Tying it all together
By Jason Packman
Daily Bruin Contributor
Francis Poon is playing a traveling debt collector in China and
he’s afraid his costume doesn’t exactly fit.
"I feel so goofy," he says. But Poon hardly looks goofy. At the
very least, he looks like an extra on the set of a Hong Kong period
film.
All he needs to do is look the part for this year’s Chinese
Students Association (CSA) Chinese Cultural Night. For the first
time in three years, the organization is producing an independent
cultural night this Saturday at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater.
The show is stressing quality over quantity, according to this
year’s cultural night director, Jenny Hsieh. Instead of the usual
culture night fare of unconnected variety and drama works, the
association is planning a night centered around one musical drama.
After a hip-hop and jazz dance set to warm up the audience, they
will present the Chinese fairy tale, "Chinese Ghost Story."
Hsieh came up with the idea from a dream last summer. "We were
talking about concepts for the show," she says, "And then, one
night, I just woke up and I was like, ‘Let’s do it on the ‘Chinese
Ghost Story,’ because I dreamt about the forest scene, where the
young maiden was seducing this man, and it’s exactly from the ghost
story."
The story centers around the ghost Xiao-chen, who becomes
enslaved by the tree demon Lao-lao. Her doomed life as a ghost is
changed by her love for the bumbling debt collector Chai-shen. The
trans-dimensional love story features traditional Chinese music and
dancing, climaxing with a Hong Kong action film-inspired fight
scene.
The "Chinese Ghost Story," also the inspiration for a series of
successful movies from Hong Kong, starring Leslie Cheung, comes
from a set of fairy tales by the Chinese writer Pu Sung-lin. He
wrote an entire series of stories about people trapped between
death and rebirth as ghosts in the mortal world.
Even though this was the first independent Chinese Students
Association cultural show in three years, the group had little
difficulty finding people to work in the show.
"We had a major recruitment effort where we posted flyers and we
called people up," Hsieh says. "We held an orientation to see who
would show up, and tons of people showed up."
Most of these people had little experience doing a cultural
show, as even Hsieh, a senior, was a freshman when she witnessed
the last one. The cast is fairly inexperienced, and initial ability
wasn’t always a factor in casting.
"They said I looked pretty mean, so I got the part," says Victor
Fong, who plays the demon, Lao-lao. Fong and his friend, Francis
Wong, who portrays the ghost-fighting monk of the story, are also
making many of the props for the production.
"We get together Saturday to buy materials and Sunday to build
the props. We’ve been doing that for the last five weeks," says
Fong. This is in addition to all the time they spend learning lines
and practicing for their parts in the play.
This dedication echoes throughout the entire production, and
Hsieh is pleased as to how it has all worked out. "Starting from
the turnout at the orientation until now, no one has slacked off
and people are putting in 100 percent for the show."
While many in the cultural show are new to show business,
Francis Poon is not. He has acted since his sophomore year in high
school. The debt collector he plays loves the ghost Xiao-chen
(portrayed by Jennifer Lu) in the crux of the story.
Poon also appeared in the Association of Chinese
Americans/Chinese Students Association joint Chinese cultural show
two years ago, and also will play a leading role in this year’s
Association of Chinese Americans cultural show. He has mixed
feelings toward having separate Chinese cultural shows.
"It’s appropriate I think," he says. "But I also think that
Chinese people, as a group, could come together and do an even
bigger production regardless of where they are from, where exactly
their decent is, or how often they actually speak the
language."
Hsieh, however, feels strongly that more than one culture show
reflects the diversity within the Chinese community.
"Within every ethnicity there is a lot of diversity, and the
Chinese ethnicity is no exception," she says. "That’s the reason
why you end up with a lot of different clubs and a lot of different
focuses. That’s why you need more than one cultural show."
In addition to the new friendships and pride in seeing their
hard work and vision reflected onstage, the cast and crew are also
gaining new insights about themselves and their culture.
"I’ve learned a lot of stuff that I didn’t really know," says
Wong, "like the Taoist philosophy, and ghosts and humans and their
relationships."
"I can be mean and get away with it," adds Suzanna Huang, who
plays the little "brat sister" to Lu’s Xiao-chen.
Hsieh recognizes the importance of the show to Chinese-Americans
who are able to experience their culture and perhaps learn
something new about themselves and their identity, but she stresses
that the show is for everyone.
"The show isn’t about being Chinese," she says. "It’s a show
about individuals, struggling to overcome their fears."
She sees the show as a way to overcome stereotypes, both within
the general culture as well as the diverse Chinese-American
community.
"A lot of people will go, ‘You know, well, CSA, it’s a bunch of
Chinese immigrants. They are always in their own little circle,’
and this is one way to break away from that," she says.
"If you see the way the show is done, you realize that everybody
is going through the same things that every other person in every
other ethnicity is going through."
EVENT: Chinese Students Association’s Chinese Cultural Night is
on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. Free tickets are available at CTO.
For more info, call (310) 825-2101.
(Clockwise, from top right) Suzanna Huang plays the youngest
sister in the production of "Chinese Ghost Story." Main leads
Francis Poon and Jennifer Lu rehearse their lines. Diana Wong
assists an actor with his costume. (Far left) Sharlene Choy’s
character lures men from the forest to be devoured.
All photos by Patrick Lam
Photo Illustration by Damon Seeley/Daily BruinComments to
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