 and how we got to work together. I first met Shinji Erakant and we talked and found out that we were both from Berkeley and Japanese-American and roughly around the same age. Then I heard his music. He composed the music for a ballet called Raku and I listened to it and I thought it was extraordinary. And so I contacted Shinji and we talked and talked and talked and till I found something that he responded to. And that was a poem called Body of Eyes. I sent it over to Shinji and then we happened. Of course I once heard of Philip Gotanda. He's famous all over the world. And we became friends first. He is the couple in the wrong balcony and they're looking at each other in the night sky. This is the thing why you see an object in the sky moving. His writing has made me write differently in a very brief period. He captures so much emotion, so much intensity. Then to hear it today with the singers come alive and what I think is really critical also of working with you is to leave things up to those who are performing at live and that's where all the magic I think comes. You play the original and then play your wife. This is the fifth. So the text is unfolds like a fan, right? So that's what I wrote and this is what Brenda wrote. Isn't it so much better? I really appreciate this project and of course to work with Tucci and with Victor it's opened up a whole new world for me later and to cross-criminalize like this is just brilliant. I love it when you got lost in the worm and it just was going inward for both of you. This is a really sad song. There's much going on in the world in terms of AAPI and FIPOC, LGBTQ relationship to violence. Anti-Asian violence in particular in regards to this project and I think one of the things I've always felt is that what can you do as an artist to respond to these things and the thing you can do is do your art. Do your art big, bold, you know. That's how you respond I believe as an artist. And without saying anything all of you just somehow work together so beautifully. It's a great thing to work with real pros who just do it, you know. You add the most important parts to this thing. So I'm very grateful. Thank you Phillip for this opportunity. Thank you Shinji for all the music. A man and woman staring into a night sky watching an object amongst the stars. It's moving then stops. They share glances and looks then moves again. The man and woman seated at a funeral. They sit side by side. Silence. Hold. Fade. To black. This is Victor Milano Maung. I'm the curator and executive producer of 2G's Inflections. What you'll see today are projects that were rehearsed and taped within four hours time. For the artist strong who came together against this backdrop of Asian American hate and violence and put together stories of humanity about the great range depth, joy, resiliency of our community. That's the best answer that we have. How do we show more of ourselves so that people can see us in the most vivid way? This is what this project is about. About our own freedoms, our own agency, our own liberation but also a chance to share moments in our life. Moments that aren't always seen but hopefully you can relate to. This is Inflections. My name is Randara Santiago. When I was asked, invited to be part of this, I was really excited. And it didn't come right away but as soon as I realized that I wanted to write about my sister, it kind of, it was really easy to picture exactly what I would want the two characters to talk about. My sister always jokes. I have two sisters and one is a year younger than me and this one is for her. She always jokes about the fact that she's not in my place. So I just wrote this one just for you, Kaya. Whoa, hold on. What's up, Maya? What are you doing? I'm packing. Oh, where are you going? Work. You want to go to Cali? No, no, no. That one starts later, like end of summer. Portland first, oh no, no, no. Back home, then back up for work. Then Portland, then come back, then Cali. Wow, that's a lot. Yeah, it's annoying going back and forth but I think I get tired being not home for so long either way so it's cool. How long you going for this job? It's the teaching thing. It starts tomorrow. It's long. It's like two months. Oh, damn. You all right? You got some tired last semester. Yeah, it's going to be different this time. Less students. I won't over commit like last time or give my email. So I'm not getting messages off the clock all the time or open myself to energy thieves. Yeah, that's good. You got to set boundaries. I know. You always make everybody's problems your problem. I know. You're so cute. They know sometimes. Oh, let me see. I'm going to redo the cabinets because like look, they're ugly, right? So I'm going to change this laminate mess. It's such a mess. I want to make like wood and the accents and all the appliances would. Cute. Like birch or mahogany. I like oak like this, like this. Which one? Like golden oak or red oak. That's pretty. But it's going to clash. Oh, because I'm redoing everything. Jed's going to paint the walls. And I'm going to make like the floating shelves, like more organized. Like I don't like how cluttered they are right now. There's no flow. I want to put in like, like plants and make it look all like, just way prettier than this. Yeah, that's nice. Your place is so pretty, Maya. It's so cool. You like it out there? Yeah. I'm going to go to Home Depot later today. Where's Jed? He's at school. They do classes in person twice a week. Wait till he comes back and go with him. It's okay. I'm going to put the order in. They'll deliver. You ought to be careful. I'm scared. You going around by yourself? People lost their damn minds out here. Yeah, I'm okay. I can just go. It's quiet here. You in Florida? Come on. We're being extra vigilant out here. How many attacks have you seen out here in New York? In our city. Come on. It's crazy. Just go with Jed. Wherever you go out, big strong white guy, nobody will mess with you. I can handle myself. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I go with Jed to the gym now. He's working on my arms. I'm getting really strong. Look. Oh, where are the scissors gone? Have you seen? You seen the line? Yeah. You cut. Damn, mama. Are you brawling now, huh? You got to go super sane on these races? You already? You talk to mom. Pitha Nisi's mom is in the hospital. What? I need to call her. Yeah. Call her. My, are you okay? You were in my dream last night. That's crazy. You're the third person to tell me that this week. Really? Yeah. Beeman texted me that. And I can't remember the other one. But what happened? Um, okay. First, we were in the ocean, like swimming. And you know, I'm kind of scared of the ocean. Really? I didn't know that. Really? Yeah. Like the sharks and riptides? I'm really scared. Wow. I guess the last time we swam together was a family trip. When was that? Like middle school? Yeah. But you're always at the beach. Yeah. It's great. Yeah. I like the beach, but I don't want to spin it. Okay. So what else happened? You, um, we were in the ocean and there were like these big, big, really big, like, like 20 feet high or something. And they were crashing over us. And then we went underwater and it was all like clear and blue. And we could breathe underwater and see all the fish. And when we came back up over the waves, like past over us, like they didn't even wet us or anything. Wow. That's so nice. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad I was in your dreams where something bad gets less scary. Yeah. And then it changed. It was like a school. I was in a school or something with mom. And I have to go like, I wanted to leave. So I took mom's car. And I'm driving. And there's someone in the back seat. Like, I don't know who. And I didn't want to turn and look like, like I thought it was a ghost probably, you know, like that's why I didn't want to turn around. Maybe. But it's probably not a real ghost, Maya. You know, Sonny, you know how like, when we were little, like I saw them for real. Yeah. Grandma's house. Yeah. So I'm scared of them, Sonny. I hate ghosts. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Probably not. Give me the rest of your dream. So I was driving. And I got really nervous because the wheel was not letting me control it. Like, like it had a mind of its own. So I kept breaking. And I had to keep breaking over and over, or it was going to drive me on to like oncoming traffic. So I couldn't make the wheel turn for me. So the only thing I could do was. Like break. So you said it started with mom and then there was someone in her car. In the back seat. Yeah. What are you doing? I just, I pulled some cards. I don't know. I had to grab the deck. Oh, you did tarot? Like you can read it. Yeah. I've been studying them and it's getting easier, especially like receiving clarity while I practice. I don't know, whatever. What to say? What to say? Well, first, I think that whatever happens, no matter what, as soon as your gut is like, nah, I don't want to do this. Follow it, Maya. Your impulses are always correct and you're extremely intelligent. And like, I know we make fun of you. So you don't believe you are as intelligent as you are. But I said it once and I'll say it again. You know, you could have worked for the CIA, right? And this is dumb. I'm talking out of my ass, but I'm not. But the situation with mom, like if she partners with someone you don't get a good vibe from, especially if you don't know her well, don't do it. It'll implicate you. Okay. I think you're clairvoyant, but you are just accepted. Not because you need to use it, just because I want you to just step into your light, Maya. You're beautiful and special and good. Not that deep. I know. It's like hypocritical coming from me, but you are so smart, Maya. You don't have to hide it anymore and you're not selfish. You really care. And you take care of us and you're really thoughtful and you're fun and you know how to make people happy. Yeah. Okay. I love you. I love you. I'm always here. You ever need me? I am always here. I promise. What about when the ghosts come when I'm sleeping? I'll dream myself there and fight them. You know, I'll be fighting them in my dreams. You get sleep paralysis. Yeah, I hate it. But I'm getting better at it. You just got to remember you're strong. You can't be afraid to say what you know. That's your power. That's what I mean, you're clairvoyant and you know things innately, so don't hide it, okay? Um, you know, there's things I don't remember. Yeah, like past life shit? No, like remember when mom and dad made us go to the therapist? Like, um, she told me that I need repressed memory therapy. What? I don't remember that. Yeah, dad said not to. Mom wanted me to, but dad said not to force me, but it could hurt me. Yeah, you can remember on your own. Good, I'm glad dad did that. Yeah, but I don't know what it was. Do you want to go to therapy? I don't know. I'll find you a good one, a sliding scale one. I want to do the psychic medium thing that you did. Oh, yeah? Yeah, but I'm scared. Okay, I can be there with you. What if like, she says there's a ghost attached to me. There's nothing like that. Are you going to try to remember things? You should record your dreams, like when you wake up in a dream journal. Okay, I'll meditate, maybe. Don't force yourself to remember. Do you remember our babysitter? When we were like four and five? You were three, I guess. Oh, we had a babysitter? Yeah, when we were little, she was the neighbor's daughter. She lived on the fourth floor, Emily. No, you don't remember her at all? No. Okay, well, this is just to warn you, because I don't think she did anything to you, because she always locked you out and only did it to me, but just so you know, your memories could have something to do with sexual abuse, okay? I don't think she did. I really don't, but she did it to me, and you didn't really know, but you knew she was always locking me in rooms with her, and you felt really left out and isolated. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. Okay. I remembered a while ago, like in my early 20s. I just want to make sure you're okay, and that you're safe no matter what. Okay. There's no ghosts, Maya, because I'll protect you. I remember last time, and we were talking about my dream. Yeah. So I forgot to tell you that night, I dreamed you came over and we were like hanging out here, like in the living room, and then somebody knocked on the lanai, like on my screen door, and it was a ghost, sonny. It was so scary, and it just kept knocking and knocking, and we were so scared. And I just prayed like the one, the one that dad told us grandma told him to do when he got that bruja. So I just prayed, and it started to shrink smaller and smaller, and I woke up, but it was so scary. Oh, that's crazy. Well, don't be scared. It's not a ghost. What if it is? Well, no, but it's crazy because I had a dream after our call to, like not really a dream, because like I wasn't fully asleep yet, but I went into paralysis, and I saw this same figure I dreamed about only a few times. Like you and me are standing across the street from our old house, the haunted one, and I hear this knock, like someone had wood right behind my ear and knocked, but it's in my head. And I look, and in the attic at our house, like in the place we used to sleep, the windows are all yellow, and there's a shadow waving at me. Your mind is a shadow too, and it waved at me. I just prayed. Oh, yeah, I didn't wave back, because I know if I do, it pulls me into the room with it, so I just woke up immediately. You think it's the same one? Yeah, I dreamed it before. Oh, no, like you and me dreamed the same shadow. Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. But have you been writing in the journal? No. I'm going to send you one. Can you write in it for me? Yeah. Okay. I got a dream catcher. Been having a lot of nightmares lately. I don't know. I'm tired. Like, I can't sleep. Like, I wake up every hour. That sucks. Why, is something going on? No, it's okay. I don't get paralyzed like you. That is scary. I mean, you have to sleep. It's not good for your health. Yeah. Um, Sunny, you know how to help with, like, anxiety? Why, are you okay? Yeah, I'm good. You can tell me mine. Just tell me how to handle it, or, like, help other people handle it. I'm bad at it, but, yeah, meditating and just remember you're safe and you're okay. You're probably feeling anxious because you're so happy, Maya. You work so hard and you love Jed and he's good to you. You love your beautiful house and you're by the beach. I don't go to the beach, though. It's kind of a far drive. Well, still, I think it's hard to, like, accept that you're okay, that you're happy and you don't have to like, with us. I know it feels safer to be unsafe, you know? Like, to have shit about to hit the fan all the time and now that you're finally chilling, you can't relax because it just feels wrong. But you're safe, Maya. And loved. And that's okay. Yeah. Remember when Dad was gone? Yeah, like after I left? Yeah. When they divorced? Oh, after I came back. When we moved. Okay, yeah, what? Well, that was the first time we felt like my sister. When you were at mom's? How? I barely saw you guys. That's when you started working all the time. Well, I was in school, too. I slept like three hours a night. Remember? Because you thought mom's was taking extra money from you and called the bank and they told you it was going to my account. Oh, yeah. Did you get mad at me or blame me? Yeah, I knew you wouldn't admit it, but you didn't even say sorry. But you didn't care about that. You didn't ask me to apologize or ask me to give it back. You asked me if I felt bad. And if I worried about you. I mean, that was a lot of money. Do you know how much you took? It's scary. It took you over a year to notice. I was heavy in my Coke spiral back then. But I knew when you called me. That mom told you. I didn't want you to admit it and give it back. But you called me and you just told me you love me first. And you were more worried about me and about my heart. That made me cry. When I think about you back then. It hurt thinking you thought you didn't care about people. I knew you were just believing all the bad things we said about you. I hate people. You were the only evil for a minute there like 14. But even when you were little. I just said you had grandpa's grouch brows, but you had this like you had a way of guarding yourself even when you were little. I told you I would do things on purpose sometimes to make you cry because that's the only time you let me hug you. That's fucked up. You were scary. Like you were so little and so angry for no reason. Really? Yeah. I don't know. You... I don't know. Yeah. Okay. What? Always anxious. Oh. Just listen to him and assure him. I do, but it's like he doesn't stop worrying. Like he's worried I'm gonna leave him and he's gonna fail school and he's gonna fail again. Damn. I'm so sorry, Maya. But you love him. It's okay. He has you. But nothing I do makes it better. He just won't stop worrying. So he has bad anxiety? Yeah. He's scared because he loves me so much. I'm gonna leave him. Like he believes everyone he loves will leave. It doesn't matter if they love him. That's hard. Yeah. I just want to make him better. Well, don't force it. Just be there and listen. And get him to accept that he needs to trust you. I tell him all the time. Be patient. Don't rush it. This stuff takes time to accept to believe it, you know? I do all of that, honey. Let it be, Maya. You're not responsible for his happiness or his ability. It hurts me. Like it makes me sad when he gets like this. Maya, you are loving him so well. You're doing everything you can. You're doing the best job anyone could. You're so good to him. So just calm down. You're doing great, Maya. You're doing everything you can. You're not doing anything wrong. And you're not the reason he's sad or anxious. Just keep loving him in a way that makes you happy. If you work on your happiness and love people the way you do, time will work it out. I love you. I'm grateful you asked me, Maya. Thank you for trusting me. When are you going to visit? I'm coming up for my birthday. Well, maybe I'll follow you back down. Okay. Take me surfing. Are you going to bring your bill? No, no, maybe if it feels like it won't fuck everything up. Always do that. Fuck it up. No. Keep people at a distance. You never get vulnerable with the ones that want to be with you. Okay. I have therapy tomorrow. Thank you. What happened to the Aquarius? The Aquarius is around. And super patient. And maybe I'm taking too long. So maybe speed things up. Maybe. We got to bring Bean to the beat. Oh, we got to bring her back around the family. I'm sure she misses being with all the cousins. And that's her. Me too. And Chewy likes his girl. They made it official. He was teasing so hard. It's so cute. Her jewelry is nice. She's special like him. I'm happy they're good to each other. Let's see each other a lot this summer. Yeah, I love that. Been too long. Stop working so much. Yeah, I will. It's been a whole year since all of us got together. Like you, me, Bean and Chewy weren't all together since my last birthday. Yeah. No more of that. I'll see you soon, Maya. Okay. I love you. I love you. Right in the dream journal. I'm going to order it right now. Oh, and send me your new address. I don't have it. Okay. You better FaceTime me when you see Bean this weekend. Okay, I will. Don't be scared of ghosts. You talk to the shadow. If it's not a ghost, I'll try it. No, no, no. You should talk to it. Your powers are stronger than mine. You're the only one that gets messages from them, though. Okay. We will do it together. I will try talking to it. Okay. Make sure you close the circle after. Oh, I don't have protection barriers. I got to do that. I have a grid. Badda. So it doesn't attach itself to you. Okay. Yeah, I won't mess around. I love you. I'll call you later. Okay. Bye, son. Bye, beautiful. I love you. Love you. Bye. Bye. I wish I didn't have to write this play. But something has been happening since time immemorial. And I had to give voice. The violence against our Asian and Asian-American community against me continually stuns me. It should stun everyone. Life changes yet remains the same, but the wrongs do not need to repeat themselves. Please watch, listen, learn, and help stop hate and racism. Thank you for watching Darwin's Arch. Today, we have a person who is not quite sure she's the person who's supposed to be the one behind her. Shuffling on her walker. Ruth follows behind her. I feel funny. Well, you should use the wheelchair. Too soon for the Walker. I feel funny, not crippled. What? Heady stomach fever. What? Ruth grabs a BP monitor. From her pouch. If you're I'm not a yo-yo mom You've had three pelvis fractures Arbor has a cluster. You're lucky. I got you home before lockdown Why'd you put me in that place? It was a prison. You agreed. It was your spa Apartment I had to go back to work. It's called a community Look, I got you out of there in the nick of time six of your neighbors died two weeks after you left You know, I saved you. I don't need a spa apartment. I have a home You have no right, right, right? You're in your own home. You're safe Be grateful. I have enough money. I'll hire someone. I don't need you now go back to New York We can't let anyone in the house mom. We can't go out. This is a lockdown I'm under house imprisonment now, too Look, everyone is dying out there. The count is almost 600,000 dead. Do you do you do you do you understand? I speak English. I'm not a cooly-hooly. I Understand everything just fine. You used to be nice, you know Where's your dad anyway? Um He's not here Tell him to come upstairs now He can't Why not that son of a bitch He left Liar He taught you that you never lied before your joke is getting cold I hate joke since when before I was born. No one is born with hate. Eat please I'm under your thumb now, too You're just like him. Well, what happened to feeling funny? You know that bastard sold my water for glasses Only four left He's trying to kill me. I told you They broke by accident. I was washing them now. Just eat your choke. Please You know why titleists couldn't sell their golf balls in asia They packaged them in fours Four and ten mean death I told them Change the packaging to six balls Sales shut up off the charts Did I got a dime not even a thank you? I told And he left me only four water for glasses Where the hell is your dad? I don't know Your joke is getting cold You better come back bastard Your daughter Is driving me nuts What's wrong now? I told you I feel funny something's Funny Look at the calendar. What day is it? May 17th Why is the 17th circled in red? No doctors No more poking I'm perfectly fine Your anniversary You remember I surprised you both with the china trip a few years ago How did you find the paramount? I think I felt they tore down all the dance halls and it looked the same like When I first met your dad 1945 My grandmother sent a message to the paramount Right in the middle of our third dance What was that song? What was it? A glin? Glyn something Miller? That was the worst Best night Felt like a rainbow in the cloud Maya Angelou That's who said rainbow in a cloud So that's the caregiver's name No, no, no, there's there's no caregiver Never mind Just try the chook you might like it I should have gone home that night Well I'm glad you didn't You didn't live long then If you're a woman and chinese you didn't want to live I should have gone home Try the chook, okay? I've been cooking it all morning What happened after the third dance? It was a terrible terrible dancer Well, not with you I just wanted to dance You know how corny and clumsy he is? Dorky, but a handsome dork He sweet talked the hell out of my grandmother Yeah, well, why jimarium if he was such a dork? Oh, damn Money I was dancing not whoring Well, I don't get those fuckers They took everything They hated us No reason If you're told to lie you lie if you're told to kill you kill If you're told to hate You hate limbings Thousands of limbs with no minds of their own Insanities poison Once you take it there's no turning back If you're a dad Didn't get my grandmother mother and sister out of the house Those fuckers Would have ganged I should have gone home What's it to get gang raped mom? I owe your dad In war people die You chose to live War doesn't give you chances Just consequences Your dad understood Chinese get Chinese Blacks get black You'll never know You'll never understand America made you forget I should never Have raised you here Tell your dad to come up for reckless The juke is getting cold Scene two 14 months earlier morning Ruth swipes her metro card a young brute shoves her to the ground runs through the stall steals her fare Hey She swipes another fare goes through the toll stall stands on the platform Bam Young brute comes out of nowhere punches ruth in the face. She falls to the ground. She's bleeding Fucking chink you killed my parents bitch Ruth walks away. He grabs her again Subway comes ruth jumps aboard runs to the end of the car her face throbbing She looks up young brute is on the subway car running towards her Two white men seated watch say nothing. You don't belong here bitch. You killed my parents Ruth wraps her hands around the holding pole hurls her legs into the air as young brute approaches She kicks him in his solar plexus. He falls clutching his chest Subway stops young brute crawls off the car I think that bitch killed him. He's gonna need an ambulance. What? We should hold her till they come He just punched me out. Hey, what's between you and your husband's your thing lady? Yeah, you already killed his parents. Well, what the fuck are you talking about? Just talk to the cops when they get here. Hey, I've never seen a shithead before in my life. That's what all wives say He's not my husband you assholes. You just attacked me and your dick was pricks didn't do anything about it Are you gonna call the cops on me? Well, he's not your He's not my husband Hey Hey, hey, put that down. You don't have a right to take my picture. Yeah, you want to bet? I'm gonna I'm gonna get you charged as accomplices when the cops come Hey, we should go let them deal with her The police officer approaches the white men chuckle fist bump them as if old buddies they chat an officer comes up to ruth Do you speak english? Ruth cheeks is the size of an orange her eye is bleeding Well, yeah, no, I can't talk right now. What? What? When Was she okay? Well, which hospital? Yeah, how did she fall? Okay Okay, okay. It's gonna take me a little while to get there. I'm in new york. It's about five hours away six or seven maybe with traffic I I'll get there as soon as I can as soon I can Oh good you speak english. I won't need a translator scene three back to present day Ruth cooks helen watches tv lunch Haven't had breakfast yet You had juk I just got up. I did not have breakfast It's after noon Where's that woman? She didn't feed me breakfast We need to fire her No one else is here mom. It's just the two of us Why are you lying? I just saw her she sleeps in that other bedroom I don't like her. I don't like her at all Yeah, well, I sleep in the other bedroom. Okay, you and I are the only ones here mom for the past 14 months You do this on purpose You just want my money You need to go back to new york Helen grabs the tv remote changes channels I need to watch the news What kind of a monkey business is that cheeto doing today? Well, hopefully no more monkey business. He's not president anymore I don't remember going to the polls. We voted by mail. It was too dangerous with the virus I've never missed an election. You know, your dad would never let me Who'd you vote for? You're not supposed to ask me that, you know How that cheeto become president anyway Uh, the people voted for him Americans aren't that stupid You live in a different world now mom Why are you making noodles for breakfast? Long life noodles we need them Out the window Ruth sees a trespasser digging holes with a shovel on her property. She rushes outside Helen watches out the window Hey What are you doing? Go back in your house What well, what are you doing? Do you have an idea? Are you from the county? I don't have to answer nothing Uh, you're on my property. So I'm gonna have to ask you to leave now go back in your house Karen You don't belong here Look, you leave now or I'm gonna call 911. Yeah, go ahead and call bitch I'm not afraid of you You're doing my job go back to china you fucking Can you say that one more time, please Go back to china you fucking Karen Yeah, um 888 Gladhill Road. Uh-huh. I don't know he won't show me any ID No, not yet, but he's volatile and he has a shovel Black torn sweatpants a black pullover sweatshirt stained late 20s. He's kind of short. I'm five foot four and he's shorter than me Yeah, okay. All right. I'll I'll go now just stay on the line with me. Okay. I don't trust him Ruth dashes in front of his car to take a photo of his license plate Man chases after her get away from my car, bitch No, did you hear that? Did you hear that? He has a shovel. Are you there? This bitch is stealing my car dispatcher. Do you hear that? Trust passer swings his shovel at Ruth who stops it before it gets in the face Hey, where where are they? Well, well come on. Are they on their way? A neighbor standing by his door witnesses. He does nothing. He calmly makes a call on his cell phone Two squad cars screech. They take trust passer aside. He's calm a total Jekyll and Hyde turnaround Ruth looks down at her hand. It's bleeding throbbing The officers talk calmly with trust passer then drive away never talking with Ruth Ruth goes back into the house Who was that? Why did he call you Karen? What why are the police here? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Just just Let me finish cooking the noodles Your hand You should have stayed inside. You shouldn't have talked to him. Why do you have to be so aggressive? It's not worth it Look at your hand. We've lived here for 60 years. We've never had any problem until you mom just just Oh, what happened to you? I didn't raise you that way. Don't Don't say another word. Okay. Just just be quiet. Please. Do you always have to start trouble? I live here. What will the neighbors think? Why did you? Mom, please stop Asian hate crimes have increased at least 300 percent since the pandemic and could be higher since the Atlanta massacre of asian women in march Many attribute the rise to covid being called kung flu and china virus Last week two elderly asian women were waiting for a bus and were stabbed a week before an 87 year old chinese grandmother Was brutally beaten in san francisco, but she fought back today president biden signed the asian hate crime bill that passed in congress Ruth your hand is bleeding. Don't worry about it. Tell your dad to come up for lunch. It's not your mom He needs to come upstairs now mom He's not here. He's dead and it's been three years already. Okay You lie. Why do you lie? He needs to come upstairs now To protect us Like before he's never coming up mom. Okay. He's dead Ruth You're bleeding. Your hand is I am fine. Why is your hand? Well you please stop Ruth do they mom mom, please please please. I can't I just can't They they they who what what do you want to know what are you talking about? Do they? Do they hate us? Again A shocking occurrence happened last evening Darwin's arch in the Galapagos has collapsed this iconic natural formation which has stood the test of time Corroded due to erosion Darwin who studied animal species documented the animal kingdom's Instinctual survivalist evolution creating the well-known theory of the survival of the fittest My name is Dean and You are going to be seeing my play story a play in 20 measures And I guess what I would say to you Is uh, asian-american stories aren't always about being asian-american And they aren't always about Being clear and transgender, which I am Sometimes they're about all of those things, but they're also about time and life and death and loss and family and And just the weirdness of being alive So I hope you enjoyed the play A solitary light One, this is the first measure I'm here and you're there and I can only see as far as this light, but I think you can see the whole thing Is that true? Two a kid dies at the age of 20 and it's a tragedy because You don't know what you're doing for the first 19 years You're just figuring it out and by 20 you think you have a doubt But you don't because that doesn't come till 30 or 40 But you think you haven't figured out and you're just about to start living and bam You're dead I need to slow down. I I know I'm talking too fast, but that's how your 20s are, you know fast Everything happens fast because you're living and there's so much to do and you're trying to do it all Date everyone sleep with as many people as possible work different places live different places It's a lot and you still can't really see much past the little Circle of light that's you but you think you can you think you can see the whole world three but sometimes Even if you're only 20 There comes a time when you want it to be over When you're just a lot of talk When no one's ever loved you and no one ever will Your parents stopped loving you at the age of 11 And your dog died when you were 17 and you fit on your own since then And you smoke some cigarettes and you choose some drugs And still it's a long way to go before it's supposed to be over It's fucking hard. You don't believe me, but it is it's fucking hard It hurts and you can't explain why and everyone wants you to fuck up and sometimes It's a razor blade and I pull it quick across my wrist or deep across my throat or A plastic bag over my head less mess that way or Maybe getting hit by a subway would be instantaneous and One minute I would be in the air And the next I would look down on my body and it would be a A mangled mess and And I'd feel bad about that Bad that someone had to clean that up, but at least it would be over But then something happens This happens There's this Other light that I hadn't seen before and it's not coming from out there It's coming from me And no one can see me because I'm practically dead, but it doesn't matter because All that matters is my own little candle My own little song That was four this is five. Oh, hi Hi, I like your light Thanks You're really sexy Smart It's my light do you want to be friends? Do you want to be more than friends? Um I don't know. I I just want to be me right now. Is that okay? Oh, yeah Sure, of course That's what I want to Thanks I feel like I've been here forever At this light I can see people I can see you I can see you Seven have have you ever seen a naked woman? Sure For real not like on tv or something Yeah, of course I've never seen a real naked man not not a real one like right in the same room with me Can I take off your clothes? Would you mind? uh I don't know I guess not Are we gonna have sex? Guy takes off his shirt I don't know The unbutton his pants pulls them down Guy stands there in his shorts Can I touch it? What? No He covers himself with his hands and turns away I just I've never I don't care God, I'm not just a rod, you know How would you like if someone were to grab your jumping fault at it and he didn't care about you at all? I I'm sorry I know what that feels like To have someone touch you and not care about you at all Don't you dare feel sorry for me I know i'm sexy I know how to move how to look I can make things happen with just my eyes I can give a guy a blow job that will make him leave his wife. I know who I am And the truth is I don't even think men are all that attractive You're the one who I want to be with You're the one who makes me want to be better But you You fucking feel sorry for me, don't you? Well, fuck you Eight I'm an adult now No one to count on about myself I used to have a brother I still do but I used to think that we'd be close when he grew up like best friends And my parents are still alive too. So I'm not really an orphan But does it count if they don't talk to you? I always thought that parents loved you no matter what but it's not true You know nine I remember when this was the only light in the dark Now everything is bright and I can't see anything at all They look at both Guy and Lola Lola is more defiant while Guy looks kind of sad They go to Guy sit behind him and hold him They hum a song to him It's something he knows An inside joke He stand They aren't expecting it but he turns and hugs them tight They are touched by this Mischievously they both sneak up on Lola and pounce And I'll tell you freaks Sometimes you have to give it away Give what away? The thing you want Story walks away from them I love it Our time together is more than half over I should probably have a nervous breakdown or a midlife crisis or something but I already had one of those I used to want to grow up really fast To be on my own And then you hit this part and you wonder where your parents are Why they aren't there for you You know when you're a kid and they never let you leave They never let you grow up Then you do grow up And they don't want to have anything to do with you anymore This was for you mom and dad They said it was unconditional but it was fucking conditional And Lola's parents She has to pretend to be a little girl with them when she sees them Which is not often enough because they refuse to come here She always has to go there This one's for you Lola's parents Okay now That's enough of that I'm not done And this one This one's for Guy's parents Who fucking got a divorce And fucking remarried And the only fucking thing they can agree on Is that Guy has nothing Guy's father And I would like to say Thank fucking God for that Lola and Guy take away the bottle Hey Guy kisses story on the forehead Holds them gently Lola kisses story's palm You make your own family For that before Not the same It's not fucking the same No it's not but still You make your own family Thirteen I missed one You're hungover Lola takes off her sweater And puts it on story Guy takes off his glasses And puts them on story They hold hands We've decided to have a family Have kids It took us a while to all agree One of us would want to But the others would be against it Not enough money Not enough time I didn't want to be the dad My dad was to me I didn't want to have girls They get so fucked in this world But then we decided We were a family And we wanted to put some love To the world We're not the most traditional family And I'm not telling you Because I'm asking your permission I don't really care if you like it or not I never care what people think That's the truth But me It's too old to care anymore Answer a young man Hope Their child Fourteen Lola and Guy stand with hope Hope is shy around all these new strangers And clings to Lola and Guy This is our child Hope He was stuck in the foster system We took him in We do our best We can't give him a lot But he doesn't seem to mind Guy is a good cook He makes macaroni and cheese And it's not from a box But I like it And he also makes it He also makes pancakes with chocolate chips on Sundays Because that's what God would eat And Lola Lola taught me that if someone hits me or picks on me I should hit them very hard somewhere That won't leave a bruise Like their nuts And story They say that music can make you cry The kind of tears that are good That clean your windows So you can see into the world better And sometimes they sing to me When I get nervous Real quiet So no one else can hear But I can hear Fifteen I love Hope And I love Guy He's got the sweetest eyes Even when he's being a moron And Lola Well, she's a strong one You don't want to get on her bad side She holds us together Like a tree trunk And the shit she's been through Nobody should have to go through that But she did And she's here And it's a rag tag But it's a family Thing is I can't get this thing to work Maybe it's just so bright in here That you can't see it Maybe the light is just, you know Not very bright anymore Because it's old It's not like I'm out of time yet Twenty measures and we're only at 15 So it's close to the end But not the end That's not like I have forever anymore Sixteen Guy and Lola and Hope come and go around story They're tending to everyday things Exiting and entering Getting dressed and undressed Coming and going Sometimes I think of that time, you know And I was at the beginning of it all Everything seemed so important So alive, so horrible And so desperate Sometimes I find myself thinking of Razor blades and plastic bags And subway trains again Thinking of jumping off the edge into Into I don't know what Just jumping And then the lights would go out And then bam Maybe I'd be saved at the last minute And then darkness And then a little light would go on A little light in the darkness Seventeen This is Dakota Guy and Lola take story and gently lay them down Crossing their arms across their chest Eighteen They died in one of those random shootings That happen at the post office Maybe they died from stage four cervical cancer It was over in four months Or maybe they died in a drone strike That killed the wrong people Or maybe they got hit by a car Coming home from the grocery store Or maybe they lost their light And went looking for it And got lost and couldn't find their way back They taught me how to dance Nineteen Story had the coolest flashlight It was so bright even in the daytime You could see it across a crowded room of people Said I'm here Come home They used to point that there Lighted me all the time They used to say You're kind of handsome even if you're an idiot They used to say it was beautiful When I would cry They would lick my tears and tell me they were soaked Story wasn't my mom or my dad I still think about my mom and wonder why she left But my mom was really fucked up She didn't even know who my dad was And then she couldn't ever get it together to take care of me But she was my mom And I think about her all the time All the fucking time Story wasn't my mom or my dad but They were my My story They were mine They Twenty Twenty Twenty My name is Max I think what's usually seen is the story of immigrants making it in a new country But what I find less talked about is how the rest of the family Those who stayed behind How they feel watching their loved ones start a new life in a new country How they might perceive the imagined better life in that new country And how that in turn makes them question their own life in the place they've always called home Don't ring it Oh Okay Jolfay sits back down on a stool and continues throwing stacks of paper money into the fire pit Don't throw it in stacks like that What a time This Now she'll get it We've seen Nine Nights somewhere up in the clouds Sipping tea from a busted rusty metal mug She wears a watch She feels something in her jacket and takes out money Back in the good old days There was no money She throws the money back down into the fire 1977 My night puts a pot onto the fire Almost midnight That is up early studying You up early Woke up an hour earlier, but I couldn't fall back asleep The bulge is steaming in here Thanks Ma Are you sure you got enough sleep I'm fine Switching from the day shift to the night shift takes quite a toll It's all right Who enters Han Jiang Where have you been Out Where Around the city How am I supposed to keep track of you Don't I come back, don't I Past midnight sometimes I'm safe, it's fine Safe Are you really safe I don't know what you get up to in the city But soon you might end up like your father Calm down Ma, it's over Ma is dead Something less up And that makes you think it's okay to run around Doing whatever you want I've already graduated from school I'm an adult You are 15 And they truncated school for the revolution You know what Great That's great Hey big brother Why don't you ever say Mom shouldn't be nosing around into my business Right Don't bother him He is busy Study Come on Mr. Big Shot Trying to get into college You never say much Let's hear what you have to say 2021 Nine I lies in bed While Shu Shu is in the other room Ah is on the phone with Shu Shu Shu Shu is terse So um How is she I saw your text in the group chat About the cancer diagnosis Yeah Yeah So I had some questions about that Yeah Does mom know about it The diagnosis She knows And how does she feel about it She's doing well I see What's she doing right now Napping It's 1 30 p.m. over here Oh I didn't realize she'd still be following her routine Given the news She's fine So what are the next steps I'll take her to the hospital tomorrow The doctor will see if the tumor is operable Okay Sounds like a good plan Yeah Do you have any other questions Uh no I I don't think so All right then Well yeah uh keep me updated Yeah Shu Shu hangs up 2021 Jalfe sifting through drawers Where is it He goes to the door and looks outside Checking to see if anybody is there He goes back and continues scouring the room Nainai previously lying dead stands up When I die You must come back to Nanchang and find my will You're not going to die soon I put the will in the center of the desk In the center of the middle drawer There you'll find it Jalfe finds the will He reads it to himself My will is as follows Cremate my body and scatter my ashes across the ghan river Divide my inheritance as follows Out of the 300,000 RMB Give 275,000 to my eldest son Han Hai Which will be given to Jalfe In place of his father not being here And give the rest 25,000 to my younger son Han Zhang 1999 Ah talking to Nainai Signed Liu Jali Is that okay This should work Who walks in carrying five luggage Geez you're already in China Why do you still have to do that crap He's just trying to make sure Well local police all know us It's still the same officer you sit in that same stupid counter Well with an American passport I'm technically not part of the family You got some heavy shit in here It's because I have gifts For you little brother I have That opens up the luggage and takes out a nice bottle of Jack Daniels Jack Daniels select What does that mean It's what Americans drink A straight Kentucky whiskey And for you Ma I have a watch It's stainless steel Mechanical I know you've been needing one Fancy fancy Now you two enjoy those while I go to the police station to give them the letter I'll go over to the police station Ma no worries I can do that I'll do it myself Ma I can go along with him Han Zhang and I can both go No no You must be so tired from the flight 16 hours I slept the entire way I feel fine I need to go out and exercise anyway Nainai takes the letter and leaves 2021 Who will find Jalfe in Nainai's room He puts the wheel into his pocket What are you doing I was looking for things to remember her by Old photos you know You couldn't wait until after the ceremony That's how we moved your grandmother You already started cleaning up some of her things I am the one was the one taking care of her You put it in your pocket It's something I think we should discuss after the ceremony Take it out I found her will What does it say It's about the inheritance She takes the wheel and reads it 275,000 to a son Who isn't even here So you're supposed to take the money Do you even have a bank account Foreigners can have bank accounts She tell you about the wheel Yes Is that why you were rummaging through a room Before we even took the body away She told me to come and immediately find it After she died You couldn't just wait Look I'm just following orders Who are you to do that Do you think you belong here But you don't 1999 Ba and Shusu Who will take the sip of the Jack Daniels Good Hmm This foreign liquor is weird It's not my thing I'm not that big of a fan either But I thought you might like to try American liquor How much was it Around a hundred RMB USD Oh, doing quite well for yourself then I'm doing okay I wanted to buy something nice Something truly American Are you truly American Okay Enough to be kicked out of the Communist Party Really Party members can't go to America And they especially can't hold a U.S. passport The hands that you threw so it flipped through Well, good thing I'm not in the party You can come visit, you know The apartment is small No, not for me Howard Zhao Nice name It's not like they'll be able to pronounce Hanhai That's America for you So you can speak English now I'm okay at it How do you say beer in English Beer Beer What about umbrella Umbrella Umbrella Strange English words I can learn English from your daughter She's funny She gets along well with your daughter I jump forward in time 2006 They get along well with Meng Ying Must be busy having two Well, two is not too much It's more than we can have Having a baby boy in the mix now definitely makes it a handful That's probably how mom felt Well, how's she been, mom She was really excited to see you Host 2006 Ah, give Zhu Zhu a Game Boy color Here, this is for your daughter It has Pokemon on it Ah, Meng Ying will love this Zhao Fei really likes her He got his sister and his cousin to doad over him And they all get along despite the language barrier Kids don't speak Chinese that well Well, they grew up in America Chinese who can't even speak Chinese But make sure you don't lose your Chinese I grew up in China I'm trying specifically I noticed you haven't been speaking or dialect Well, I want the kids to understand Mandarin So I speak that more now Did you forget your own dialect Well, I will I will You forgot How much money you make Oh, it depends Ballpark it Well An iPhone Here, this is for your daughter Ah, thank you This must be expensive No, it's nothing Don't worry about it 2021, few days later The doctor said it's stage four So what did they suggest? I said she's too old for surgery So for now, mom said she wants to stay at home Can she be by herself? She's getting weaker Can you stay with her? I have to go to work The factory's closed They still need me to be there They can't give me money while I sit at home You can't ask for leave No Maybe a maid That costs money She has money You want her mother to use her own money What's wrong with that? So you sit over in America and do nothing Well, I'm the one over here taking care of her If I could be there, I would But the government doesn't allow Americans in Then why haven't you sent a single cent over? For what? For your own mother who has cancer I'm not going to blindly send you money It's for her You control all her expenses Are you saying I'd steal her money? No, I'm saying I don't know what I'm giving you money for Does she not have enough money for a maid? You'd seriously make her pay out of pocket? Then what's the use of her money? If she has none, I'll gladly send some over You just want to sit over there with all your money And keep it for yourself I'm not drowning in money How do you say guitar in English? Guitar How about this? Give $275,000 to Han Hai Give $25,000 to Han Zhang And what about this part? I abandoned my family for a better life Go on I'm a traitor to my own kind I'm learning so much from you big brother Please teach me more about the good life I'm not drowning in money I'm a hard worker, yet I still get fired for reasons I don't know It's never enough You don't think I work hard? That hard work gives you enough money to think buying an iPhone is nothing An iPhone costs my whole year's salary You have your house given to you You can't be fired You can retire at $55,000 While I have to wait till $70,000 So I can keep my health insurance You think I got an easy life? You should grab some by the collar You don't have an easy life You have a good life He's about to punch Ba Shushu Shushu realizes he's holding his nephew Jalfei by the collar He loosens his grip He stops struggling They look at each other Jalfei slowly removes himself from Shushu's grip You don't have to honor the will Take the money The fact don't fight for it That kind of money means nothing to you, doesn't it? Two days before she died She asked for fish dumplings I couldn't find it in the market So I went downtown and bought it She ate two of them for dinner And nothing else Her father left So I was the only one to take care of her Has anyone ever thanked me for my work? She still thought higher of a son Who was never even there for her You come here a few years ago To reconnect and you talk to her And you think you're close to her After three months That's nothing Compared to the years I have cared for her She was my responsibility You think you are But you are not one of us Shushu drops the will on the ground and leaves Going downstairs And I rises What about when you went to Shanghai? You ask so many questions Every day you're always asking me questions Oh, sorry No one has really asked me about my past so much It's good I'm curious You've lived and seen so much I've lived enough It's already been six years since your grandfather passed There's not much point to keep on living Isn't there? Oh, whoa When I die You must come back to Nanchang And find my will I put it in the center of the desk In the center of the middle drawer There, you'll find it And don't tell your Shushu He doesn't know? No Don't tell him Okay I wrote the will a while back I've been meaning to tell you It's important you carry this out I'll do exactly what you tell me to Thank you Are you ever going to tell Shushu? What's that outside? It's just a funeral Someone died It's a funeral outside? Why is there a boot tent? Oh, it's all just their traditions That's how they do it I think I'm going to go downstairs and check it out Go ahead It's nothing special It happens all the time I'll come back soon My night goes to the window and looks out Bells chime outside We gradually shift back to the 1960s We hear the sound of children running around And laughing, mingled with revolutionary music She picks up the will on the ground Come pick it up and close it away Nainai is happy Nainai is herself Hanjiang Hanhai Dinner is ready Come back inside To our consortium of Asian American theaters and artists space Our virtual space To our Healing Over Hate series And we're also, of course, grateful to HowlRound Theater Commons For their partnership with us In offering their virtual platform As we bring forth this series Today we have the great honor and fortune Of hosting a couple of guests But before we do that I want to remind you always Please go to kata.net In case you'd like to become a member We'd love to have you join us And, of course, we're always grateful and welcome donations Once again, kata.net You'll also find all our other updates there as well So as we do here We'd like to acknowledge the land upon which we are set So I encourage you to take a moment of reflection And notice where you are Today I am zooming in from the land of the Gabrielino Tongva and Chumash peoples And many other nations throughout California And it's important to note that we honor The cultures, traditions, languages Of all Native Indigenous peoples We also work to be in riot relations With all the Native Indigenous leaders And artistic theater makers that we work with And certainly in our communities as well And we want to honor the way Indigenous Native folks Also govern their communities And work respectfully with them on that score It's also important to note that many of us Are here certainly in a virtual platform And there are many folks streaming in and utilizing technology That leaves a carbon footprint Impacting the climate Contributing to climate change That most negatively affects Indigenous communities And we're utilizing broadband internet That Native Indigenous communities often lack access to And it's important to recognize that We must go beyond just acknowledgement and language That is the baseline actually of the work we can do So I invite you to learn and respect And take actions and build authentic relationships To support the authority of Native Indigenous peoples And honor their sovereignty Nations, tribes, communities Native Indigenous peoples are not just of the past They are still here And we honor their resilience They exist brilliantly now and well into the future So with that, if you haven't already Please acknowledge the lands upon which you are set And deepen your relationships with the Native And Indigenous peoples in your communities I say also thank you for that And for me, for my culture, I thank you for that effort And those commitments So with that, it's my honor and pleasure once again To be back here with the Healing Overhate series And thank you also to the Theta Communications Group Who has also supported bringing about this series It's been tremendous We've been able to have upstander bystander Deescalation and self-defense training We've learned about the history of anti-Asian hate In this country and all the way up to this moment And recognizing, of course, since the recent administration And a lot of the rhetoric that really started to kick up Anti-Asian hate and violence This series has become really vital and important We're artists but we're also social justice workers And we're committed to social justice At Consortium of Asian American Theater and Artists So with that, recognizing we're in this time Of anti-Asian hate and violence We're still working to end that And with other anti-blackness and anti-oppression Against Indigenous and Latinx peoples And mixed-race peoples It's important to continue this conversation So I have two guests, as I mentioned It's my honor and pleasure to bring on screen Victor Malana Ma'ol, who has been our president and vice president at Cata So really the president and vice president emeritus So welcome, Victor Thanks for being back with us here at Cata In fact, I never feel like you've left Nice to see you, Leslie Thank you for hosting us Thank you And then I'd love to bring on Ryan Chen Ryan is on the steering committee of Gapinmi An organization empowering queer and trans-Asian Pacific Islanders And here we are in Pride Month But to me, Pride Month is every month And it's an honor to have you with us here with Cata, Ryan And one of the things that's been important during this difficult time, right Is to make sure we're remembering some of the most vulnerable in our communities So why don't we start there? We're in such a difficult time But I'd like to learn more straight from you About Gapinmi and your work And what we can do to support our most vulnerable in our communities Thank you, Leslie I would just like to give a little bit of background about Gapinmi We were founded in 1990 We're an all-volunteer-based community organization You know, we have the mission to empower queer and trans-Asian American Pacific Islanders To create positive change And we provide a range of political, social, educational, and cultural programs And work in coalition with other community organizations like yours To educate and promote dialogue on issues of race, sexuality, gender, and health So, you know, in this time of the pandemic A lot of things have gone virtual But also the most vulnerable members of our community Often are people who have lost the ability to get money To put on the table and, you know, because either they're excluded workers And people who are not going to be even covered by, you know, the stimulus And all of that things So, or, you know, black and trans siblings Who are also vulnerable and excluded for other reasons So we've done fun We've done basically mutual aid in terms of fundraising To raise funds from our community That can go directly to help support people during this difficult time Because they just need money very often And that's one of the things that Gapinmi has done the past year I, as a member and a person who was on the steering committee Who can use this organization as a platform Has also been involved in collaborating with Keon Pacific Beats And working on programming that ties in theater with teachings of abolition and what it looks like to deeply be more involved in theater's local theater Wow, such important work Thank you for your service Oh my goodness I appreciate you work with Keon Pacific Beats Fantastic And I'm learning that you've worked with Victor too And you talked about theaters telling the stories And really hearing it straight from these important voices in our community That, that's, we're learning it's critical in the theater field As we get more inclusive and really committed toward justice It means buy and for us, right? And even in problem solving now I say include this So how important is that we're connecting with Gapinmi During these times that going forward too Yeah, thank you for being with us And Victor, can you both talk to me a little bit about how you've worked together When I started in 2012 as a new artistic director of 2G I was working with Keon Park And we'd come up with a project around community voices Working with Gapinmi and other organizations around a writing program To give voices to those who are marginalized And that was led by our master, our sort of master teacher If you will, Dean, who actually is participating in inflections Ryan was part of that program So it's really, really cool to reconnect with you Ryan And around this project We wanted to uplift the great service of Gapinmi And also other organizations like the Buddy System in New York And that's how we started And eventually that community voices program Translated itself into another program that we call now Which is a writing program in residence with Stuyvesant High School Where we have students write their very first plays So it's really come a full circle here today How beautiful, that's deep in community, which I love And thank you, Victor You are the former, right? Artistic director at Second Generation Productions 2G And currently executive producer and curator On this new program you want to offer Yeah? Yeah, 2G was founded in 1997 by Wellie Yang There was a time where folks were only getting parts in Miss Saigon And what happened to stories where we had much more complexity Much more opportunities to take on leads And so out of that moment Wellie said we want to put artists on the world stage And 2G was born And 2G's mission is really to create world class theater That goes across generations and racial divides It's also to cultivate a new generation of Asian American artists And in the great multiplicity and range that that is And to connect with new and underrepresented artists And what we've done through the years is work on develop plays Community building programs just like the community voices But we've also started to work inward Quietly how to reinvest in our own writers Giving them sort of the time and space away from the spotlight To give them what they need Whether it's a workshop Whether it's just funds for their own development And so we've always been artist centered and community centered And in this particular time 2021 we knew we need to respond with art That was immediate that came out of some of the horrific events that just came by I mean the things that gutted all of us And that's how the program inflections came to be It really came out of a need to use art to have a conversation Around the fullness of who we are It was really a necessity Oh I think that's so powerful Because I think a lot of the racism that we're enduring Unfortunately having to endure is so based on stereotypes And they just keep replicating and coming back around Right So to see the fullness and re-humanize us is so critical That was the prompt The prompt was really moving away from sort of a documentary theater Model of what does all this violence do to you But really to go what is living a life and who you are How can we place that on stage And so we asked six artists to work on that You know real range in terms of age In terms of just backgrounds and in terms of aesthetics And we wanted of course we couldn't capture everybody But we tried to do what we could in this time span It's a they're able to do it in 15 minutes It's a 15 minute piece There we're going to rehearse it and record it Within a four hour window With no more than four actors And it had to respond to this idea of inflections Curvatures, arcs, undulations Of milestones of moments of a life And the plays that they've come forward with Well with our just beautiful heartbreaking And in a way really respond to a striving to live A striving to live and frankly getting up After we've been pushed down You know that's that's the great resiliency in this critical moment And that's why I'm so thankful to Takata and HowlRound For inviting us into this Healing Over Hate series Because we know that this is an important forum Around connection and also the global reach Of the of the project So I really want to thank you for that And we've worked together in the past Leslie So you said yes immediately and I'm so grateful for that Ryan said yes immediately to speaking about His work and Gopitani's work And it's that sort of partnership that's that's kept 2G going And frankly afloat we're small We don't have huge funds But we do have a range of a network That we really rely on and are there for us Beautiful, beautiful This is a powerful work you're all are doing Ryan how is it to work with Victor? Well I mean I didn't exactly work with Victor And directly it was more Kyung who did most of the coordination For me I would just a I actually ended up being one of the playwrights So I worked on my first play as a result of the project So outcome was that Yeah, I mean I discovered that I have chops to be a right Writer and it's fascinating to to learn how to how to write plays I guess Yeah, I was grateful for that opportunity I find that for me I've discovered that writing is a form of healing for me It can be useful as therapy you know theater is therapy And I do also feel that when we can tell our stories we can also heal So I I believe that you know this work is important for us to see our stories be represented But also be able to have the artists able to heal with being able to tell their stories You know diversify the you know the intersections of our identities To finally make the The nuanced like differences so that I like I feel like one of the problems is We don't get to play roles that are you know Fiction and have us be like well that's not actually my story But people over identify you know people who are for example trans get to play trans characters And then and then be just assume that they're just playing themselves versus You know people who aren't trans playing a trans character being getting accolades, you know, so We have enough stories to represent the different types and properly cast them Then we can actually finally Get people to understand that it it's a beautiful performance as opposed to You are playing yourself, which isn't always true Like I write stories that sort of touch on a feeling but not necessarily assume that that is Actually exactly the story that I'm telling is an autobiography Thank you for that. Yeah, we know representation is huge Being able to play of your own identity or intersections of your identity So critical it affirms your humanity and if you don't see yourself the injury it causes, right? We're just starting to really understand how to talk about that Yeah Yeah So with that uh, so so ryan you're a part of this inflections project How incredible Beautiful pictures will you tell us more about inflections? Inflections is five projects I'll tell you about the writers involved Yes We have jade who who's written a play called darwin's arch Max you is written distance abandoned and Oftentimes it is about some of the stories have to deal with losing oneself Or even the sense of responsibility in In the family Dean has written a story called a story a play in 20 measures That has uh The the way that he described is is a story about the families we make sometimes out of thin air But always out of full hearts And rendara santiago writes about two filarican sisters really Unfolding patterns about themselves in a series of facetime calls and Finally, we have a new piece by philip conga tanda And shinji ashima a song sort of a song That is called body of eyes It's about a couple that wonders about their decision not to have children So even in those snapshots You'll start to see the range and depth and complexity of what it means just to be alive through these very very stunning writers And there's great laughter in there, but also there's also great resiliency and all under Such limited time to write this work and I will say they've all put themselves on the line They've really they really haven't missed this opportunity to use their art to respond many of the artists the artists the the writers the The editors the actors they've all said at this time. I want to be in this community and Close to 40 artists are joining for this project. And so they didn't want to miss their chance to have this conversation And that's what i'm really really interested in Just like the opportunities with ryan we brought the folks in we gave them some parameters and then let their Imaginations go wild. So I can't wait to see what they've come up with In the final product That's fantastic. We know when you give artists parameters They often create magnificently, right? So you've given them this challenging framework To work at that's amazing um Oh my goodness. Thank you both for being of service to our communities We know how powerful art can be For the artists themselves creating the work And in collaboration coming out of isolation, especially during this pandemic, but also for us as audience I am certain it's going to be the healing we need While while there's such hate going on we hope to keep healing so we can keep eradicating hate, right? so Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for joining me for this session and helping us to learn more about inflection so that we can go forth and And support it view it Can you tell us as we go out now victor? Can you share with us some of the details about inflection how people can view it? and then Ryan too if there's any last thing you would like to share, of course, I want to have your voice included in our closing Thank you. Leslie. So inflections actually will have its premiere on howlround tv Uh from june 28th through june 30th you can find it on howlround you could also Catch it on facebook live through the kata site So that is june 28th through the 30th. You can catch inflections And you could also find out more on 2g.org and kata.net Thank you for that any last thoughts ryan for now Um, yeah, if anyone's interested, uh, you can follow the pimmie on on facebook and uh, instagram And uh get involved in other ways beyond theaters that switch your heart. It's called Beautiful, and I know pimmie said on your face Your website it says justice pride solidarity Thank you for that work. We support that here at kata absolutely and we look forward to being in partnership more So thank you so much for joining us to our audience and thank you to victor and ryan for for being with me here This has been a really wonderful conversation Okay, and we encourage our audiences of course be safe Uh, wear masks when it's necessary when you're asked to and if you're inclined We encourage you to get vaccinated so we can get back to live theater and of course just being in connection with each other in person Beautiful Thank you everybody