We’re going behind the curtain at East West Players for a two-episode event! Today, in Part 1, we’re sitting down with Lily Tung Crystal. Not only is she the Artistic Director guiding EWP into its 60th anniversary season, she is also personally directing their massive upcoming revival of Flower Drum Song. We’re diving into her creative process and why this story matters in 2026—all to get you ready for Part 2 with the iconic David Henry Hwang.
www.eastwestplayers.org
In this latest in the collaborative The Two Kens podcast series, Fong and Kemp focus on the now month-old war with Iran, wondering whether President Trump has a deterioriating form of dementia, and how that might have played a part in his leading us into this unwarrented war in the Middle East.
In Carol Lin’s memoir, When News Breaks: A Memoir of Love and War, the jade bracelet on the cover is a powerful symbol of her cultural identity, her relationship with her mother, and the "breaking" of her own life.
While the book primarily chronicles her career as a CNN anchor (including being the first to break the news of 9/11), the bracelet represents the personal narrative beneath the headlines.
@carollinnow
World-renowned social entrepreneur Jane Marie Chen is also an author, speaker, and leadership coach. Her best-selling memoir Like a Wave We Break is a frank and moving account of growing up as a success-driven child of immigrant parents , but how that eventually broke her in every possible way.
#domesticviolence #aanhpi #socialentrepreneur #cleansing #healing
www.janemariechen.com
Ted Taekeun Kim is a Korean American filmmaker and a director/producer. He is currently a graduate student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in the Peter Stark Producing Program.
He is a rising filmmaker who explores narratives that resonate with the Asian American experience. His short films have screened at the Cannes Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival, and have won awards at BIFAN and the Asian American International Film Festival.
He is currently nearing completion on a short film titled "I Missed You" that utilizes Virtual Reality as a therapeutic tool.
Before attending USC, he worked at Authentic Literary & Talent Management. He also co-founded Souvenir Media, a music video and commercials company based in Brooklyn and Seoul, with work featured on Nowness Asia and Director’s Library.
Ted is passionate about cultivating new Asian American voices and arthouse cinema.
IG: @IMissedYouShortFilm
Julie Thomas Achettu, already a well-respected Asian American literature educator in Chicago, recently co-founded "House of Jaya," a women's apparel line that blends traditional South Asian fabrics with the fashion sense of today's South Asian American women. www.houseofjaya.com