Join Asian American Resource Workshop and Pao Arts Center to reconnect with history as we orient for our future in conversation with global diasporas as explored in Pao Arts Center's current exhibition Homeward Bound. In this facilitated journey in conversation with histories of queer Asian American organizing, participants will ground into personal and collective histories to inform our understandings of the current global pandemic and interconnected structures of oppression and resilience. Everyone is welcome, and this event is created by and for queer and trans Asian Americans.

This is a free virtual event, though donations to support Pao Arts Center programming are welcome. To receive an email with the Zoom link, please register below:

Partner:

Sponsors:

This exhibition is brought to the Pao Arts Center with generous support from Mass Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, finding, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of Mass Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Contact: Anju Madhok | anju.madhok@bcnc.net

Pao Arts Center is proud to host Homeward Bound: Global Intimacies in Converging Chinatowns, an exhibition curated by queer Chinese American scholars, organizers, and artists Mei Lum, Diane Wong, and Huiying B. Chan. Homeward Bound centers narratives of home, community, and intergenerational resistance.

The exhibition draws from four years of ethnographic research and oral history interviews with the Chinese diaspora that spans nine countries and 13 cities.

The installation uses photographs, oral histories, and multimedia archives to highlight stories of migration, displacement, and everyday resilience in Chinatowns around the world. This exhibition is the first of its kind to honor, preserve, and build on the history and present day issues of Chinatowns through community-led and curated narratives from residents globally.

This exhibition is brought to the Pao Arts Center with generous support from Mass Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, finding, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of Mass Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About the Artists

Huiying B. Chan is a creative writer, cultural organizer, and scholar born and raised in New York City. Their body of work centers diaspora, collective healing, love, and intergenerational and ancestral resistance and resilience. Huiying received the Knafel Fellowship to travel solo to Chinatowns in eight countries around the world documenting global stories of migration and resilience across the diaspora.

Diane Wong is an Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. As a first-generation Chinese American born and raised in Flushing, Queens in New York City, her research is intimately tied to the Asian diaspora and urban immigrant experience.

Mei Lum is the 5th generation owner of her family’s over century-old porcelain ware business and the oldest operating store in NYC's Chinatown, Wing on Wo & Co. (W.O.W.). In light of Chinatown's rapid cultural displacement, Mei established community initiative, the W.O.W. Project in 2016 out of a desire to amplify community voices and stories through art, culture, and activism.

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA green, red, and orange lines.

Contact: Anju Madhok | 617-863-9073

Join us for a night of poetry, healing, and conversation with Sham-e-Ali Nayeem.

What happens when we lose our anchor? In her debut book City of Pearls, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem writes poetry to offer a meditation on healing from grief. Weaving together memories of her late father and ancestral home of Hyderabad, Nayeem explores the landscapes of loss. Nayeem, an Indian Muslim American, draws from the languages of her life to express vulnerability and tenderness in her poetry: Hyderabad—the City of Pearls—become a metaphor for resilience and growth to transform the grit of migration, displacement and loss.

Nayeem will be joined in conversation with spoken word poet Bao Phi.

Pre-register to receive livestream directions and event reminders.

About the Artists:

Chinatown Presents is funded is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Mass Cultural Council, and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA Green, Red, and Orange lines.

Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080

Because the health and safety for our artists, seniors, audiences and community members is our priority, this event has been postponed. Ticket holders will be contacted with new performance dates and fees will be refunded. Please feel free to reach out by email to ashley.yung@bcnc.net with any questions or concerns.

Music and songs inspire an evening of self-care, transformation, and healing. Curated by Rex Mac, featuring music from Rex Mac, Optic Bloom, and The Sunset Kings.

After the performances, there will be a guided meditation and a conversation about managing general anxiety led by Dr. Catherine Vuky, a license clinical psychologist.

Registration is free. $10 suggested donation supports community arts programming for all.

About the Artists:

Chinatown Presents is sponsored by Eleanor & Frank Pao and the Boston Cultural Council:

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA Green, Red, and Orange lines.

Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080

Because the health and safety for our artists, seniors, audiences and community members is our priority, this event has been postponed. Ticket holders will be contacted with new performance dates and fees will be refunded. Please feel free to reach out by email to ashley.yung@bcnc.net with any questions or concerns.

Pao Arts Center is proud to present an evening of classical music that brings together Eastern and Western culture. Artists Han-Wei Chen, Leona Cheung, Anthony León, and Esther Yi-An Tien will perform songs for voice and piano, featuring music in multiple languages.

Registration is free. $10 suggested donation supports community arts programming for all.

About the Artists:

Chinatown Presents is sponsored by Eleanor & Frank Pao and the Boston Cultural Council:

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA Green, Red, and Orange lines.

Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080

Pao Arts Center is proud to host Homeward Bound: Global Intimacies in Converging Chinatowns, an exhibition curated by queer Chinese American scholars, organizers, and artists Mei Lum, Diane Wong, and Huiying B. Chan. Homeward Bound centers narratives of home, community, and intergenerational resistance.

The exhibition draws from four years of ethnographic research and oral history interviews with the Chinese diaspora that spans nine countries and 13 cities.

The installation uses photographs, oral histories, and multimedia archives to highlight stories of migration, displacement, and everyday resilience in Chinatowns around the world. This exhibition is the first of its kind to honor, preserve, and build on the history and present day issues of Chinatowns through community-led and curated narratives from residents globally.

This exhibition is brought to the Pao Arts Center with generous support from Mass Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, finding, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of Mass Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About the Artists

Huiying B. Chan is a creative writer, cultural organizer, and scholar born and raised in New York City. Their body of work centers diaspora, collective healing, love, and intergenerational and ancestral resistance and resilience. Huiying received the Knafel Fellowship to travel solo to Chinatowns in eight countries around the world documenting global stories of migration and resilience across the diaspora.

Diane Wong is an Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. As a first-generation Chinese American born and raised in Flushing, Queens in New York City, her research is intimately tied to the Asian diaspora and urban immigrant experience.

Mei Lum is the 5th generation owner of her family’s over century-old porcelain ware business and the oldest operating store in NYC's Chinatown, Wing on Wo & Co. (W.O.W.). In light of Chinatown's rapid cultural displacement, Mei established community initiative, the W.O.W. Project in 2016 out of a desire to amplify community voices and stories through art, culture, and activism.

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA green, red, and orange lines.

Contact: Anju Madhok | 617-863-9073

This bilingual (Chinese/English) event is a chance to enjoy food, hear from the Fellows, and start a conversation with the artist team about your visions for a theatrical work based on the stories of Boston’s Chinatown.

Company One Theatre (C1) and the Pao Arts Center are thrilled to announce the 2020-2021 PlayLab Pao Fellows, Kit Yan and Melissa Li. Over the next two years of community-centered art making, Yan and Li, with the support of Community Producer Christina R. Chan, will create a new theatrical work that responds to the neighborhood’s concerns and shapes a rapidly changing Chinatown through artistry.

Click here to RSVP to the Fellowship Kickoff.

About the Fellows:

Kit Yan is a transgender, Yellow American, New York based artist, born in Enping, China, and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Kit is a 2019 Vivace Award winner, 2019 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, 2019 Lincoln Center Writer in residence, a 2019 MacDowell Fellow, 2019-2020 Musical Theater Factory Makers Fellow, and a 2019-2020 Playwright’s Center Many Voices Fellow. Works include Interstate, which won "Best Lyrics" at the 2018 New York Musical Theater Festival, and Queer Heartache, which won 5 awards at the Chicago and SF Fringe Festivals. Their work has been produced by the American Repertory Theater, the Smithsonian, Musical Theater Factory, the New York Musical Festival, and Diversionary Theater. They have been a resident with the Civilians, Mitten Lab, 5th Avenue Theater, and the Village Theater. 

Melissa Li is a composer, lyricist, performer, and writer based in New York and Baltimore. She is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Award, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, a 2019 Lincoln Center Theater Writer-in-Residence, a 2019 Musical Theater Factory Maker, a 2019 Macdowell Colony Fellow, and a former Queer|Art|Mentorship Fellow. Musicals include Interstate (New York Musical Festival, Winner “Outstanding Lyrics”), Surviving the Nian (The Theater Offensive, IRNE Award Winner for "Best New Play" 2007), and 99% Stone (The Theater Offensive). Her works have received support from The 5th Avenue Theatre, The Village Theater, Musical Theater Factory, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts, Dixon Place, and others. 

About the Community Producer

Christina R. Chan is a founding member of the Asian American Playwright Collective (AAPC). As an actor, director, and writer, her work focuses on the Asian, Asian American immigration experience. She identifies as a 1.5 generation immigrant: born in Hong Kong, she then immigrated to the US as a toddler, and grew up in Boston. Christina was a Company One 2016 PlayLab Fellow, and her first full length play, Stir Frying Mahjong, was a Eugene O'Neill National Theater Conference 2017 Semi-Finalist. She was commissioned to adapt and direct a play written by Harry H Dow, the first Asian-American lawyer in 1938 to pass the Massachusetts bar. She is the recipient of 2016 and 2017 Live Art Boston grants from The Boston Foundation. 

About Company One Theatre

Company One Theatre builds community at the intersection of art and social change.  Founded in 1998, Company One has situated itself as a home for social justice and artistic excellence by connecting Boston’s diverse communities through live performance, the development of new plays and playwrights, arts education, and public engagement programming. By establishing a dedicated space for marginalized and alternative narratives to thrive and working with partners and collaborators across the city, Company One has become a local leader in the ongoing conversations that continue to define the era of social change in contemporary America.

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA green, red, and orange lines.

Contact: Anju Madhok | 617-863-9073

Humans are storytelling creatures. As far as we know, we are the only species on the planet to tell and transfer information through story. We make meaning of and understand the world through stories. But sadly, some stories improve the worlds we live in and others destroy them.

As work for justice intensifies amid rising global populism, learning to wield our personal stories to support the change we want to see in our communities at all scales (local, regional, national, global) grows more important by the minute.

Pao Arts Center, PRX Podcast Garage and Dudley Café join together to present two nights of storytelling across neighborhoods by everyday community members.

Twelve participants will participate in a four-week workshop to learn about storytelling skills and share their personal stories!

These stories will be shared at Pao Arts Center on October 25th and Dudley Café on November 23rd. We hope you can join us at both locations to support our community storytellers!

Registration is free! Suggested donation: $10

About PRX: PRX is a leading media company, shaping the future of audio by connecting talented producers with their most engaged, supportive audiences. PRX builds technology and creates cutting-edge content that reaches millions of listeners worldwide.

About Dudley Cafe: The mission of Dudley Cafe is to provide the Roxbury family with wholesome food, in-house youth empowerment programs, a continued celebration of the arts, along with a creative space encouraging collaboration between locals and neighborhood organizations. Based out of the newly renovated historic Ferdinand building, a former furniture company, Dudley Cafe is part of Bruce C. Bolling Building in Dudley Square.

Chinatown Presents is funded is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Mass Cultural Council, and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

Contact: Chavi Bansal | 617-863-9072

Humans are storytelling creatures. As far as we know, we are the only species on the planet to tell and transfer information through story. We make meaning of and understand the world through stories. But sadly, some stories improve the worlds we live in and others destroy them.

As work for justice intensifies amid rising global populism, learning to wield our personal stories to support the change we want to see in our communities at all scales (local, regional, national, global) grows more important by the minute.

Pao Arts Center, PRX Podcast Garage and Dudley Café join together to present two nights of storytelling across neighborhoods by everyday community members.

Twelve participants will participate in a four-week workshop to learn about storytelling skills and share their personal stories!

These stories will be shared at Pao Arts Center on October 25th and Dudley Café on November 23rd. We hope you can join us at both locations to support our community storytellers!

Suggested donation: $10

About PRX: PRX is a leading media company, shaping the future of audio by connecting talented producers with their most engaged, supportive audiences. PRX builds technology and creates cutting-edge content that reaches millions of listeners worldwide.

About Dudley Cafe: The mission of Dudley Cafe is to provide the Roxbury family with wholesome food, in-house youth empowerment programs, a continued celebration of the arts, along with a creative space encouraging collaboration between locals and neighborhood organizations. Based out of the newly renovated historic Ferdinand building, a former furniture company, Dudley Cafe is part of Bruce C. Bolling Building in Dudley Square.

Chinatown Presents is funded is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Mass Cultural Council, and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA Green, Red, and Orange lines.

Contact: Chavi Bansal | 617-863-9072

Join us as we celebrate community historians, K.C., Qianying Guan, B.K., Barney Ko, Yingyan Liang, Kim Sit, Angela Soo Hoo, Heman Tang, Justine Wang, and Warren Wong, whose photographs are on view in the Inside Chinatown Exhibitions.

The exhibition will be on view from September 12 through December 7, 2019.

Inside Chinatown features photography by eleven Chinatown community members who used photography to not only share the experiences, challenges, and successes found in their community, but also to author their own history of what it means to work and live in Boston’s Chinatown.

—

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA green, red, and orange lines.

Contact: Vanessa Woo | 617-863-9080

Our first Chinatown Presents performance of the season will kick-off with an evening of dance. We will be presenting classical and contemporary works from local artists in Boston questioning: How can we embody our identity through dance? Featuring works by Chhandika Dance group, Prakriti dance, Jennifer Lin and Yosi Karahashi, we will question how different cultures use dance to tell their stories.

Suggestion donation: $10

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinatown-presents-when-body-becomes-voice-an-evening-of-dance-tickets-67041698525

Artist Bios:

The Chhandam Institute of Kathak Dance (Chhandika) is dedicated to Kathak dance. Based in Massachusetts, Chhandika is affiliated with the Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company in San Francisco as well as the Nritya Bharati Institute in Kolkata, India. Chhandika provides a stimulating, supportive and multi-cultural environment in which to explore the physical, intellectual and spiritual benefits of Kathak dance as a student, professional practitioner or curious observer.

Prakriti Dance is an innovative performing company that showcases the Indian classical dance form Bharata Natyam. Founded by Co-Artistic Directors Kasi Aysola and Madhvi Venkatesh, Prakriti Dance takes the ancient movement vocabulary of yesteryears and interprets modern day themes bringing relevance and context to the ever evolving Indian art. Drawing inspirations from nature, philosophy, poetry, and other genres of art, Prakriti Dance weaves a multi-layered tapestry to transcend cultural boundaries and communicate the human experience.

Jennifer Lin is a classically trained contemporary dancemaker and teaching artist of Euro-American and Korean descent. Her work intersects between dance, culture, and identity. Her mission is to investigate the nature of art and dance in the human experience and inspire creative inquiry in others.

Yosi Karahashi left Japan to study flamenco in Spain at the legendary flamenco school Amor de Dios in Madrid. She started her professional career performing in many tablaos around Spain and other countries such as Japan, Morocco, Portugal, France, Cyprus and Canada. Yosi moved to Boston in 2012, and since then has been a very active teacher and performer, collaborating with many participants of the Greater Boston dance scene.

—

Chinatown Presents is funded is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Mass Cultural Council, and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA Green, Red, and Orange lines.

Contact: Chavi Bansal | 617-863-9072

Join us for SING OUT STRONG: Immigrant Voices, a free concert of new songs based on the stories and experiences of Boston area immigrants. Presented by White Snake Projects in partnership with Pao Arts Center, Sing Out Strong features composers from Peru, Latvia, India, China, Taiwan, and Mexico and writers from Haiti, Vietnam, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and China. Composers and writers have been paired up to amplify stories of the immigrant experience through song and to celebrate the contributions of immigrant artists to our city and culture. Join us in celebrating these new American songs!

The concert is free but seating is limited; please reserve your tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sing-out-strong-immigrant-voices-tickets-64271329276?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

SING OUT STRONG: Immigrant Voices is a free public program in support of the new, DACA-themed opera, I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, produced by White Snake Projects and composed by Jorge Sosa with libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs, directed by Elena Araoz and conducted by Maria Sensi Sellner, premiering at the Paramount Theater, Robert J. Orchard Stage, in Boston September 20-22, 2019.  Sign up for complimentary tickets through TAP, White Snake Projects’ Ticket Access Program, here.

More about the event: 

When the president of the United States revoked the protections of DACA in September of 2018, White Snake Projects embarked on the creation of a new opera focused on immigration and the immigrant experience, I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams. Cerise Lim Jacobs, creator + librettist and founder of White Snake Projects, is an immigrant from Singapore, and Jorge Sosa, composer, is an immigrant from Mexico. Their experiences, along with the experiences of many other immigrants, inform and shape the project. To further amplify the stories of Boston-area immigrants, White Snake Projects created Sing Out Strong: Immigrant Voices, a free concert of new songs by immigrant writers and composers, using art to create dialogue and empathy within our communities.

The audience will see and hear an hour-long concert of 13 short songs that express the personal experiences of Boston-area immigrants, as well as two songs from the new opera, I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams. The songs will be accompanied by piano and cello.

Composers:
Anais Azul
Oliver Caplin
George Lam
Avik Sarkar
Marina Lopez
Jorge Sosa
Sheela Ramesh
Shuying Li
Kate Pukinskis
Michele Cheng

Writers:
Heloiza Barbosa
Eva Chrusciel
Jonathan Figueroa
Helen Huang
Joel Louis
Melody Maduro
Rute Pires
Ramin Raza
Daniela Sanchez
Huiquing Shao
Jorge Sosa
Irene Da Silva
Ivette Souza
Firorella Valle

Musicians
Musicians from Juventas New Music Ensemble
Melissa Joseph, soprano
Vera Savage, mezzo

Video Links
Workshop Video: I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams

—

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA green, red, and orange lines.

Contact: Vanessa Woo | 617-863-9080

Join Artist-in-Residence Yu-Wen Wu in the Leavings/Belongings project at the Pao Art Center.

Inspired by the tradition of storytelling while making, the bundle-making project engages women from various immigrant and refugee communities in the making of symbolic “bundles.” Through the act of making together, participants can share stories. These anomalously shaped cloth wrapped bundles may represent what is left behind, and what may be carried in migration – survival, hope, dreams. Throughout these sessions, these bundles will be exhibited collectively in public spaces to generate conversation, dialogue, and bridges across experiences, generations, and ethnicity. The bundles will contribute to the project Leavings/Belongings.

The final workshop will be held from 4-6pm on Thursday, August 8th.

Materials are provided. Feel free to contribute to the project by bringing fabric meaningful to your personal or your family's journey.

About the Artist:

Yu-Wen Wu is a Boston-based interdisciplinary artist. Born in Taipei, Wu came to the United States at the age of seven. Her work is informed by this bi-cultural upbringing — the eastern and western influences in life and art.

Wu’s current work explores the issues of Displacement, Assimilation and Individual and National Identity. Through video, installation, drawing and sculpture she challenges our impressions of accuracy and storytelling. Compositing imagery, she draws together the natural world and social movement, on both a personal and global scale. She approached her own experiences of immigration and other culturally specific happenings by presenting them as a series of inevitable occurrences. 

She is the recipient of numerous awards, exhibiting museums and galleries nationally and internationally, and in many public and private collections.

Contact: Vanessa Woo | 617-863-9080

Silent Flight is a site-responsive and improvisational dance piece directed by Wendy Jehlen, Artistic Director of ANIKAYA Dance Theater, in collaboration with an international ensemble of professional dancers from Asia, Africa, South America and the United States.

Through community workshops, the dancers collaborate with seniors from the Chinatown community who practice folk dance weekly at the Pao Arts Center. The performance incorporates elements based on the flocking behavior of birds, exploring similarities between the movements found in human cultures, with relatable content about migration and immigration. The dance piece uses creativity and culture to improve community health and well-being.

The performance will take place at the Rose Kennedy Greenway - Chinatown Park, and is funded in part by Boston Cultural Council; Eastern Bank; and the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

Contact: Vanessa Woo | 617-863-9080

Join us for a staged reading of C1 PlayLab Pao Fellow Greg Lam's new play THE LAST SHIP TO PROXIMA CENTAURI, followed by a conversation and reception on Saturday, June 1st from 7-9pm! This is the culminating event of the expansive season-long partnership between Pao Arts Center and Company One Theatre.

RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0nav8fhV22jjOpvzHCihkaIrTxF2776ZHFBl2_36VkjaPQQ/viewform

—

About the Play
THE LAST SHIP TO PROXIMA CENTAURI
by Greg Lam
directed by Pascale Florestal

The world has become uninhabitable. The last escape ship from Earth arrives to their new home centuries after all the others. They are not prepared for what they find there. Greg Lam's THE LAST SHIP TO PROXIMA CENTAURI asks us examine 21st Century America through the lens of futurist neo-colonialism, 2500 years after "Friends" is finally off the air for good.

Cast List:
Emerson: Gabe Graetz 
Paz: Jecenia Figueroa 
Henry: Jude Torres
Achebe: Michael Ofori 
Russell: Veronica Wiseman

—

About Greg Lam
Greg Lam is an Asian-American playwright, screenwriter, and board game designer who lives in Boston, MA. He is the creator and host of the "Boston Podcast Players" Podcast (bostonpodcastplayers.com) which presents excerpts of new full length plays by Boston playwrights and playwright interviews in a monthly podcast format. His full length play Repossessed received readings at Fresh Ink Theatre in Boston, Pork Filled Players in Seattle, and The Depot in Connecticut in 2017. Greg was a member of the 2016 Company One PlayLab Unit for the development of Boston area playwrights. His works have been produced by Company One, Fresh Ink Theatre, Aching Dogs Theatre Company, The Boston Theatre Marathon (6 times), The Pulp Stage, Malarkey Films, Argali Films, Suffolk University Theatre, Shadow Boxing Theatre, and others. You can read a selection of his plays at the New Play Exchange or see works of his that have been filmed including the webseries he created, on YouTube (@stripeyg). For more information about Greg, visit his website: pair-of-dice.com.

Directions
The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Albany Street. If you are navigating to the Pao Arts Center via GPS driving directions, please use address 66 Hudson Street, Boston rather than the building's street address on Albany Street, which would lead you onto the Mass Pike. Street parking should be available nearby, and there is a parking garage on Hudson Street.

If you are travelling via public transportation, the Pao Arts Center is a 5-7 minute walk from the Chinatown or Tufts Medical Center stops on the Orange Line, or a 10 minute walk from Boylston on the Green Line.

Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080

API Arts Network will be presenting The Slants for an interactive discussion and concert at the Pao Arts Center.

Simon Tam is founder and bassist of The Slants, often credited as the world's first and only all-Asian American dance rock band but he's probably best known for winning a landmark case at the US Supreme Court.

Now debuting a new memoir, Slanted: How an Asian American Troublemaker Took on the Supreme Court, he'll be joined by Slants guitarist Joe X. Jiang for an evening of storytelling and music. Gripping, funny, enlightening, and ultimately uplifting, the event will prove that no obstacle is too difficult to conquer –as long as you have a little heart and a lot of rock n’ roll. It’s an irrepressible story that is fresh, alive, and defines what it means to be American...Asian American!

All ages welcome.

About the Artists:
Simon Tam is an author, musician, activist, and self-proclaimed troublemaker. He approaches activism through the arts and encourages people to challenge their perceptions of how we connect with others we normally don’t get along with. In 2017, he won a landmark case at the U.S Supreme Court, unanimously, helping to expand civil liberties for marginalized groups. His work has been highlighted in over 3,000 media features across over 150 countries, including Rolling Stone, TIME, NPR, BBC and the New York Times.

The Slants have been featured on Conan O'Brien, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Rolling Stone, and 3,000+ media features across 150 countries. The band has performed at some of the largest festivals in North America and Asia, including DragonCon, San Diego Comic-Con, SXSW, TED talks, and more. In 2017, they joined President Barack Obama, George Takei, and Jeremy Lin to launch an anti-bullying program. In 2018, they started The Slants Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing scholarships and mentorships to artists looking to incorporate activism into their work.

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA green, red, and orange lines.

Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080

Over the past six months, more than 150 community members have participated in the Leavings/Belongings project with Yu-Wen Wu, artist-in-residence at the Pao Arts Center.

Participants created symbolic cloth-wrapped bundles while sharing stories about their own and their family’s immigration journeys. These bundles represent what is left behind and what may be carried in migration – survival, hope and dreams. Collected throughout Wu's residency, the exhibition Leavings/Belongings at the Pao Arts Center includes photographs, video, and a site-specific sculptural installation of the bundles. Through the act of making together, participants share their narratives of migration, generating dialogue that bridge across experience, generations, and ethnicity.

http://www.yuwenwu.com

—

Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA green, red, and orange lines.

Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080