor this endured legacy, fostering a sense of community rooted in resilience, strength, and love for all.”

This project is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Public Art for Spatial Justice program, with funding from the Barr Foundation.

Tickets are free with a suggested donation of $10. For registration and more information, visit https://www.paoartscenter.org/events/2023/flight-of-a-legless-bird or contact ashley.yung@bcnc.net. 

About Pao Arts Center:

Pao Arts Center was established in 2017 as a visionary program between Boston Chinatown

Neighborhood Center (BCNC) and Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC). It is Chinatown’s

first arts and cultural center. For more information, please visit paoartscenter.org. 

About CHUANG Stage:

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. For more information, please visit chuangstage.org. 

About Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB):

AATAB is a social collective that empowers and connects Pan-Asian theatre artists in the Greater Boston area. For more information, please visit aataboston.com.