By Anna Zhang

On Saturday, June 25, 2022, crowds from all over the city gathered at the YEAR OF THE TIGER installation in Mary Soo Hoo Park to watch the first multilingual radio play performed on The Greenway. The Ghost of Keelung, a radio play performed in English and Mandarin, marked the final performance of the Found in Translation series—an innovative theatre performance series produced by Pao Arts Center, Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), and CHUANG Stage.

*Found In Translation: The Ghost of Keelung* cast performs on the *YEAR OF THE TIGER installation* at Mary Soo Hoo Park on The Greenway
Photo Credit: The Chinatown Project (@chinatown.project)

In collaborating for the Found in Translation series, Pao Arts Center, AATAB, and CHUANG Stage aimed to provide opportunities for artists to experiment with and workshop plays that amplify multi-lingual, immigrant, and AAPI experiences. What started as a play-reading series quickly transformed into more ambitious productions, featuring intensive lighting and tech direction, costumes, and additional production partners. For Found in Translation: The Ghost of Keelung, The Greenway Conservancy was added as a production partner, which allowed the work to be presented in the park’s newly commissioned YEAR OF THE TIGER installation designed by New York based artist, Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong.

To meet the challenge of performing the audio-focused radio play format in a noisy public outdoor stage, the producers assembled a team of local sound engineers to strategize how to incorporate the real-time sounds of the neighborhood into the show, while also ensuring audiences would be able hear the dialogue, foley sound effects, and music.

*Found In Translation: The Ghost of Keelung* foley artist, Michael Lin
Photo Credit: The Chinatown Project (@chinatown.project)

Audiences were enthralled by the results:

“Yeah I think the fact that [part of it] wasn’t in English and that I couldn’t understand it, actually made it feel more immersive. Because you could still hear the emotions, the tone, and like they said body-language. So for me it was very authentic, very culturally relevant.”

Audiences watching the *Found In Translation: The Ghost of Keelung* performance on the *YEAR OF THE TIGER* installation at Mary Soo Hoo Park on The Greenway
Photo Credit: The Chinatown Project (@chinatown.project)

Relying primarily on audio components to deliver dramatic and immersive storytelling, the radio play format of Found in Translation: The Ghost of Keelung attracted audience members both young and old. Most popular before the rise of television broadcasting, radio plays were once an entertainment staple. The combination of skillful sound execution and live performers added a twist to the classic radio play format. One audience member commented:

“I thought it was cool how it was immersive and outside and so specific for this piece... It was very eye-catching too...”

On top of its unique format, many audience members were captivated by the performance’s transregional, time-traversing setting, romantic plot, and multi-lingual presentation. The Ghost of Keelung playwright, Jamie Lin, described being inspired by her Taiwanese heritage and desire for more AAPI stories to be shown in Boston theater:

“as a Taiwanese-American artist, I'm always hungry for stories from my background, and Taiwanese stories in Boston theater are especially rare to see... I did an informal reading a few years ago with some friends, where it was helpful to have the text heard and get a sense for how the dialogue was working as well as the plot and characters. But the only Asian in the room was myself — an unfortunately non-unique experience in my time in Boston theater, but a reminder of one of the main reasons I wrote the play in the first place. That's why I'm so excited to have this as part of Pao/Chuang/AATAB's Found in Translation series as well as the YEAR OF THE TIGER series! To have both a superstar quartet of Asian producers as well as the support of community resources — and to stage this in Chinatown no less — is a dream come true.” (Read the full interview here)

Pao Art Center’s Theatre and Performance Program Manager, Ashley Yung, co-produced the Found in Translation Series, and shared her excitement towards this new experience and the positive audience reactions:

“Pao Arts Center's theatre space has limited capacity, so it was incredible to do The Ghost of Keelung out in The Greenway at Mary Soo Hoo Park. The park not only gave us more room to let people in, but also gave us the opportunity to reach community members who otherwise wouldn't engage in theatre. One of my favorite aspects of outdoor performance is the ability to capture a passerby's attention, sometimes they stop for only a minute, but sometimes they stop and love what they see and return to future programs.”

*Found In Translation: The Ghost of Keelung* producers (left to right) Joey Cosio-Mercado, Ashley Yung, Alison Yueming Qu, Sarah Shin
Photo Credit: The Chinatown Project (@chinatown.project)

As the sun slowly set over the Chinatown Gate, the crowd cheered on to celebrate the end of an evening of live performance and community gathering. Even with curtains drawn on the Found in Translation series, the passion for multilingual theater performances persists to amplify API voices and experiences in Boston Chinatown. Co-producer Ashley Yung shares gratitude and excitement towards the diverse future in theatre and the arts:

"I am excited with the feedback and success of this series. So many folks found new or renewed connections to theatre and the arts, some from our audiences but some from our cast and team. We are looking forward to reflecting on all these shows and seeing how it grows in the next chapter of Found in Translation."

Credits:

Partnering Orgs: CHUANG Stage, Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston, Pao Arts Center, The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy

Playwright: Jamie Lin

Director: Audrey Seraphin

Dramaturg: Carey Lin

Stage Manager: Jingwen Zhang

Environment Scenic Designer: Melody Hsu

Sound Designer: Anna Drummond

Production Sound Engineer: Jonathan Melchiorre

Foley Artists: Michael Lin + Brendan Doyle

YEAR OF THE TIGER Installation Artist: Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong

Producer, CHUANG Stage: Alison Qu

Producer, AATAB: Sarah Shin

Producer, AATAB: Joey Cosio-Mercado

Producer, Pao Arts Center: Ashley Yung

Production Assistant: Kaye Huiyang Hu

CAST

Yitong Zhu, as Zheng Wei

Channing Rion, as Mei Hua

Karla Lang, as Mary Lin/Madam Lin

Malachi Rosen, as Aaron Lee/Charlie Bennett

Jude Torres, as Jack Smith

Dylan C. Wack, as Eli Roberts

Boston Chinatown Celebrates Summer with Multilingual Radio Play, The Ghost of Keelung

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