Re-staged with student performers for Berkeley Dance Project 2023
Presented as part of A Year On Angel Island
February 23–26 at Zellerbach Playhouse
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Introduction
Serving as a meditation on healing, resilience, and compassion, Within These Walls is dedicated to the more than 170,000 Chinese immigrants who were processed, detained, and/or interrogated at the Angel Island Immigration Station between 1910 and 1940. Resulting from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, this period of mass incarceration tore families apart and will forever be stamped on the Chinese American experience.
The Angel Island Immigration Station functioned as the West Coast equivalent of Ellis Island, although the Angel Island facility also enforced policies designed to exclude, rather than welcome, many Pacific Coast immigrants coming from 82 countries. The processing time for most at the Station was two to three days. However, for Chinese people, the average was three weeks to three months of detention. One individual spent 22 months in detention.
In 1970, the Immigration Station was slated for demolition due to its deteriorated condition, but the discovery of Chinese poetry carved into the walls of the detention barracks saved it from destruction and led to renewed interest in the site. Consequently, community members became increasingly aware of the need to access the vivid lessons of sacrifice and triumph in the history of immigration. As a result of a broad advocacy campaign, funding was secured to preserve the site and to open the barracks to the public in 1983. Out of the community campaign, the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) was founded to continue preservation and educational efforts for the site, and to increase awareness of the contributions made by Pacific Coast immigrants.
Chinese poems carved into the walls of detention barracks at the Angel Island Immigration Station.
Dramaturgy Note
by Crystal Song
One week into rehearsals for this re-staging of Within These Walls, our cast took a field trip to the Angel Island Immigration Station. Given the site-specific nature of the original work, it only made sense for this trip to take place so early in the creative process, and we walked the grounds as a group as our docent recounted the Station’s history. While the sparseness of the barracks was arresting—it’s hard to imagine several hundred people sharing them at any given time—I was most struck by the other physical remnants of its use, between 1910 and 1940, as a detention center for new arrivals to the country. Of the estimated one million immigrants whose fates were determined at Angel Island, over 170,000 were from China, and thus detained under the harsh terms of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. They were subjected to humiliating medical exams, grueling interrogations, and weeks or months—even years—of waiting. Scattered throughout the station, on display, are some of the means by which they passed and shared their time: books and newspapers, games like go and mahjong, musical records and instruments. Most famously, the walls themselves—covered in poems carved by the detainees, rediscovered and painstakingly restored during the 1970s—stand as testament to the profound grief and inertia that defined their experience at Angel Island.
In the weeks to come, we would read these poems to each other in rehearsal. Like seeing them engraved in person, sharing them out loud brought a sort of body to a history that we could only otherwise access through written words. Translator Jeffrey Thomas Leong, who worked with these poems, described them as simultaneously “anonymous” and “collective.” Expressions of loneliness, longing, and bitter disappointment, these were “personal utterances but in a public collective form.” Within These Walls is likewise at once a personal and collective endeavor, showcasing the strength and artistry of each dancer as well as the force of their movement in tandem. In staging the stories of those detained at Angel Island, it urges us to take part in an intimate yet public reckoning with the ongoing history of anti-Asian racism.
As part of the rehearsal process, we held several discussions about this history, and how it shaped our understanding of the production’s significance. We couldn’t not be aware of the connections between the era of Angel Island and our own, which has seen a sickening rise in violent attacks on people of Asian descent. In all of this, what does dance do? We also read from Charles Yu’s 2020 novel Interior Chinatown, which offers melancholic satire on the promise and pitfalls of Asian American representation through performance: “Take what you can get. Try to build a life. A life at the margin made from bit parts.” What does it mean for us, as dancers, to take up the legacy of life at the margin? What work does Within These Walls do, putting Asian American stories and performers at center stage? In what ways does it animate that legacy, or allow for a different relationship to it? Is it possible, we asked, to restore some sort of agency to those detained at Angel Island, or at least do justice to the injustices done to them?
To dance history is not to “represent” the past in some straightforward way; indeed, the past itself is not some static thing that can be known in full or remade without consequence. It is interpretive work, to take written text—refracted through the oppressive lens of official records, or fragmented and necessarily secretive or obscured—and make embodied movement. Within These Walls invites us to bear witness, in real time, to the shock and heartbreak of someone dropping to their knees as they are condemned to deportation; to the uncertain thrill of detainees resisting, in small gestures, the station’s daily attempts to corral their bodies and minds. It honors the forms of subterfuge through which they struggled to survive in a hostile country, and it holds space for moments of immense tenderness and care. Most concretely, it reminds us that this history exists, and that the people whose lives were indelibly shaped by it—now just names and numbers on a page or words on a wall—had dreams and desires and convictions of their own. My hope is that sharing in the presence of these performers, and all of the creative hands that shaped this work, will drive home for you the importance of Angel Island’s history and its ongoing afterlives. In bringing us together, it instructs us in the all too vital—the personal and collective—task of remembrance.
Production Credits
Cast
Immigrants
羅凱俠 Law Oy Hup played by Cristopher Avila
冷靜 Lang Jing played by Kimberly Fong
甯夏 Ling Ha played by Jingwen (Caitlin) Han
黃拱照 Wong Gung Jue played by Teo Lin-Bianco
曉遙 Hieu Yieu played by Emma Lowe
垚胤 Yieu Yun played by Noah Ryang
許鴻基 Huey Hung Gay played by Jiho Seo
李威 Lei Wai played by Eika Tokunaga
李聘桃 Lee Ping To played by Erin Yoon
Officials
関珊珊 Missionary Gwan played by Victoria Amador
陳曉林 Interpreter Chan played by Verena Lee
Inspector Bennington played by Gilberto Martinez Martinez
Dr. John Williams played by Liam Quinn
黃曉林 Interpreter Wong played by Tatianna Steiner
Lenora Lee Dance Cast (2017 & 2019)
George Cheng, Derek Harris, Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu, Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, Carl Irons, SanSan Kwan, Wei-Shan Lai, Chloe Luo, Johnny Nguyen, Dalmacio Payomo, and Alley Wilde, with contributions from 2017 cast members Yao Dang, Timothy Huey, Eric Koziol, Wayne Tai Lee, Kevin Lo, Shannon Preto, and Stacey Yuen
Creative Team
Conceived, Produced & Directed by
Lenora Lee
Choreographed by
Lenora Lee
in collaboration with
The Lenora Lee Dance Cast (2017 / 2019)
& The Berkeley Dance Project Cast (2022/2023)
Stage Manager
Keanu Marquez
Costume Designer
Wendy Sparks
Production Coordinator
SanSan Kwan
Lighting Designer
Ray Oppenheimer
Scenic Designer
Peet Cocke
Projection Designer
Olivia Ting
Original Score by
Francis Wong & Tatsu Aoki
with Kioto Aoki, JoVia Armstrong, Rami Atassi, Mwata Bowden, Jonathan Chen, Suwan Choi, Deszon X. Claiborne, Coco Elysses, Jason Kao Hwang, Michael Jamanis, Jamie Kempkers, Chad Taylor, Edward Wilkerson Jr, Michael Zerang
Poetry & Text
Genny Lim & Wong Gung Jue
Voiceovers
Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, Johnny Huy Nguyen & Shannon Preto
Production Team
Rehearsal Assistants
Lynn Huang
SanSan Kwan
Johnny Huy Nguyen
Lucy Tafler
Assistant Stage Manager / Production Coordinator
Hazel Horton
Dramaturg
Crystal Song
Assistant scenic Designer / Calligrapher
Shin Yang
Assistant Costume Designers
Ace Chen
Abhiraj Muhar
Light Board Operators
Audrey Lee-Gardner
Riley Richardson
Sound Technician
Emily Fassler
Sound & Video Board Operators
Gibran Mustafa
Amelia Patterson
Nick Reulbach
Deck Crew
Sohel Bagai
Callista Crabtree
Eugeniu Cuznetov
Kimi Galang Villegas
Wardrobe Crew
Hannah Barukh
Jasmine Cevallos
Leonora Sanchez
Scenic Work-Study Assistant
Lev Collins
Costume Work-Study Assistants
Amanda Hayami
Jennifer Hernandez
Cara Maccianti
Autumn Peak
Tessa Schaap
Tiffany Stratton
Electrics Installation & Focus
Students of Theater 175B
Videography
Tatsu Aoki (editing)
Ben Estabrook (camera & editing)
Lenora Lee (camera & editing)
Shannon Preto (camera)
Olivia Ting (camera & editing)
Joel Wanek (camera & editing)
Photography
Robbie Sweeny
Front of House & Box Office Staff
Provided by Cal Performances
Production Team Bios
Tatsu Aoki (Music & Videography) is a prolific composer, musician, filmmaker, and educator. Based in Chicago, Aoki works in a wide range of musical genres, ranging from traditional Japanese music, jazz, experimental and creative music. Aoki studied experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently an adjunct Full Professor at the Film, Video and New Media Department, teaching film production and history courses. To this date, Aoki has produced and appears in more than 90 recording projects and over 30 experimental films. TatsuAoki.com
Lynn Huang (Rehearsal Assistance) — Trained in modern dance, ballet, and Chinese dance, Lynn has performed with Lenora Lee, Cynthia Ling Lee, and Philein Wang, among others in San Francisco, and HT Chen and Dancers, Dance China NY and Ella Ben-Aharon/Sahar Javedani in NYC. She studied at Minzu University Dance Conservatory in Beijing, China on a Fulbright fellowship and graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University. She also teaches GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS®. Instagram: lynnxspirals
Lenora Lee (Artistic Direction & Choreography) has been a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for the past 25 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. She has been an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater, a 2019 United States Artists Fellow, and is the recipient of a New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project grant award. Lenora is currently artist in residence at Pao Arts Center and ArtsEmerson.
Genny Lim (Poetry) is a poet, performer, playwright, educator and cultural activist who strives to express the uniqueness and universality of her experience as the child of immigrant Chinese through her artistic vision. Deeply engaged in the civil rights movement and the Asian American Rights movement, her work is informed by her commitment to social justice issues on many fronts.
SanSan Kwan (Production Coordination & Rehearsal Assistance) is professor and chair in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, where she teaches dance technique and dance studies. She has danced with Lenora Lee Dance for over ten years. She has also performed with HT Chen and Maura Nguyen Donohue, among others.
Keanu Marquez (Stage Management) is a Theater and Performance major and a transfer student from Ventura. They have been participating in the world of theater since sophomore year of high school. His love of theater comes from the variety of arts, sciences, and philosophy required. One day he hopes to have many published works on stage, in your bookshelf, and on screen. Instagram: KeanuMilo
Johnny Huy Nguyễn (Rehearsal Assistance) — Fluent in multiple movement modalities including myriad street dance styles, contemporary, modern, and martial arts, Nguyen weaves together dance, theater, spoken word, ritual, installation, and performance art. In addition to being an individual artist, he has been a core member of Lenora Lee Dance Company since 2017 and has appeared in the works of KULARTS and the Global Street Dance Masquerade to name a few. he works as a development and program associate with Asian Improv aRts (AIR), helping to nurture the viability and sustainability of Asian American artists and organizations both locally and nationwide. JohnnyHuyNguyen.com
Crystal Song (Dramaturgy) is a PhD candidate in performance studies at UC Berkeley who researches Asian American dance and popular culture. When not working on her dissertation, she is a competitive ballroom dancer who also loves zouk, Lindy hop, and West Coast swing.
Olivia Ting (Media/Projection Design) is interested in the role of digital technology in the fabric of contemporary lives and how our perception of recorded media (film, photography, audio) as "reality" has shifted as technology becomes more sophisticated. Olivia has done design work for Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Jose Children's Museum, and collaborated with various dance companies in the Bay Area. Her work shifts between video projection and altered 360 VR film experiences. She holds an MFA in Art Practice from U.C. Berkeley. OliveTinge.com
Francis Wong (Music Direction/Composition) was dubbed one of "the great saxophonists of his generation" by the late jazz critic Phil elwood. Few musicians are as accomplished as Wong: for over two decades he has performed his innovative brand of jazz and creative music for audiences in north America, Asia, and Europe. A prolific recording artist, Wong is featured on more than forty titles. FrancisWong.net
Hien Huyn in the 2017 production of Within These Walls at the Angel Island Immigration Station. (Photo by Robbie Sweeny)
About Lenora Lee Dance
Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, incarceration, and global conflict. The company creates works that are set in public and private spaces, intimate and large-scale, inspired by individual stories as well as community strength, at times crafted for the proscenium or underwater, and at times site-responsive, immersive, and interactive. For 15 years LLD’s work has grown to encompass the creation and presentation of films, museum and gallery installations, civic engagement, and educational programming.
LLD’s dance films And the Community Will Rise and Within These Walls will have premiere screenings in Spring 2023.
LLD’s 15th Anniversary Home Season will run September 21–24, 2023.
Learn more at LenoraLeeDance.com
Creation of the original Within These Walls was supported in part by Asian Improv aRts, Asian Improv aRts Midwest, API Cultural Center, Chinese Historical Society of America, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Angel Island Company, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, Dance Mission Theater, and generous individuals.
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