Theater artists and leaders—Lily Tung Crystal and Rick Shiomi—check in with each other and

our series host Tri Vo in this continuation of Green Card Voices’ #LoveYourAsianNeighbors

podcast series.

In this episode, Lily and Rick talk daily challenges of COVID-19, the highs and lows of

transitioning theatre to online platforms during the pandemic, and following passions even when

your family doesn't quite understand.

The big questions Lily and Rick consider: How, with theatre companies shut down across the

country, can artists grieve a career and the subsequent loss of income while also making space

for the grief of losing an integral part of one's identity? How do people value art in the midst of

an ongoing crisis? As minorities within the theater space, and whose identities have been

represented in yellowface, how can artists organize and make these injustices known?

The takeaway is clear: The arts are more important than ever in these times.

Learn more about Lily’s work as Artistic Director of Theater Mu and the company’s online

offerings during this pandemic here: https://www.theatermu.org/

Learn more about Rick’s work as Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Full Circle Theater

Company: https://www.fullcircletheatermn.org/

Join the Green Card Voices podcast community and hear more from Lily and Rick by becoming

a Patron at https://bit.ly/ForOurGCVNeighbors

Share Lily and Rick’s conversation online—using the #LoveYourAsianNeighbors hashtag—and

tell us your story of raising the voices, whether it’s your own or another’s voice, of Asian

Americans.

Discussed or mentioned this week:

● Atacama by Augusto Amador

● Fire in the New World by Rick Shiomi

● The Empathy Project by Stephanie Lein Walseth

● Inside Out & Back Again by Min Kahng

● “The Asian American Dream,” Philip Kan Gotanda

● Building a Better ‘Mikado,’ Minus the Yellowface

https://www.americantheatre.org/2016/04/20/building-a-better-mikado-minus-the-

yellowface/

ABOUT THIS SPECIAL SERIES:

As we continue to live in the middle of the COVID 19 pandemic, cases of xenophobia and race-

based hate crimes targeting Asian American communities have escalated in an alarming yet not

unprecedented manner. To combat the harmful rhetoric being spread and inflicted on our

neighbors, Green Card Voices has launched #LoveYourAsianNeighbors campaign. In this

special podcast series, we highlight the lived narratives of Asian Americans overcoming

difficulties, finding abundance in the face of scarcity, and taking action towards a better future.