explorASIAN - explorASIAN in Richmond: featuring Xu Xi, Neworld Theatre & Ronin Wong

explorASIAN in Richmond: featuring Xu Xi, Neworld Theatre & Ronin Wong

May 27
7pm

Richmond Cultural Centre
7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond

Free admission - Free Parking

Join us for a special literary reading and Q&A discussion with acclaimed author Xu Xi
and enjoy an evening of mini-theatre and Q&A with Neworld Theatre, and Ronin Wong.

Presented by explorASIAN and the City of Richmond

Hong Kong-based acclaimed Asian American writer Xu Xi

XU XI is the author or editor of ten books, most recently a collection of personal essays Evanescent Isles: from my city-village
and Overleaf Hong Kong: Stories & Essays of the Chinese, Overseas. She teaches on the prose faculty at Vermont College of
Fine Arts MFA in Writing. A Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, she now inhabits the flight path connecting New York,
Hong Kong and the South Island of New Zealand.

www.xuxiwriter.com

HK Magazine names THE UNWALLED CITY one of the top 15 books on Hong Kong: "(her) novel of cross cultural love . . .
has become the 'Suzie Wong' of the new century, only better written and less Orientalized."

XU XI is the author of seven books of fiction & essays, and editor of three anthologies of Hong Kong literature in English.
A Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, the city was home until her mid-twenties, after which she led a peripatetic existence
around Europe, America and Asia. She now inhabits the flight path connecting New York, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

THE NEW YORK TIMES named her a pioneer writer from Asia in English and the VOICE OF AMERICA featured her on their
Chinese TV documentary series "Cultural Odyssey." Singapore's BUSINESS TIMES dubs her passion "Asia as it is today - gritty,
modern and confused." According to reviewers, her work explains "the paradox that is Hong Kong" that avoids "the sex and
drug and triad stereotypes . . . portraying the city more accurately and realistically for it." Her "new and innovative diasporic
global language" is "uncluttered" and "arrestingly poignant." She is "an alchemist of observation" whose sensibility is
"generous and compassionate."

Awards include an O. Henry prize story, shortlist for the inaugural MAN Asian Literary Award, Cohen Award from
PLOUGHSHARES for best story, a NYFA fiction fellowship, the South China Morning Post story contest winner, among others.
She has also been writer-in-residence at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Chateau de Lavigny in Switzerland, Kulturhuset USF
in Norway, the Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando and the Anderson Center in Minnesota. SUNY Plattsburgh, where she earned her BA,
accorded her their distinguished alumni award in 2004.

She holds a MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and teaches on the MFA in writing prose faculty at the
Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. In 2009, she will be the Bedell Distinguished Visiting Writer at the
University of Iowa's nonfiction program.

A special thank you to the US Consulate General Vancouver for their assistance in bringing Xu Xi to explorASIAN

Mixie and the Halfbreed by Neworld Theatre
Neworld Theatre creates, produces and tours new plays that reflect multiple facets of Canada's diverse populations.
Cited by the National Post and the Globe and Mail as one of the companies driving the renaissance of independent theatre in Vancouver,
Neworld is a mobilizing intercultural force in the local independent art scene.

Adrienne Wong creates, performs and produces work for theatre and radio. Recent: My Name is Rachel Corrie (Neworld/Teesri Duniya)
and Lives Were Around Me (battery opera). Highlights: devising a miniature play for Box Theatre and playing Scrabble on the radio.
An SFU grad, Adrienne is co-Artistic Producer of Neworld Theatre.

Julie Tamiko Manning has worked as a performer and creator with numerous companies across Canada including: Chëyikwe,
Urban Ink, Rumble, Geordie and Scapegoat Carnivale. Upcoming projects include Rock, Paper, Jackknife with Talisman Theatre
and the 2009-10 season at the National Arts Centre as a member of the resident Acting Company.

Adrienne and Julie will present a sneak preview segment of their new play Mixie and the Halfbreed by Neworld Theatre
opening June 18, 2009 at the Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch in Vancouver.

Synopsis:
Eggs, bananas and an aversion to rice. Two estranged neighbours are not as different as they think.
Haunted by peroxide teeth and blondissima hair, Mixie and Trixie tackle a question that has plagued mankind through the ages:
do blondes really have more fun?

A no-holds-barred identity throw-down, Mixie and the Halfbreeds is an optimistic tale for a remixed nation.

www.neworldtheatre.com/productions-mixie-and-the-halfbreeds.html

Generation 6 by Ronin Wong

Ronin has worked in theatre, film, and music for almost 20 years. Ronin has over 50 theatre, film, and television acting credits
including a number of guest star appearances, supporting leads, and lead roles. Other highlights include two instrumental CDs
Inspirations and A Comet's Tale, and sound designs for theatre. His latest project is Generation 6, a one person show about
a concert pianist on the eve of his Carnegie Hall debut.

Ronin will be presenting the first 10 minutes, a sneak preview, of his show. The full play is slated for production later this fall.
With Generation 6, Ronin is launching a new theatre company, World Fusion Theatre, dedicated to the creation and promotion
of stories that reflect our pluralistic, culturally diverse, and highly technological times.

Synopsis:
Five minutes before his Carnegie Hall debut, Liam Lee, a classically-trained pianist, struggles with his inner demons.
Nervous as hell, he tries to use techniques to calm down but to no avail. It only gets worse. There's something deeper bothering him.
Liam realizes that his every move has been planned by his mother, his teachers, and later his managers and agents.
Liam has not made a single decision for himself. If he performs tonight, he fears that the course of his life will be set and
he will never have the opportunity to become his own person.

In the course of the story, Liam must deal not only with the ghosts of his own past but also with the weight of the expectations
of five previous generations of Chinese-Canadians. All these generations have sacrificed so that Liam could be brought to this point,
on the verge of success. Liam's journey is not only his own but also that of his family. How can he appease the spirits of his ancestors
while still living his own life? How can he find his own self-identity? Should he even try?

The play explores Liam's struggle through text and music. The music, performed live, is an integral part of the storytelling,
functioning as counterpoint to the dialogue. First, Liam plays through some of the standard Classical repertoire of Mozart, Chopin,
and Beethoven, in an effort to find answers. But, soon, Liam finds himself exploring the music of his ancestors as well.
He reveals that a strong relationship with music runs through his paternal lineage, dating back to China.

As Liam performs (sings, plays the piano, the electric guitar, and the erhu) the various styles of music: rock, jazz, pop, and traditional Chinese,
he begins to rebuild his connections to his cultural traditions. Before the evening is over, Liam will learn to start living his own life,
building on the past, rather than struggling against it.