Directing is an Act of Service. Directing is creating space for people to feel brave enough to speak their truth, and celebrating the talents of an artistic community. It is collaborating, generating, rallying, – empowering everyone to work their best towards a unified vision. 

I am a theatre artist, mainly focused on directing, dedicated to telling stories that unlock experiences and truths hidden by written history or mainstream culture and celebrate the abundance of life and its infinite possibilities. A good night at the theatre reminds me of my family’s Lunar New Year celebrations, where we pride ourselves on our Koreanness, honor our ancestors who dedicated their lives to making it better for us in America and express gratitude for our ability to still gather and support each other after almost 50 years. I direct so that I can remind us that our world does not exist in a binary, and that life is beautifully full of contradictions and complexity. We won’t always have the words to communicate as clearly as we want, but it is always worth trying to understand. It is worth seeing people that live and exist differently than us on stage, so that we can more easily accept one another.

As a 2nd generation “zillennial” Korean American Queer woman, my perspective deeply understands the complex feeling of living in, & sometimes hiding in, multiple realities at once. I tell multidimensional stories where we search for human connection, love, personal identity, justice, and Truth while navigating the wilderness that is the Internet and society’s rapidly changing relationship to technology, and the Cultures, Histories, and Legacies of our blood and chosen families that have us questioning whether to keep dying traditions alive, or to uncover and reclaim the hidden truths that White Supremacy and Patriarchy covered, or to innovate and create new traditions. At the end of the day, though, give me stories that will make us laugh!

When I direct, I apply my acting training.
I listen to the needs of my surroundings
and switch between responding with my mind, my heart, or my gut.
Especially in new work development,
I use my logic to craft structure and form,
and my wit to inspire bits and jokes.

I apply my classical music training,
and my general appreciation for music.
I approach scripts like a score
and let my groovy and rhythmic musicality activate each scene,
Each beat,
with energy that
expresses more strongly than words. 

Lastly, I apply my Korean “training”.
A common saying I hear on the singing competition show my parents watch is,
“He sang deliciously.”
And so in my work, I often ask myself,
“How can I direct a ‘delicious’ experience?”
“Which choices elicit visceral feelings and reactions that touch your soul?”
The years of absorbing K-Pop culture and my heritage without fully knowing the language or history actually led me to feel and understand at a deeper level. It’s second nature to contextualize and express with all of my senses and soul when I don’t have the words.
While I primarily work as a director, I also work as a creative producer, community organizer, dramaturg & performer. I want to innovate and expand the theatrical experience by working in non-traditional spaces, whether outdoors, in my apartment, in a nightclub, or in the virtual world. I want to constantly evolve and adapt so that I am recognized as a sharply-minded collaborative artist who stays attuned to what a specific project, specific people, or a community needs from me in order to make the biggest and boldest impact.

And I want more theatre-making and presenting processes to mirror these stories, by celebrating the artist community we become, embracing each of our unique perspectives with curiosity and care, and prioritizing the communities in our story to be in our audience. Just like my family’s Lunar New Year celebrations! And once we open house and let even more guests (aka the audience) in, it’s like you’re coming over to our show’s house for a nice home-cooked meal. You’ll follow our rules (shoes off!) and eat what we feed you (we’ll give you a spice warning, among others), but trust that we will take care of you and you’ll try something new. By approaching theatre in a more holistic, community-centered way, we can find the calm through the chaos, learn new solutions, heal, grow, and regenerate joy together.