Nihao, Zhaotia, Zhao'an. Good morning to everyone joining us in Taiwan. Zhaotia, Wan'an, and good evening to everyone joining us in the United States. My name is David Thomas Cronin, and I am the moderator for this evening, the English premiere of the groundbreaking Taiwanese New Musical Tropical Angels. What you just saw was the beautiful illustration, the trailer illustrated by Chiaoyu Ho, and this evening we are going to premiere Act One of the English reading of Tropical Angels. I am so humbled to be with you this evening and to be working on this beautiful piece of theater. The presentation will last about 55 minutes, and it will be followed by a 45 minute talk back with the creative team and members of the cast. And then we will open up a 15 minute Q&A session for everyone joining us for this evening's presentation. Chie Chie, for everyone that was involved with this production and for everyone that's with us this evening. And I hope that you enjoy the English premiere of the groundbreaking Taiwanese New Musical Tropical Angels. August 15th, another year has passed. Angela, I thought you wouldn't come back this summer. Uh, what are you doing? This is Raju Taisho, radio exercises. Exercises, someone gave me this tape not long ago. So many memories here. I had to exercise this every day when I was- That's not what I mean. I mean this. The Pacific War ended on this date. I can't help missing my friends from the war. Ha ha, they were Imperial Japanese army. They started that horrible war. Yes, but I was a part of it. You've changed. Yeah, before I knew nothing and didn't dare to ask. But recently I have read a lot and but I have questions. What are your questions? Before World War II, Taiwan had been colonized for 50 years.  The World War II ended 30 years ago and yet you still miss the past. You? You think you have read a lot? Actually, you don't know anything. You don't understand history. You don't understand me. Exactly! I've tried so hard to understand you, but you never talk about those years. It's too complicated. I don't want to talk about it. You always say you want to be a writer. He can't even write your own story. What happened to you during the Pacific War? The past me died once in Timor. It has been so long. And Timor has been so long since I've thought of you, my younger self. When will you start telling my story? Your story is lost in the past, in the days when I spoke Japanese. Switch it into another language. Let our story come alive again. Can I do it justice? Do I remember it? Timor, my soul wanders, scarred and bloody. Lost to memory, lost to history, one more relic produced by the war. There's half- Watashi wa dare shushe? Japanese name. I was drafted by duty to defend this island against enemy attacks and slave of Timor. Hayashi! Yes, sir! Follow me, and I'll train you into a dignified imperial soldier. Yes. Louder! Yes, sir. My name is not Hayashi. My family name is Lin. Not Hayashi. You've got a lot of nerve to change my name, change the story my past.  It's all fine with me. I'm standing here, won't disappear, title turned, but I'll remain the same. I'll shout at thy history. We will never change my name. Rising sun, casting shadows on my homeland. We can pretend, we can lie, grit our teeth and close our eyes, but truth will always find a way. This pain cannot be silenced. I will not be a quiet sacrifice. Dare to shoot. This population was made of mostly soldiers. Captured and used for sex. You know them as comfort women. Those women were taken from their homes and thrown in jail to receiving training from the madam served the Japanese soldiers. It was... Dear Heavenly Father, I can't remember how many days have passed. Can you hear me pray? Do you still bless us? I remember the Earth, clear blue sky, bright green bananas for the future. For two kids of my heart, the sweetest dreams, but they default solely at night. I'm making do. Don't be nervous. Yes, I'm from Taiwan. What's your name? My name is Hayashi. No. What's your name, Yiping? Yiping, so you're not a Japanese devil. No, I'm from Taiwan. That's true, then you can let me out. I'm afraid I can't. I'm a Japanese soldier. You're Taiwanese, but a Japanese soldier. You're worse than the devils themselves. Go away, go! Okay, okay, I'll go. I'll go. I'll go. This is for you. Toadal tam, peanut brittle. I got it from Taiwan.  This is the flavor of your hometown? This is the flavor of my hometown in Taiwan. Taiwan. It's the sweetest thing I know. The flavor of my home is sweet like grape fall in the springtime peanut powder in a wrap salty and sweet like sweeping graves in the mist a sweet and salty taste a flavor that can't be erased the sweetest thing I know is knowing someone is waiting waiting in the doorway trusting that I'll come the sweetest taste I know barring life's most bitter taste the sweetest taste I know the sweetest memory carries me across the big salty sea salty and sweet like homesick tears in this forest same to you it reminds me salty tears till I fall asleep has a smile like sunshine like a painting you frame on the wall voice just like the warmest breeze air like clouds above the sea I'm just soft if you feel glow from far away still still he circles around so where are your wings? what? nothing nothing the sweetest taste I know he hasn't loved me just knowing someone is waiting in the doorway she will be there at my side as I draw my very last goodbye he will see me through love will make it true safe to you led by ghosts to believe in you if there is anything I can do I'll try my best then Mr. Lin can you find something for me? find what? tell me I'll help you find it my cross I lost it on my journey my mother gave it to me can you find it for me? okay my name is Lyseli salty and sweet like homesick tears in this forest who spoke my dialect reminded me of my fiance be transferred office of the commander Matsunaka period of the pacific war imperial Japanese army started to send kamikaze pilots American warships by sacrificing themselves young people never came back soldier Hayashi reporting I received the transfer order to serve under you work hard you may leave now sir can I ask your question? speak it is said that you always ask the best soldier to be your orderly yes and so what? so why did you pick me? you don't believe you're good enough nonsense you have no guts even so you remind me of a man who are you talking about sir? that's not important he had already dedicated his life to the Japanese empire and become a kamikaze stop dally walk faster what's the matter? commander sir we have a peace agreement called one of our men breaking one of their women again Hayashi kill him that way we'll have some sort of explanation for the chief I I I I so timid how can you be an imperial soldier? sir there has been an update from the mission speak our team has been wiped out and the enemy? experienced no damages Hayashi take it back to the Kattraib and tell them that's my explanation yes sir kamikaze divine wind when will you cease to blow? in part, when did you stop feeling any pain? do you pump any blood still through my veins? you are silent and still you need to win that was ruthless and true surrender I carry on I'm complaining I must defend the smiles of my nation the sport turns but I won't abandon my station God question no wings I understand such good care of me it seemed like it seemed to me that a secret in his heart local boy to search for Shaolin's cross I asked you to find a cross for me have you? of course take it you're making fun of me those arrogant priests I won't burn any stupid cross watch out or I'll shoot you nonsense you wouldn't dare to shoot coward oh I would 300 hour drive is stronger than you I'm an imperial soldier much stronger than any hunter coward you don't know yourself you only be hunted hunter through and through let the huntsmen show down begin the boat moves to you what kind of prey do you want to be?    I'm looking for something sir you missing a piece of gear? no uh it's uh relax we're off duty and you are good at judo let's have a match sir I think that would be inappropriate why? I've seen you spar with others I don't think you can beat me what with all this confidence Matsunaga grabbed me and pushed me down before I could respond in the back and forth I pressed down to the ground I found something in the dirt at that moment I heard a gunshot and the bullet pierced my arm we were attacked by the local rebels one of the warriors aimed his gun at my commander but before he could shoot I knocked his rifle from his hands as he let out a round into the air the rebels scattered back into the forest one by one are you alright sir? watch your back I turned around and reflexively shot to kill it wasn't a rebel I had shot it was Kuru in his hands you have proven yourself as an imperial soldier Hayashi don't call me that Hayashi Hayashi was crossed in my hand the memory of her motherland I've stained this precious relic with the blood of an honest fan how am I meant to tell her? why is it that Taiwanese hands always bear arms for Japan and my hands are bloodied I'm scared that maybe she'll flinch and come away say I'm not human at all sterling silver cross shimmers and shines held in my palm leaving a scar burning hot like a star already I am not who I thought I was I'm too far gone I'm not myself for my son I'm not shining in the night please tell me how do I make things right southern cross everything is in the sky all that I've done gives my hope the light still in my heart forever I lost my heart my heart is wild give me the courage to face another curse a day southern cross in the light the cross belongs to her I will bring it back this cross must be returned you will see I can still return to who I used to be thank you so much for everyone that joined us for the English premiere of the groundbreaking new Taiwanese musical Tropical Angels thank you thank you we're so happy to have you guys here and we're so happy to have worked on this production and be sharing it with you now before we jump into the talk back can I introduce the rest of the panel of the creative team and members of the cast of Tropical Angels we are going to have a pre-recorded video remark from Joyce Chiu the artistic director of the National Chai Chung Theatre in Taiwan so please enjoy a few words from Joyce herself hi everyone my name is Joyce Chiu I'm the general and artistic director of the National Taichung Theatre we are one of the three members of the National Performing Arts Center in Taiwan so good morning and good evening as this is early in the morning in Taipei time in Taiwan time I would like to thank you for participating in our script reading of musical Tropical Angels tonight Tropical Angels is created by Lin Meng Huan and composed by Sheng Lei I would like to specially introduce you to Meng Huan as he is one of our artists in residence for the year of 2019 and 20 as we invite him to become one of our artists in residence he told us that he would like to adapt Mr. Chen Tianwu's novel coming back alive into a theatrical project we are really happy that after two years we can support him throughout his creative stage and this the Chinese version of Tropical Angels will be premiered in July 2021 if you happen to be in Taiwan you are mostly welcome to join our world premiere last but not least I would like to express my gratitude to Taipei Culture Center in New York Howl Round and the Musical Theatre Factory for their great effort to make this stage reading possible during this pandemic period my special thanks goes to the creative team including stage director Mr. David Thomas Corning Music Director Ms. Sobina Chi and all of the performers tonight and now I'm going to sit back and listen to your feedback Thank you Thank you so much for those beautiful words I am very humbled to be here with my best friend this is Yi-Shin Sobina Chi Cancer she is the musical director of the English premiere of Tropical Angels and I'm going to introduce the rest of our panel members of our creative team and a cast member from the reading Tropical Angels today we are very very fortunate to have Yi-Shin Sobina Chi joining us we have we have Da-Ci Lin Mong-Huan the playwright of the piece that we just watched the composer Chen Li we have Mushi Giao the dramaturg joining us we have Yang Yan-Su the script translator Emily Chu the lyric translator and we have Gabby Greenwald one of the performers from this evening she played Lai Sha-Lin and Kiyuri Mei N. Teo the artistic director of musical theater factory thank you everyone for joining us today thank you so much for everything that you did on this project truly Sobina and I know how much everyone worked on this as we got to collaborate with many of you and I'm very excited for us to have this opportunity to now to discuss this very unique collaboration experience in this new era of our careers of virtual theater thank you so much I have a couple of topics that I would love to throw around with you guys and see how we feel or things that we'd like to share I know many of us actually worked on the production and for most of us it was a very new experience I can say Sobina and I have been working together for years and we have a very fortunate to be working in person live theater together so this was an incredible learning experience it was a piece that was the first time in a new tongue a new language but also having to collaborate with our fellow artists via zoom and phone calls and facebook messenger and FaceTime and also a time difference I've never worked on a show with such a time difference before that was an incredibly unique learning experience and so I'm very interested to talk to you guys today one of the things that I definitely want to talk about our two stars Daxa and I'm so humbled and I love you both and I'm so thankful that the two of you trusted me with this piece I thank you and I just want to hear from you guys I also specifically want to know because we didn't I didn't get to talk enough about it but the novel coming back alive by Chen Kuan Wu and where that piece came into your life and how you chose this story or what it was about this story that made you say I'm going to write a musical and then I'm also going to put that musical in another language like what that journey was for you two you guys would talk a little bit about that Hi everyone I will use Chinese to answer this question because this question is more complicated and Shen will help me to translate it I really like Chen Qian Wu's novel Living Back I saw this novel very early I was 15 years old so Daxa has been loving this novel for quite a while and it's like since he was 15 years old yeah the novel is called Coming Back Alive yeah and then his change of difficulty is very high so in fact this idea is always in my mind for nearly 20 years then there's a chance to move it to the stage so it's like it's a piece that is really hard to adapt to stage because like it's a novel and it's like spend quite a long time in terms of time span and like I think the original text of this novel is a little bit more like poetic instead of like dramatic so it's it took like that's 20 almost 20 years to actually come up with the idea to adapt it into stage then in the process of turning it into a musical in fact in the end it took the spirit of the original and then it can turn it into more details and allow the elements of music to blend in actually it has made quite a big change so during this adaptation we kind of like grab the essence of the novel and try to make it to like extract more dramatic moments and also to figure out how to let music to be a way to express the essence of the novel yeah yeah I hope I answered the question yeah absolutely I just I have to tell you I'm so taken when I read the script and I read the first version obviously it was a story that I had no experience with and growing up here in America too I felt like incredibly ignorant to the Pacific war being that it's not something that we are shoved down our throats in history and then having to really the drama tour and I talked a lot about really making sure that I could answer that I knew more than enough to answer any question that arose and we're going to talk a little bit more about directing a period piece especially in the virtual realm this story was just so beautiful the first time going through I was like it was upsetting that it was only act one too I was like you can't leave me here like it was like I'm now so invested in these humans and the story and like I'm just like here obviously and that's how you end an act because I care right that's why I will see act two but I was like oh so taken with the story and it was just so humbling to be part of it and I was just very curious as to what that experience was for you and how you chose that yeah is this a novel that you would say people living in Taiwan are mostly familiar with this is a no not though that's so cool I love that thank you then thank you thank you for that that is incredible yeah amazing one of the one of the things of many one of the many things working on this show that was new and a incredible learning experience for me was that this was an international production and so that our team you know Sabina and I were here in New York and many of our actors were here in New York also all of our actors were in America but many of our actors were also in California so that was a different time different learning to schedule rehearsals and all the zoom calls and all that Los Angeles is a little less dramatic than Taiwan but we were also the pseudo stage manager for this production so I was like what time is it that was always a question but one of one of the pieces of this international piece is that there were many languages in this production in this story and having a dialect of Taiwanese Hokkien having characters that would be speaking Japanese right if these these characters were taken to this island to more and then now having to tell the story in the form of English that was a big struggle for us trying to determine that if we were speaking English how do I let the audience know that the character would actually be speaking Japanese and then at some point that the character would recognize Hokkien because I'm still receiving the form of English right and obviously as a I mean I apologize for my Mandarin but I've been learning so much Mandarin just like I'm gonna I'm trying I'm trying and for me that was like I wanted to really know that the characters what tongue the characters were speaking because I think that it's all about identity this piece in the in their culture right so when when Lynn speaks Hokkien verse when Lynn speaks to Matsunaga in Japanese that is really really pivotal and that was really difficult in English for us to determine that and you guys were amazing with collaborating and deciding where we should hear that native tongue where that should happen and I still think there's a lot to discover and develop in Act 1 even just about if the piece is in English how much more Hokkien we can hear and truly there should be moments of Yasuko and Matsunaga giving us Japanese as well right and then of course then at that point we can have a dialect coach on our team too that can help us discover all those moments for authenticity purposes so that was something I love to talk about I want to bring up Gabby Greenwald who is one of our beautiful actresses congratulations honey you were stunning it's such a privilege to work with you every time I want Gabby you were here from the States and we threw another language at you if you wanted to talk a little bit about that a lot of voice memo I would take voice memos of what I was supposed to say in the other language and then I would pretty much just play it over and over and over again like literally like the two seconds messages like whatever it was like buyao buyao buyao lai shalin lai shalin lai shalin and all the moments when I was on zoom and I wasn't being rehearsed with I would be on mute and just like keep playing it so yeah definitely difficult but it was also so manageable at the same time yeah given that it wasn't a lot but it was enough like you said to communicate that I was speaking my language when I was speaking Japanese it was enough to get the point across yeah so I want to say something like Gabby you're just wonderful we're so happy and grateful to have you just want to share a little bit like during the rehearsal because a lot of dialect is not in English so we're like oh my god like and then David doesn't I'm working on that but David doesn't really speak Chinese so a lot of the times it's like I know Gabby works so hard I have to record that and then Gabby just repeat and then like next day it's like can you please say you know tell me again so I just want to say you did a wonderful job like that was beautiful and thank you so much for all the efforts my pleasure to say the least thank you and my goal is to let all my friends around me speaking Chinese so yeah thank you Gabby I know that even when auditioning for the production that wasn't something that we had thrown at you or known that we were going to do but when we were reading the script over and over and over again I just felt that there was something that was missing for the rest of the American audience to be like oh there's a whole part of the story there's a layer here that's missing that people are speaking and allowed to be themselves because they've been asked to not be themselves in the story like that felt really important and authentic to me and Gabby and I learned Mandarin well we learned like seven sentences in Mandarin together so it was incredible and beautiful learning experience and there were very few of the actors in the company that had really spoken Chinese before so that was really incredible too and then to collaborate with those of us who were comfortable with the language and finding what made the most and what was most manageable in this Zoom experience which we will talk about the process of virtual theater in a moment for sure. Great so that brings me to that brings me to our story of language and where we are this is considered a period piece this piece takes place in two time periods in two different locations we're in Taiwan in the 1970s and it's a bit of a flashback piece which can be done really cool on stage and I think that we made the most that we could virtually to discover those two different aesthetics of those two time periods in places and then in the 1940s to more a southern Pacific island what I I worked a lot with Mushi who is our beautiful dramaturg who is incredibly helpful thank you for every moment that I got to lean on you in this production but doing it I've been very fortunate enough to direct period pieces before I've directed operas and a lot of musical theater and it's very different as a director with the team when everyone's in the room and you can bounce ideas off and then we use the best idea nobody's specific idea but the best idea and collaborating with one another and finding that the costume person can add a new light because something that happens during that time or the set designer brings us something of like a material that I didn't realize this would be made out of or our dialect coach or our dramaturg and for this production it was really Sabina I and then frantically being like Mushi I'm so thankful so if you want to talk a little bit about working on obviously period pieces are what you do as a dramaturg right but having to do it in the lens of virtual theater I'd love to get inside to that yeah I think that's quite a challenge for me too because yeah I know we are like we are working like without like set and also like costume designers so we got to handle all the stuff and like all the materials ourselves so I really like like thank like for providing providing me so many materials like pre like before rehearsals and also before the meeting with David and also like I think like David and Sabina so much for working on this so hard and like I know like you guys have like been like paying so many efforts on like accents and also languages right like independently because there are like not much time for us to do this all these rehearsals and for me it's yeah it's it's a challenge working on this period piece not only because it involves like to or like over to kinds of like styles and like periods and like history and also I I find I found it very challenging to like like dealing with like different periods especially via this kind of like virtual form because there are lots of things we have to discuss and show via like websites and things online and like media online media so so you brought so many resources into our lives like artistically and professionally like I mean the amount of photos that you were able to provide for us and then I would be able to zoom in and I was like what is like what am I looking at here what is this yeah actors have to costume themselves too so we have to provide a little bit of like a motherly community theater vibe and be like hey what's in your closet like moment and like hey what I'm like actually talking about like do you guys even like receive it that's all I need to say like you were very grateful we have like a wonderful team to help us like this is for us is a learning process like when David was asking me like where is Timor I'm like well actually don't know so we have to try to find the map which they and we're finding out this is Timor so for us I think this is great especially today's veteran day like we were talking about war and then even though we're like you know life's moved on now it's like 2020 but we I think for human being we should always try to learn our history and then try to acknowledge that and try to respect like that's how where we come from and then yes so thank you for yes thank you Mushi thank you for everything you did thank you for every French female and phone calls you message truly thank you and you gave the actors comfort too to know that what they had or that they were on the right track so deeply appreciate it I do I wanted to circle back I'm sorry about about language because I would love to talk a little bit to Yansu and Emily who are translators for both separately the script itself and then the lyrics which both then have to be translated into English for this specific reading and I'm sure on some kind of like time crunch too there was probably a schedule of being like and now it's happening and that like is no small task Yansu do you want to speak to us about your your experience with the piece previously and then translating the piece into English if they're like what your what it was like to translate the piece from its original language and then to this new forum hi can you everyone hear me yes okay first I think this is my first time to translate Chinese into English most of the time I change new movie title or script from English to Chinese and as you know that they have different languages Taiwanese Japanese and Chinese my part is translate to note that there are three languages here so the the most difficult work is for you guys to different accent different style to move it to stage absolutely yeah and thank you thank you because without your work I wouldn't have been able to even take the story for what the story was worth right you put it in a language that I could read the script and cry my Mandarin is a long way to come but I was to read it English it was very emotional so thank you thank you for all that Emily will you speak to us a little bit about the score existing in Mandarin having to translate it into English what that process was like for you yeah absolutely so Shang very graciously asked me to hop on board as the lyric translator which was an adventure I leaned a lot on him during the process like there'd be a lot of like 3am text being like hey so when you say this like what what do you mean because a lot like what I what I quickly found out is that a lot of the Hokkien used in the show is like very period it's like very like poetic and like I would ask my mom and I would ask my uncles like like there would be like I would be sitting at the kitchen table and there'd be like I'd be like hey okay so listen to this recording what what are they saying and they'd be like I don't know because I think it's like it's from like a generation that's a little older than theirs and so like I remember Shang and I had this conversation about like how how do we like separate the Mandarin from the Japanese from the Taiwanese and like all of the lyrical content and at one point we were thinking that like because the Taiwanese was so poetic and so heightened that like we would want the Taiwanese to be heightened too but I think after I did a draft it was like no no no this is this is too much like let's take it back let's make it very colloquial that way like because I mean if you like think about it from the perspective of like Shang and like Lin like this is their like native language and so it should feel like the homeiest so like it was then a process of like dialing it back and trying to like make it feel more heartfelt and letting like the music heighten it you know to like leave space for the music which I thought was like real cool yeah yeah I gotta say like because I've been involved this tropical angel project since last year and I remember when Shang was mentioned like Shang and that's what they want to do the English version I was I remember talking to Shang like the lyrics is gonna be really hard because like you said the language is different the metaphor is different like in the show we have three different languages three or four different languages as a Taiwanese I don't really speak Hokkien I don't really speak Taiwanese the dialect and I think you did a great like wonderful job like a lot of the music the lyrics the lyrics because you translate into English the way like we understand the metaphor that we understand like what Shang tried to express in his music so just cool to that thank you so much and Shang if you want to say something about the lyrics lyrics I will pick back off of what Sobina just said quickly I do want to say and this is a compliment to Datze and Shang and you Emily that having directed pieces all over musically period pieces that sometimes with and I love opera but operas tend to get stuck in the song and then we don't tell the story we express an emotion for four minutes and then a lot of older musical theater does the same thing it's an idea and we're sitting in idea for a long time and what you guys were able to do was extend the scene in the song and that I understood that obviously through the English translation because I don't as you know but I'm sure that it exists too in the Mandarin production but I really loved and I'm sure Gabby could say something to this too is that like the songs continued the scenes and it not only expressed an emotion but allowed the conversation to continue and like that felt very much like contemporary American musical theater to me and I loved that and I'm sure that our audience that only speaks English was really able to live in the moment of the song because it was written this way the storytelling was presented as such so thank you for that because I love that I love directing the songs that it was where I really missed us being in the room because that's obviously we're all the blocking and all the amazing moments that we discovered after an actor come together because you guys did such a good job of telling the story within the song Shen do you want to talk a little bit about the lyrics writing the lyrics maybe even the first time in in Mandarin and now having to hear it in English this time yeah so again like big shout out to Emily so it's like the translator you can dream of like I barely have to change any melody like when I get the lyric from so let's just like excellent excellent work and also like I remember like the first song I got from Emily was Woman Tree and like so when I got when I got the lyrics like that was crying because like so it's both it's I think Chinese like in terms of languages poetic in general but it's like different poetry in Taiwanese or in Mandarin but I think like Emily got the essence of it like really really like throw off and like I just like we appreciate like how like a person can understand not only the language aspect but also cultural aspect of like the just the thing behind the language so yeah that's just great so thank you yes thank you thanks to both of you please yeah it was the music is the music is unreal seriously and I mean David you want to talk I mean you're the musical director too I don't know you've been looking on the show so long but speaking about the score specifically I just there are so many gorgeous melodies here and with the translation I just couldn't help but every time we worked on it and read it think like wow this song really does this thing here where like there where other shows especially new musical theater there's always that song we're like and this and this song is pretty but I constantly felt that you were giving me character development and it was so easy to direct and we had really smart actors and they asked a lot of great questions and I'm a teacher and then to direct and like have that back and forth it was just it was so intellectually stimulating it was very fulfilling Gabby do you want to say anything about singing the score or yeah I agree about the storytelling with the songs I yeah the characters are each in a different emotional place by the end of the song in the beginning which I think for me is a mark of really good storytelling when it comes to a blend of music and lyrics and narrative and yeah I like you said it that's more contemporary musical theater and I think you it was blended so perfectly being a a period piece as well like it's not a contemporary story yet it was told contemporarily you know but um so yeah it just I think it was just the perfect combination of everything it was like the perfect also Shen writes really well for the female voice there was some really beautiful amount yeah seriously as as a singer I was like wow that just sits in a place where it's supposed to sit so thank you yeah yeah no like unrealistically low notes or high notes that like someone who is who is male would be like oh yes it played it played to the colors of realistic yeah absolutely yes I just want to say like I really enjoy playing I Shen's music this is not my first time but every time I feel like I can figure like a new color from his music but some of the night I hate his music because I have to like you know keep recording over and over again just trying to like you know get it like to perfect but you know Shen you know how much I love you but I want to say like on his music it's like he doesn't really play the save card which I love it so you know throughout like the X1 and X2 you can you can hear like he really spent a lot of time in it for trying to use the chord try to use the different uh let's say different line voice line and different harmony to create like a conflict will create the dissonance to do the tension so I feel like when I play the music even without the singer I can feel like what he want to go like where does he want to go to tell the story so great job Shen absolutely I want to say to you that there's a this is a rare thing that we get to do together too that Sabina and I both we met in music school we both have several music degrees and constantly I was like Kamikaze feels like a Son Haimian piece and then there's another song that feels like Miss Saigon and just like there I I bet I could go through Shen's iPod and find the things the music that we both love and it's you're so smart because you're giving me your painting with with multiple colors right and I just for me musically like was just like oh wow this functions differently as this character and this melody is really appropriate for Charlene and when you reference the melodies that you sung earlier in the counterpoint like I could die like that is so beautiful when that last song where you bring our the second last one where you bring Lynn's theme back like I just like and I don't know if everyone in the audience like feels that moment but I just like I was like oh my god yes you like give me this motif in a new key and I'm thriving like it was is beautiful it's so smart and thank you thank you I'm so happy that so many people got to see it tonight that's we experience it and in a new language congratulations that's like it's unreal it's unreal um okay um we are very very lucky to have a man joining us who is the artistic director of musical theater factory thank you so much for being here with us um it's so nice to virtually meet you um and um I would love to talk to you a little bit about uh this was your first experience I think seeing profitable angels this evening um and I would love to talk a little bit about that and then also like I would love to know what your experiences can or musical theater factory experiences can with this realm of virtual theater how you guys are discovering or thriving um in this new era of our careers yeah thank you for having me um I mean what a massive endeavor right from the translation to the book um and on and and about such a rich time in history and the incredible struggles that all of these characters went through um and I think that I think that I'm sitting really actually with thinking about the comfort women I'm sitting with that reality I'm sitting with um the knowledge that they would often be kept and raped repeatedly throughout the day and night and I'm sitting with the fact of the way in which um I've seen pictures of the comfort women I've seen pictures of them and I'm wondering about the research in history that you all delved into when looking at those characters um and and and what um of their perspective you know uh I I love the lyric about being a tree I actually really really love that I think that's incredibly powerful and actually Shang I heard it in in Mandarin I remember I was at that concert and how beautifully it translated but I think that's the big question that I'm asking right now after having seen it is the rendition of that scene of the women with makeup you know that that sort of that sort of like look at that when I think the reality was quite different yeah I think that's that's a wonderful point there was a very there was a conversation about uh this this topic and this is a there's a little knowledge of what this looked like and how this actually functions um and uh in the script that we received there's only really this one scene and it's it's a very quick and feels almost like it's not a main part of the story but it's obviously Shaolin's entire experience like having done the research with Mushi who has really provided us a lot of things that I truly did not know and having seen pieces about comfort women and just even like American knowledge of what that means and that it's not just a geisha makeup and beautiful dresses that what their lifestyle was like I didn't realize that these women were taken so far too that there was incredibly far away from Taiwan it's not even near Japan like I really didn't understand how long they had traveled been put on boats who survived who didn't survive they get there they were put in jail and then it was their time to come to the brothel to be trained and be raped repeatedly I mean it just there is there's so much there there's another story there right it's like we were telling we're telling Lin's flashback story and Shaolin is part of this story but she has her own story here and it's the entire culture of comfort women and we only get this one glimpse of it which it's one of my favorite songs in the show but it does it does feel a little like presenting it didn't feel like there was this darkness of realism in that song it's almost an upbeat song about a really horrible thing right and I think that's an interesting we talked about that too that that was a really interesting choice to have the song be almost da da da da da da da and it's like what's happening what are we really what is she really saying to her right do you want to right another thing like now this is hard because we're doing virtually so like we definitely try our best to like try to send the message or try to let people understand like what she's being through like she has no choice even though at the end of the song she has to look pretty and put up makeup but that's not her choice she probably has to do that to survive that period so I think this is a very interesting topic like the thing in the further like production what will definitely like deep into that like how do we tell the story right how do we let people understand that part of the history still for some people still carry on in their lives maybe it's not first you know maybe it's there like second or third generation but this is the history so I think this is definitely the very interesting topic we should yeah I think part of that I think that number is incredibly scary and I think that if it was if we were able to do it in person even it being very well lit and being maybe two in your face about what's actually happening to this character I mean Gabby we you know we had figured out a way for you to show us what her small transition was in a zoom movie montage of three minutes to music right but like having even just like still what we did the strip show or the having being dirty and then being put into it's still so presentational it's still so put on it's not even close to what this woman's real experience would have been or was I totally hear you man I think that's a real takeaway and I think that that conversation needs to continue with the team and whoever moves forward with the piece because I think that that moment can be even more influential if it's lives in this place of realism and harshness even with the song being well up tempo I think it actually makes it scarier yes and I think I know that's like not the intention I think during Taiwan and they did research about the company woman I think you guys went to the museum or like you know you guys want to share a little bit about that yeah so for the show itself like I would say we kind of save all that realism into act to actually so we will get a four point of view from the mobile like once she's becoming a comfort woman and second we actually just wrote a song about like her whole experience which is more like in a realism way yeah so we kind of won that contrast right now for like act when I act too so yeah if I enter any question that's really interesting and I think it's also important to really understand their realities and that they weren't needing to put on lipstick the men did not care yeah this is a situation where the men did not care and follow that up with the next scene where she has Lynn come by and it's all about taking care of him the woman's the woman has just you know been put into a really horrific situation you know and she has lipstick on I just I'm just really aware of the fact that like there's such care taken with the male characters and what the men are going through and like you know I love the queer thread that runs through it I think that that's really powerful and I'm just excited about how you really look deeply into the woman's reality and and you know that doesn't mean that you can't have a take on it you know and a ferocity to it but making them as a meeting to learn to seduce is actually far from history I thank you so much for that thank you this is a conversation that was not able to be had in the depth that it deserved and partially because putting up a virtual production in three and a half weeks was an experience in itself but this was something that I had read the script and I had questions about and didn't feel I knew enough about Mushi and I had spoken and then Gabby actress I needed to take care of her and what would be comfortable for her and how to be presented it was it created a certain narrative and track for us to complete the production but I truly love that you are saying this because I think that this is the conversation that if I could back this this is the conversation to be had moving forward and I do agree that scene seven comes in a tone very quickly right after that song I do agree with that I did want to because you just said it man it was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about one of my favorite parts of the show is this queer Asian narrative this story that happened 80 years ago and this like closeted experience and there's a backstory of Matsunaga that like I had to speak to the writers about to really get because I don't think it was it was given enough to us in the show for the audience to really take a hold of and moving forward I would love to discover that moment but what that is that narrative that narrative exists in the novel Matsunaga's infatuation for Lin you know yeah so there's some clues in the original novel but like so late so during the time period Japanese army didn't actually like state it as like gay love or queer love they just like have a lot of like intimacy between soldiers during the occupation periods so yeah so we kind of just took it and then expanded like more so Matsunaga actually had a secret lover which we will give away in the second hand as well so yeah so we kind of just wanted to take it like so it's like his own repression of his affection or male or his secret lover or Lin and kind of we want to kind of like weave it into with the false religion about his patronism so to say yeah it's why we love this novel so much because it's very rich it's combined combined many many issues in it like comfort women and like like gay things in the army and the war and the struggle the struggle in the war so we it is a huge story so we just saw a lot of like contemporary topics so to say in the original novel and we want to expand them as much as possible in this show yeah I also like this one like I love this I love this I love ability to go deep in history and I'm excited about the queer thread that runs through it and that the that gayness is not about predatory action and what might actually be under longing and desire in the construct of power right because he has so much power with Lin that desire when you attach it to power becomes predatory and so like how complex is that how powerful all of those layers in this world I just think there's so much potential it's one of my favorite parts of the story and it was the most interesting working with the actor Tao who played Matsunaga and the actor Matias who played Lin and discovering that and obviously the script adapting in the English translation and like where was the line like where was too forward and what was not forward enough for us to discover in their six or seven lines that there was this tone or there was this and obviously in the room if the actors were able to make eye contact with one another in a room or we were able to discover blocking in that regards there's so many ways to just give the audience a little more of an idea of what we're trying to present and on zoom it was just really interesting and every zoom rehearsal is the same as what we had recorded in the structure of how we worked and it was just so interesting to see the actors really think and really engage and like try to imagine being in this situation where there is this power struggle right and that eliminating that idea that queerness doesn't have to come from this I dominate and you are dominated by like I think that that you wrote you wrote a beautiful opera there's so themes here it's so extreme the stakes are so high there are melodies I mean it's it's just thrilling and I think that for me that was one of the I know that the for me mouse in August character is just like one of the best parts of working on the show is really trying to for me to for me he was the most far removed so it's the most interesting to try to understand and like that was really thrilling for town and I to collaborate on that great thank you for that I love that we you got there man I appreciate that and then we actually have a question from one of our audience members so Mark asked what do you feel the full production says about Taiwan's very complex and unique history and culture about Taiwanese people so this might be more maybe for the writers or the team members that are here in Taiwan so what do you feel the full production says about Taiwan's very complex and unique history and culture about Taiwanese people right so I think the whole story likes we just talk about like a lot of topics included in the story but I think most of all like what we as writers want to get away from this story is identity because that's the topic or issue that Taiwanese people constantly facing like forever I would say so yeah so we just so like the whole Taiwanese history is like the endless colonization so like if you want to put it that way it's like either from China and then by Japan for 50 years and then after that China again and like even now we are still searching for our like real identity yeah so and I think for now it's like the basic the core value for Taiwanese people I would say is freedom and democracy right now and like so I think that's also why we we're trying to pull this story either on stage or on screen in this in this moment it's like we just um how to say this um yeah so we kind of want to use our freedom to pull this like so there's a lot of taboo topics in the story so they either come from women or like like even Taiwan perhaps same sex marriage right now but we're still like fighting for LGBTQ rights forever I would say but so I think we kind of want to use our freedom to tell this story and in this process also at the same time figuring out like what our true identity is and I don't think this is like we have a conclusion yet but like this is just a walking process where it's like keep fighting with yes and I just want to echo a little bit it's like Taiwan has a very rich culture and very rich history but then even though the story of the show is held in 1940 in the way it's kind of similar to like this day 2020 because Taiwan is the place that we constantly still face the international struggle we still try to figure out like where what are we like a lot of people like my friend like now I live in New York it's been eight years um a lot of friends that they don't know where is Taiwan they still confuse about Taiwan and Thailand they still confuse like Taiwan and China which is say as a Taiwanese like I feel like I really want to let people who I love so much here in the States understand like that's my hometown that's my country and that's that will be forever my home so I think like this is a great question I think in this show talking about like identity struggle talking about like you know the characters confused about like Japanese or Taiwanese in a way sometimes we feel the same way too so I think this will be the open conversation in the the in the production in the future of production we'll try to figure out like how do we tell the story and let more people understand our land you know respect our history and then what can we do to make that beautiful land better and let people to recognize us more in the in internationally in the world so yeah that's beautiful yes please I just want to like add something like to Shan's and Sabina's points yeah because this as we although we just like have a bit of the the whole production today we only see the we only saw the act one but actually and act one like touch very a little even on Taiwan the colony history of being colonized by Japan even just a little bit but I think it's interesting that actually the intersection or like the encounter of Lai Sha Ling and also Ling Yiping in this kind of like the South Pacific area in this in Timor this island actually it kind of reflects the complexity and also the diversity of this kind of like a culture and also the history that all come into Chinese society because we also we have kind of like indigenous people different tribes who has like cultural relations actually with the those islanders Pacific Islanders and also we have got some like Chinese cultures and like Japanese culture a lot of them like just they are all like integrated in Taiwanese culture so I think it's kind of like an interesting comparison also a reflection and also I recall the one moment I worked with David on this context research and David just like you asked me like why Sha Ling and Ling Yiping they share kind of like a same dialect right? Yeah and just like it was so complicated and it was so difficult to actually give a very clear explanation about like Sha Ling's origin maybe from maybe from like early immigrants from like the south China like to the south Pacific and also like there is some early immigrants from China to Taiwan 100 years ago so it makes some like the Hokkien just like diverge into like different kinds of dialect use by different people in different places and especially different regions in Asia so I think it's kind of like really like mind-blowing and amazing to see this script and this musical reflects this kind of like complexity Yes, thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you Mark for this question. I think this conversation is so important and so inspiring to people in America here who don't know enough about the actual history of this war and the experience of these people I think when she kind of backed what I said before is that when the pieces in English there's this real moment that we're missing here this like rarity that these two people from different parts of Taiwan would be able to hear one another in this dialect, right? What a moment when I was able that was really explained to me in a way I was like whoa that moment, that breath you take when you hear that language you haven't heard in months because you've been taken from your land and then to be like I was like how will they understand this, right? And I think the game of this show will be languages, right? Like how can if it's here for an American audience or an English language audience how will they understand these and what it means to hear Hokie and being spoke in Timor Thank you Mark for this question. Thank you for everyone. That was incredible and for an American audience to hear Taiwanese people speak about that. I think that that is incredibly empowering. Thank you. We have another question which is a very funny process but people are asking what the casting process was like for this experience and so well we basically we basically put out an ad on Playbill we worked with the writers and we tried to determine I also had to cast the show before I read the play which was a very unique experience so we had a small cuts of songs we had about 32 bars of I think like 5 songs Yes. Something like 5 songs and so for 32 bars they knew exactly what was going on and what we needed and that was a very unique experience. I usually have read the play many times or know the score by heart and not being in the room with them. They were all pre-recorded auditions I have done my fair share of zoom auditions at this point in the process which is different than pre-recorded moving forward I would absolutely do zoom auditions at this point in the process so that there's a little more interaction and we could possibly direct or get notes in that experience because it was just like two or three videos of their best take. Gabby do you want to talk a little bit about what your audition experience was like? Yeah so it was really interesting to originate this role because usually in musicals I have something I've listened to or I have some basis for how it's supposed to be. In the story I didn't like you I hadn't read anything so it was really interesting to start from ground zero and to have nothing to work off of and to literally create this role and create we worked with you know Sabina and I worked with the dynamics obviously and worked with the breathing and where do I breathe and the storytelling but in terms of the through line of the meat of it and I just I'd never done that before and it was so also I grew up in musical theater kids know inside and out so that was like really interesting to genuinely have nothing to work with and to only use my creativity and it was so it was just so fun to piece it together in that way yeah and you could really not like I couldn't do any wrong I could very well do wrong but it was very freeing it was very freeing to really have like everything be my playground when it came to creating it and how I wanted it to sound and be for the audition yeah I think that was for me at least in our collaborations to that that was felt like the through line because I didn't always know what I was looking for either and so I couldn't have been more encouraging to be like yeah what if why not let's go we're still on zoom like and just having you do it 17 different ways where we're like what felt the most effective or what was the most powerful or like you're like I felt this and I was like great that's what I was waiting for you know like and that that was really cool because it was new for both of us and look Gabby and I have been fortunate enough to work together before on a show that we everyone knows too well so walking into the room we're doing this show right and so like this was an incredibly unique experience to like not have that and to not and both not be native speakers of the original that was really that was really cool for me as Gabby and I being English speakers um yes yeah and I think like we're very fortunate like we're very lucky we had amazing amazing cast especially like this is the original musical pieces and then we are trying our best to do virtually and and I gotta say it's like it's being a journey yes it's absolutely a journey that was for me and David uh but yes uh to answer the questions the casting process it's like like you just said uh they also made their videos and then we have call backs and we really don't have a lot of material ready so we are very grateful like we absolutely cast like the best people absolutely we were very lucky and we were very fortunate to have many people apply we watched many videos right and many people were incredibly talented we just you know looking at it and looking at uh who they play against it was if they made the most sense there I will tell you that the biggest shock of that casting experience is that we found an incredibly beautiful talented 11 year old boy yes to play Kuru he was unreal and what a professional that that that child that human is to work with it was always yes and how I was lucky enough to have uh two in person rehearsals with him socially distant uh rehearsals with him and that that I'm just so taken with that human and what he was able to bring to that role I know that that role traditionally has not been played by a child before too so it was not something I was looking for because I didn't think it was something that we could manage also uh his mother Aki thank you so much thank you thank you thank you you are a professional you're an angel thank you um and to be able to uh the team to uh trust us to bring on sobina and I are both educators so it was just like it was so full circle it was fulfilling I was crying in my mask in rehearsals watching this little boy discover moments and like really be the first person to sing these words out loud and like be this character that like we just have to care about so intensely that was for me in the casting process we found I love all eight of you but Kaden touched my heart for sure um I think we have like one big question that seems to be coming up um from our live audience and thank you everyone who's joining us and watching and uh participating um and this is a conversation that um I would love to hear from any and all of you I'd love a man for you to tell me your experience and uh musical theater factory but what do we feel now being a couple of months into this new um expression of theater uh this new venue lane of virtual theater where do we feel that we are going or what do we see as the future of virtual theater um here in the states if anyone feels that they have something to say yes please man sure I'll speak to that um I will say that I'm currently also in a process that is uh global where we have people from Taiwan Hong Kong Chicago San Francisco and such an international crew as well you know like there's so many of us from Singapore but people from China just everywhere and I would say that it's it's such a thrilling thing because the piece is about revolution and you know your piece is about so many incredible themes and what does it mean that we are actually able to work globally about these themes in time and space that is like no longer a border right because we usually have that as a border so I'm excited about the discourse that's possible between uh people all over the world that we never thought we could have access to and so I think there's there's something about access in the the discussions that can happen and I think that there are some people that are doing amazing things in the form um and sure it's sort of like live video theater it's video art in a way um and and there you know we certainly are overcoming that I do not think it will replace theater um I don't think we want it to um but I think that it is a way in which we're finding how to connect more uh widely and in some cases deeply I mean you were actually in my living room and I am in yours in some way when else would that have been able to happen I'm looking at like Emily's wall you know which I want to know about all the musicals she's writing about right there right and all of a sudden here we are so I think um that's I think that's pretty beautiful and and I think it's um I hope the connection continues and I also hope we get to experience uh song and and story in person and uh again as well thank you for that yes uh thank you for that I think that that that is so real too I mean like even just us being able to collaborate with these actors in uh Los Angeles and me meeting all of these incredible humans uh in Taiwan like when would this have occurred right at this piece would I would have never have been fortunate enough to have crossed paths with these people and this piece um Sobine and also and I in virtual land we've taught a full uh educational curriculum uh virtually this summer and like working with children in Chicago and working with children in Texas and I was just like this is unreal like I would never get to meet you we would never get this moment of like you crying through part of your world at 12 years old you know I mean like and now I'm like you've touched you've changed me you know I'm like I would never get to teach this human you know so like that this it does open up all these opportunities it feels like we were so limited when theater I also work in Broadway and so when everything shut down it was like and now I do so like it's you know like so this now this new lane has created all of this community yeah for sure um uh does anyone else want to say something in virtual yeah Gabby please um yeah something also about virtual theater that I hadn't thought about before is is how much more accessible it is um because I that's one thing that kind of really started to turn me off a lot from especially Broadway just how much the people who can actually get into the theater you have to have a certain amount of money and so this is free and you can watch this from your bedroom on anyone from any like walk of life can just tune in um and I think that that's so beautiful because that is the point for me a theater it's to to to be shown to people who need it not people who just want to go to the theater to have something to talk about at dinner you know and it's that's what I think it's become so and also I think the stories we're telling now are much more urgent and instead of having you know a season that we have the theater company has to fulfill it's more of we put things on hold and it's it's no like this is so inconvenient that the stories that we choose to put on are ones that we really want to and that we need to it's not it's not oh here's another cabaret like here's another like mama mia like it's very much like wow like we need to tell these original stories and and I just yeah I'm this is something I hadn't thought about since before March and I think this is something I would personally love to continue in some way shape or form some some parts I really miss obviously but yeah I it's something I hadn't thought about before March really yeah Gabby and man both said it and I'm sitting here and I'm like wow there are people on Facebook like watching the show now like that's insane that's amazing like how many people can afford to go see Aladdin on Broadway right and then now we're giving you a story that like you didn't know you needed to hear or experience and it's not my own story and so much is relatable and I care about these characters and I'm able to do it sitting on my I mean I wouldn't be in this jacket right but I would be sitting on my couch watching the story sobbing and how accessible and what an incredible opportunity that's being provided to not only the artists who create and collaborate but now for the audience who have a tangible relation to the material yeah it's that in itself is incredibly insightful and inspiring in this realm of virtual theater I'm being asked before I let everyone go and enjoy the rest of their evening to have Datsun Shen speak a little bit about the future of tropical angels for me it's a very special experience to watch our our works transform into English especially online it's so welcome and inspire me a lot we wish this really English reading online is just the beginning that we can continue to develop the the musical tropical angels both in Mandarin version and English version yeah so for tropical angels right now we have a full draft but we are still like working on it and revise it on the daily basis I would say and we are going to have a full reading stage reading in Chinese and Taiwanese in Taichung, Taiwan at the end of this year and then this will go into production next year in July and I think after that I will also like if everyone is on board like I will also absolutely love it if we can keep working on English draft after the whole Chinese and Taiwanese draft is done yeah I can't wait to find out what happens I can't wait to find out what app 2 is I'm so humbled and so honored to have been part of this piece and truly to just be here tonight with all of you I'm so impressed by all of you and I cannot thank you enough for what you have provided me and our team and how you supported this cast through this very unique process and I will say that I am proud of what we were able to do and I am proud to know you and have you be some part of what makes me feel as a person and an artist so thank you thank all of you yes and I just want to say I know most of our cast is watching right now thank you so much it's incredible how much work and effort you put for this piece I know David and I will be calling you texting you give me another take give me another recording and then you guys did a wonderful wonderful job this show this is without you guys so thank you for the bottom of my heart thank you the cast and the production team and all of this our friends in Taiwan and thanks to our videographer and he's also in Taiwan thank you so much thank you Mushi, thank you Emily, thank you Gabby thank you Mayen, thank you Datsa thank you Shen, thank you to our producer Yuxian Lu and Chi-Ping Yan thank you to our incredible videographer who made a great show during this process thank you so much to Cedric Chao Yali and thank you to Jackie Spaventa our woman behind the curtain our tech supervisor for this evening you've been a star, thank you so much thank you friends, thank you to everyone watching at home I hope that you enjoyed Tropical Angels and I hope that you will keep after us on this journey and what our next move is and if you're in Taiwan in July please come see Tropical Angels thank you guys, thank you to Taipei Cultural Center thank you, good night friends thank you