Asian American / Asian Research Institute
The City University of New York
In honor of Asian Heritage Month, the BMCC Theatre Program presents a 15-minute reading of David Henry Hwang’s play Trying to Find Chinatown, and a Town Hall discussion on “How does Theatre create Community and Identity for Asian Americans and all under-represented voices?”
Russell C. Leong, former CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor and current senior editor of international projects for the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, has produced his second picture book after a 50 year hiatus! For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Leong will read from his illustrated graphic poem (for adults and youth) based on his … Read more
Waylaid is the story of a Chinese American boy struggling to grow up amidst the drudgery and sexual innuendo of his parent¹s sleazy motel on the Jersey Shore. Conscripted into the family business, the protagonist spends his summer days and afterschool hours renting out rooms to johns and hookers, lonely old men, and families whose homes have been repossessed. He becomes obsessed with losing his virginity, a preoccupation whose very intensity reflects a society that delivers sex as a distraction from despair. In its blackly humorous exploration of immigrant dreams and working class realities, Waylaid is a switchblade in the gut to stories of overachievement and success that ignore the human cost.