June 21, 2023
YANGTZE REP ANNOUNCES SECOND COHORT OF PROJECT YZ RESIDENT ARTISTS, SHIFTING FOCUS TO SUPPORT ARTISTIC JOURNEY
Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin and David Lee Huynh Awarded $10K Residencies
Yangtze Repertory Theatre, a 30-year-old company dedicated to producing new work and bold reimaginations of classics that allow audiences to see the world through a contemporary Chinese lens, is proud to announce the newest members of Project YZ, the company’s AAPI Artist Residency program. Launched in 2022, the goal of Project YZ is to support and build an artistic home for AAPI immigrant artists. The 2023 recipients, who will each receive $10,000 in support over one year, are playwright Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin and writer and performer David Lee Huynh.
Chongren Fan, Artistic Director of Yangtze Rep, remarked, “With an acute awareness of what is missing in American mainstream theater, Yangtze Rep is uniquely positioned to support resident artists embarking on their artistic journeys. We are so glad that Kaela and David will be joining Project YZ’s ever-growing cohort of artists.”
Playwright Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin will use their residency to develop Chinatown Burlesque (working title), an experimental full-length theatrical work centering San Francisco’s Chinatown clubs around the 1950s and 1960s. The play will examine intersections of race and performed gender, especially in Asian American femmes, and will investigate the era’s Midcentury Orientalist aesthetics, initially born out of segregationist policies.
Garvin commented, “I'm incredibly moved to have Yangtze Rep supporting this project about Chinese American women in San Francisco’s Bay Area, where I was born and raised. AAPI organizations backing work by and about AAPI communities is vital -- it helps center our voices in the creation of our stories, so I'm thrilled and grateful to be a part of Project YZ.”
Writer and performer David Lee Huynh will spend his year with Yangtze Rep creating a one person show exploring the effect French colonialism had on his maternal family, how the fight for independence influenced his grandfather's decision to flee Vietnam, and the ensuing butterfly effect.
Huynh said, “Actors are itinerant - we have to keep a thick skin as we audition and jump from job to job to job, sometimes from city to city to city. It's rare for us to feel at home in any one place and I'm grateful and honored that Yangtze Rep has offered me a place to learn, experiment, and create on my own terms.”
Project YZ is Yangtze Rep’s first residency program. Now in its second year, Project YZ is focused on supporting the artistic journey of each resident artist with a process that values open dialogue, honest conversation, and bold endeavors. The goal is to create a sense of belonging through artistic discovery. Each resident artist will receive a grant of $10,000 ($5,000 unrestricted, $5,000 for professional development). During the one-year residency, Yangtze Rep will connect Project YZ artists with other collaborators, offer research support, and facilitate interviews and focus groups. Dramaturgical development and discussion with Yangtze’s artistic staff will take place throughout the residency.
The inaugural Project YZ artists were director Rui Dun and playwrights Yilong Liu and Minghao Tu.
About the Artists
Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin (they/she) is a writer, performer, educator, and new work advocate. Kaela's plays include Call Out Culture (2022 O'Neill NPC Finalist, 2021 NADIA Festival, 2019 Ars Nova’s ANTFest), High School Coven (2023 Strand Theatre Baltimore Production, 2017 Corkscrew Festival), Harpers Ferry 2019 (2022 Know Theatre of Cincinnati production, 2021 Kendeda finalist), Tiger Beat (2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 2021 Seven Devils Conference finalist), and The Well-Tempered Clavier (2020 BAPF finalist, 2019 Paul Stephen Lim Award.) Kaela has received six Kennedy Center awards and has developed work with the Alliance Theater, Gingold Theatrical Group, Exquisite Corpse Company, The Road’s Under Construction Lab, the Coop’s Clusterf*ck, Playground-NY, and Pipeline Theater Company’s Playlab. Commissions include work with EST/Sloan, Montana Repertory Theater, Luna Stage, and College of the Holy Cross. Garvin is the Tank’s 2022 & 2023 Pridefest curator and a founding member of Undiscovered Countries, a Brooklyn-based incubator of new interdisciplinary art. They worked on staff at the Sewanee Writers Conference and as the BAPF Season 45 Play Selection Advisor at the Playwrights Foundation. Kaela has taught playwriting at Cornish College of the Arts, Freehold Theatre, and Indiana University. They currently work as the Programming Associate for the Tank NYC and the Literary Manager for Luna Stage in New Jersey. www.kaelameishinggarvin.com
David Lee Huynh is a first-generation Việt-American artist based in New York City. His Off-Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed six hour revival of Shakespeare's Henry VI (NAATCO), Once Upon A (korean) Time (Ma-Yi Theatre Company), The Merchant of Venice (Theatre for a New Audience/Shakespeare Theatre), No-No Boy and The Emperor’s Nightingale (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre). His television/film credits include starring in the official Dungeon and Dragon actual play series 𝘌𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺, Blue Bloods, FBI, Solitary, and Children of the Dust. His voiceover career includes credits on "Star Wars: The Battle of Jedha", "Minecraft: The Shipwreck", and Tom Hanks' debut novel "The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece." TEDx Speaker: “Asian Enough?” Founding member of The Sống Collective, an organization devoted to the artistic growth and development of the Việt diaspora in America. MFA: University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program www.davidleehuynh.com
Press Contact: John Wyszniewski, Everyman Agency: hello@everymanagency.com