East Side Story
10 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 24 ratingsEach week, Cheeyang sits down with an Asian or Asian-American artist working in the New York Theatre scene and excavates their life story — how they grew up, how they got their start in theatre, as well as projects they've worked on and upcoming work that we should anticipate.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
7: Arpita Mukherjee // Decolonization
October 14, 2019 16:30 - 1 hourArtistic Director of Hypokrit Theatre Company, an O'Neill and Lincoln Center Directing Fellow, Women's Project Lab (Director), Arpita's resume is endless. I have the extreme pleasure of working with Arpita on my musical, The Golden Threshold, and we sat down to dig deep into her story of coming to America, living in New York and how she's flourishing as a South Asian director. Our conversation veered into imagining what the world would be like if no country had been colonized. That's a play I...
6: Eddy Lee // Being Hamilton (Part 2)
October 07, 2019 11:00 - 36 minutesIn just a month, we've surpassed 1000 downloads of our podcast. Thank you for supporting this endeavor! Back to regularly scheduled programming, Part 2 uncovers Eddy's experience being Asian, my philosophy of conversation vs. confrontation, his time at Hamilton and more. Eddy is not only a light on and off stage, he's also one of the nicest humans in New York City. I'm glad to get the opportunity to sit down with him and engage in thoughtful discussion about his life. Full transcript availa...
5: Eddy Lee // Being Hamilton (Part 1)
September 30, 2019 10:00 - 43 minutesMaking his Broadway debut through auditions in open calls without an agent, Eddy Lee is the success story everyone should know. Since the interview is a little longer than usual, I have split up the episode in two. Part 1 delves into Eddy's life growing up, how he feels like he has three mothers (his mother, his sister and grandmother who all raised him), to pursuing his passion in performing, to booking Hamilton. Eddy is not only a light on and off stage, he's also one of the nicest human...
Bonus 2: Meetu Chilana & Sorab Wadia // Be Human
September 23, 2019 10:00 - 36 minutesWe're up in Salem, CT doing a workshop of my new musical, The Golden Threshold. Since episodes are being delayed, here's another bonus episode with some of the cast, Meetu Chilana and Sorab Wadia. Full transcript will be available soon. IG: @eastsidestorypod / @cheeyangmusic / @meetuchilana / @sorabwadia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bonus 1: Kimberly Chatterjee, Jamen Nanthakumar & Kuhoo Verma // Not Cultural Consultants
September 16, 2019 10:00 - 21 minutesWe're up in Salem, CT doing a workshop of my new musical, The Golden Threshold. And since episodes are being delayed, here's a bonus episode with not one, but three cast members of the musical. Kuhoo Verma, who appeared in the first episode of the series, returns with Kimberly Chatterjee and Jamen Nanthakumar. Full transcript will be available soon. IG: @eastsidestorypod / @cheeyangmusic / @whatisakuhoo / @kimberlychatterjee / @jamen_nanthakumar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...
4: Cynthia Meng // From Moulin Rouge to Hadestown
September 09, 2019 10:00 - 51 minutesGrappling with Otherness "Don't ever forget, you will be thought of as an other." - Cynthia Meng Within a year of freelancing, Cynthia has worked in rooms for musicals in-development on Broadway, Off-Broadway and out-of-town tryouts. What is her secret? Does it only have to do with luck, like she puts it? Or is it more? I believe there's certainly more to that and we investigate that in the episode. In This Episode, You Will Learn: What Cynthia thought of playing classical piano (3:05) W...
3: David Park // The Dichotomy of being Korean-American
September 02, 2019 04:00 - 44 minutesAm I American Enough? "When I'm speaking to my mom, I literally don't have the vocabulary to express the depth of my emotion to her." - David Park Having not been back to Korea in over 17 years, David has always identified as American. But when faced with the world telling him that he's a "flavored American" as he would say, how does that affect his outlook on life and his journey in theatre? In This Episode, You Will Learn: How David grew up in LA (2:41) David's passion for The Farewell...
2: Desdemona Chiang // Mortality and Your Mother
September 02, 2019 04:00 - 56 minutesSubverting Eurocentric Theatre "Am I entering a field that doesn't have me in its legacy?" - Desdemona Chiang Being an only-child shaped the lives of both Cheeyang and Desdemona. They connected over their shared over-achieving nature, big identity questions as theater artists, and their different views on mortality. In This Episode, You Will Learn: How Desdemona grew up as an immigrant from Taiwan (2:17) Why Desdemona became a Biology major (7:44) What happened when Desdemona dissected ...
1: Kuhoo Verma // Racial Awakening
September 02, 2019 04:00 - 57 minutesEmbracing Her Indianness "It was a huge transition going from hating myself and hating my Indianness and finding out that in the process of white-washing myself, I was erasing my parents' existence in my life." - Kuhoo Verma From graduating NYU, to booking a movie, to starring Off-Broadway and working on multiple Broadway-bound workshops, Kuhoo Verma is a force to be reckoned with. There is an energy about her that is pure and open, and the perfect embodiment of light. In This Episode, You...
0: Trailer // East Side Story
August 26, 2019 02:41 - 5 minutesHighlights from the first 3 episodes of the season. Each week, Cheeyang sits down with an Asian or Asian-American artist working in the New York Theatre scene and excavates their life story — how they grew up, as well as projects they've worked on and upcoming work that we should anticipate. Guests (in order of appearance): 1: Kuhoo Verma (Octet); 2: Desdemona Chiang (2019 Princess Grace Award); and 3: David Park (Red Roses Green Gold). Full transcript available. IG: @eastsidestorypod / @chee...