The Truer History of the Chan Family is a rollicking new vaudeville about the impact of America’s legacy of anti-Asian legislation and sex trafficking on three generations of the playwright’s Chinese American family. Chan layers original material with actual family documents to explore the world Chan's Grandfather and great-uncle knew - and made - one of high hopes and hard choices.
We made the pivot -- Truer History is going virtual in 2021!
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ECTP is turning Truer History into a virtual vaudeville that will be streamed free-to-the-community! Think Zoom, TikTok, Insta and your favorite apps turned upside down to capture the hijinx of the Chan Family as they struggle to achieve their version of the American Dream Directed by Mei Ann Teo, theater & film director and artistic director of The Music Theater Factory in New York City Starring: Nicole Apostol Bruno*, Keiko Shimosato Carreiro*, Will Dao*, Benjamin Pither*, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Ogie Zulueta*, erhu musician Alan Yip Music direction by Matthew Grandy Visual & scenic design by Randy Wong-Westbrooke Chinese supertitles by Xingying |
L-R: Matt Grandy, Keiko Shimosato Carreiro*, Chuck Lacson
Making music at the San Francisco Mime Troupe in February 2020.
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Truer History at the Chinese Historical Society of America ...
Alan Yip amazes on the erhu.
(L-R: Keiko Shimosato Carreiro*, Nicole Apostol Bruno*, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart. Seated: Will Dao*, Shauna Satnick)
Big Mama, a Working Girl and Eugenie celebrate finding a clean, well-lighted place for Eugenie to write her Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
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(L-R: Alan Yip, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Rob Dario)
Eugenie (the character in the vaudeville) yearns to be a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
(L-R: Ogie Zulueta*, Rob Dario, Will Dao*)
The men, including Big Daddy, his son Gumdock Chan (the and a blood brother, tell it like it is about duty and honor in the Hip Yee Tong.
Truer History's Mailing ListIf you'd like to be on our mailing list, contact us. We'll let you know when you can reserve tickets for Truer History's premiere.
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Breaking news: December 14, 2019. We changed the title of Chan Family Picnic to...THE TRUER HISTORY OF THE CHAN FAMILY! During our developmental work for our December reading, we realized the story was about the battle between whose family history is truer -- the one told by my grandfather Gumdock or the playwright Eugenie, the two emcees of the show.
Finally, The Truer History of the Chan Family ... the Reading!
A New Vaudeville by Byron Au Yong and Eugenie Chan
Music: Byron Au Yong
Lyrics, Book & Story: Eugenie Chan
Music: Byron Au Yong
Lyrics, Book & Story: Eugenie Chan
The Kwangtung Quartet with Thomas Chan, my great uncle, circa 1920s. Photo courtesy of Camille Wing and Family.
The Truer History of the Chan Family
Directed by Annie Elias
Music Director: Jonathan Erman
Saturday, December 14, 2019
1 pm
Chinese Historical Society of America Museum
965 Clay Street
San Francisco CA 94108
Free admission, but seating is limited.
Click here to reserve.
With Nicole Apostol Bruno*, Will Dao*, Rob Dario, Keiko Shimosato Carreiro*, Benjamin Pither*, Shauna Satnick, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Ogie Zulueta*, musicians Alan Yip and Jonathan Erman. Stage managed by Eteya Trinidad.
*member Actors Equity Association
Directed by Annie Elias
Music Director: Jonathan Erman
Saturday, December 14, 2019
1 pm
Chinese Historical Society of America Museum
965 Clay Street
San Francisco CA 94108
Free admission, but seating is limited.
Click here to reserve.
With Nicole Apostol Bruno*, Will Dao*, Rob Dario, Keiko Shimosato Carreiro*, Benjamin Pither*, Shauna Satnick, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Ogie Zulueta*, musicians Alan Yip and Jonathan Erman. Stage managed by Eteya Trinidad.
*member Actors Equity Association
This reading is supported with the generous contributions from the RHE Charitable Foundation and individual donors.
Chan Family Picnic was developed with the support of New Dramatists, the Ground Floor, Arts Montalvo, the Catwalk Residency and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
Chan Family Picnic was developed with the support of New Dramatists, the Ground Floor, Arts Montalvo, the Catwalk Residency and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
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A week in July 2018:
Working on Chan Family Picnic in a sublime studio courtesy of Arts Montalvo and composer Byron Au Yong. I'm trying to be a nutty vaudevillian, without the nutty vaudevillians. It's very difficult -- gimme the nuts now! |
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Check out these nutty vaudevillians at the Ground Floor!
(Bonnie Akimoto, Taylor Steinbeck, Eugenie, Lisa Hori-Garcia, Byron Au Yong, Pauli Amornkul, Dustin Chinn, Steven Ko, Lily Tung Crystal, Marcelo Pereira, Benjamin Pither, and Monica Ho overwhelm musician Wes Asakawa holding a "licorice stick.")
July 4 - 16, 2017: At Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor. Eugenie, composer Byron Au Yong, musician Wes Asakawa, and the amazing team of performers Pauli Amornkul, Marcelo Pereira, Monica Ho, Dustin Chinn, Lily Tung Crystal, and Bonnie Akimoto try out some singing, dancing, hamming and huddling together to begin to make a vaudeville. And this is only the beginning! Stay tuned.
(L-R: Pauli Amornkul, Marcelo Pereira, Monica Ho, Dustin Chinn, Lily Tung Crystal, and Bonnie Akimoto heed Byron Au Yong's musical direction in the Great Hall rehearsal room at Berkeley Rep.
December 13, 2016: Chan Family Picnic rises! Since the reading of 19 Wentworth, 've made some important discoveries about my grandfather Gumdock Chan's medical school letters and documents from the 1920's and about the story. The piece has become even more personal, I'm adding another storyline that probes the impact of trafficking on another member of the Chan family, in addition to Gumdock -- his granddaughter, me. I'm changing things up, starting anew, and the work is gonna be a full fledged vaudeville -- Chan Family Picnic, being created with an ensemble of Bay Area artists, like Lisa Hori-Garcia, Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, Bonnie Akimoto, Lily Tung Crystal, and more, AND longtime collaborator, the sublime composer Byron Au Yong.
Gumdock's mistress (Beverly Sotelo) gets down as Gumdock (Arthur Keng) eggs her on and his mother (Bonnie Akimoto), Working Girl (Lily Tung Crystal), a reporter (John Patrick Moore) look on, while Eugenie (Lisa Hori-Garcia) tries to make herself scarce.
December 14, 2015, Z Below, San Francisco: Reading of 19 Wentworth Alley, Chinatown, precursor to Chan Family Picnic. I wrote 19 Wentworth from the improvs and exploratory moments performers and I devised in the Bay Area and New York's New Dramatists. I got to work with amazing artists on both coasts.
(With Arthur Keng as Gumdock, Lisa Hori-Garcia as Eugenie, Bonnie Akimoto as Gumdock's Mother, John Patrick Moore as Gumdock's Father, Monica Ho as Gumdock's wife Susie Sue, Beverly Sotelo as his Mistress, Jomar Tagatac as his son Hale, and Lily Tung Crystal as the Working Girl. Wes Asakawa accompanies on clarinet.)
(With Arthur Keng as Gumdock, Lisa Hori-Garcia as Eugenie, Bonnie Akimoto as Gumdock's Mother, John Patrick Moore as Gumdock's Father, Monica Ho as Gumdock's wife Susie Sue, Beverly Sotelo as his Mistress, Jomar Tagatac as his son Hale, and Lily Tung Crystal as the Working Girl. Wes Asakawa accompanies on clarinet.)
New Play Reading19 Wentworth Alley, ChinatownDecember 14, 2015. 7 pmZ Below, San FranciscoDrawing on the history of her grandfather, a man caught between his studies as a Stanford medical student and his membership in a Chinatown gambling and prostitution guild in early 1900s San Francisco, Eugenie Chan layers original material with fragments of actual family documents to explore the world Chan’s Grandfather knew — and made — one of high hopes and hard choices.
Why I Wrote this Play: Most of what we know about the Chinese in America — which is very little — examines our history as typologies of railroad workers, laundry men, or high tech wunderkind. We are either laborers, crooks, or flawless geniuses. But we never get to look at the people like my grandfather who were betwixt & between, the people beyond the typology. Gumdock Chan carried the unusual burden of both privileged and constricted circumstance. A Stanford grad and the son of a madam at a time when Chinese were intensely discriminated against, how did he make his way in the world? How did he reconcile his family’s past, his future? |
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Play by Eugenie Chan
Directed by Jessica Heidt
Dramaturgy by Laura Brueckner
With Bonnie Akimoto, Lily Tung Crystal, Monica Ho, Lisa Hori-Garcia, Arthur Keng,
John Patrick Moore, Beverly Sotelo, Jomar Tagatac
and clarinetist Wes Asakawa
Z Below
Monday, December 14, 2015
7 pm
$10 suggested donation to Z Below (but absolutely no one turned away at the door)
470 Florida St between 17th & and Mariposa
San Francisco CA 94110
Tickets: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10047647
Info: eugenieplays@gmail.com
Directed by Jessica Heidt
Dramaturgy by Laura Brueckner
With Bonnie Akimoto, Lily Tung Crystal, Monica Ho, Lisa Hori-Garcia, Arthur Keng,
John Patrick Moore, Beverly Sotelo, Jomar Tagatac
and clarinetist Wes Asakawa
Z Below
Monday, December 14, 2015
7 pm
$10 suggested donation to Z Below (but absolutely no one turned away at the door)
470 Florida St between 17th & and Mariposa
San Francisco CA 94110
Tickets: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10047647
Info: eugenieplays@gmail.com
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19 Wentworth Alley, Chinatown benefited from a week-long residency at New Dramatists.
December 2014, Crowded Fire, San Francisco: Lisa Hori-Garcia, Beverly Sotelo, Ogie Zulueta, Rami Margron, and Lawrence Raedecker high-stepping it in fragments of what will become 19 Wentworth Alley, Chinatown. Check out these acting hams! Love them.
December 1, 1925. Where It All Begins: My Grandfather's Medical School Homework
