NorCal: News and Events

David Henry Hwang’s FOB plus Panel Discussion

Saturday, February 20

3:00 p.m. Performance

5:00 p.m. Panel discussion with David Henry Hwang and original cast

Nitery Theater, above El Centro Chicano (Old Union) on the Stanford Campus

Price:  $10 per person

Our block of 20 tickets is now SOLD OUT. Visit http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcms5zkh_33cj8f9df9 to get on the official AATP FOB waitlist for Sa 2/20 or to reserve tickets for Th 2/18 or Fr 2/19.

AAAYA NorCal is reserving a block of ONLY 20 tickets for David Henry Hwang’s ground-breaking play FOB being staged at Stanford by the Asian American Theater Project. David Henry Hwang (Yale ’83 MFA) is the only Asian American playwright ever to win a Tony (M. Butterfly) and has won numerous awards, including the 1980-1981 Obie Award for Best New Play with FOB. read more…

Dear AAAYA NorCal Members,
Happy New Year and Happy Year of the Tiger!  We had a great first year in 2009 as a formal AAAYA chapter and we plan to keep our momentum for 2010.

On January 14th, we had a chapter planning meeting in San Francisco to chart a calendar of events and programs for 2010.  We have an ambitious agenda and volunteers have already stepped up for specific events.  However, we need help.  The leadership philosophy for our chapter has been “officer light, volunteer heavy” to allow individuals to volunteer to organize an individual event or program without having a long-term commitment.  This worked well last year and we would like to continue this leadership style.  If you are interested in serving as an officer or in coordinating any of the proposed events or programs listed below in the notes, please let me know at aaayanorcal.president@aaaya.org.

Looking forward to another great year,
Harry Chang ‘84

AAAYA NorCal Planning Meeting of January 14, 2010 Notes

A Strong List of Events for the Forthcoming Year

In attendance at the planning meeting: Harry Chang, George Chen, Lotus Yee Fong, Linda Hwee, Shannon King, Ruth Kwon, Christen Lee, Robert Lee, Wayne Lew, Julie Wong.  Via conference call: Scott Bowker, Kameka Dempsey, Grant Din, Vincent Law, Jimmy Lu

2010 Calendar and Event Ideas

Presentation at the Commonwealth Club by Professor Marvin Chun on the human brain was announced and planned for January 21st with an early event reception for AAAYA and Yale Club of Silicon Valley members.

To see the additional ideas for the remainder of the year, select the read more…  link

read more…

Yellow Face Play 9/10/09

Two Generations Reflecting on David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face

By Julie Wong, “86 and her daughter, Emilie Robert Wong

About 40 Yale alumni and friends gathered together to attend the regional premiere of David Henry Hwang’s fascinating play “Yellow Face.” The event was co-sponsored by the Yale Club of Silicon Valley (YCSV) and the Asian American Association of Yale Alumni (AAAYA) at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts (click on thumbnails in photo gallery below to open slideshow view). I attended with my fourteen year old daughter and eleven year old son and was having flashbacks to my father taking me to see David Henry Hwang’s first play,written as an undergrad at Stanford, FOB, at the East/West Players in Los Angeles back when I was a teenager.

In case you missed Yellow Face, here is a Generation Next analysis by my daughter, Emilie, followed by my notes on the exclusive post-play Q&A with Yale alumni: Playwright, David Henry Hwang (MFA,’83), Actors, Francis Jue (’86) and Pun Bandhu (MFA, ’01), plus Director Robert Kelley.

To read the reviews by Emilie and Julie and to see the photo gallery, select the More… link below.

read more…

AAAYA NorCal – Yale Summer Happy Hour 2009 at Roe Restaurant in San Francisco was fairly well-attended, with about 30 people total.  There was a strong ’09 contingent with about 5 recent graduates who seemed enthusiastic about the alumni community.  There was also a good cross-section of other classes including a couple folks were from the ’96-’00 range, a couple more folks from the ’00-’04 range, and some older students who had a Yale graduate degree.  It was good to see everyone.  People trickled in throughout the evening, and folks mingled well.  We told everyone about the summer potluck picnic and there was definite interest in the curator-led art tour.  I know that I had a great time meeting different folks.

Keep your calendars open for more great events coming up soon, including:

*   AAAYA NorCal – Yale Summer Picnic 2009 in Palo Alto (July 12th)  http://aaaya.org/?p=654

*  AAAYA NorCal – Curator Led Asian Art Exhibit Tour and Discussion Summer 2009 (Present Tense Biennial: Chinese Character art installation – perspectives on contemporary Chinese culture at Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco http://presenttense.us – late August)

*  AAAYA NorCal – Yale Fall Happy Hour 2009 (fall).

Thanks to all that attended and especially to the AAAYA NorCal Yale Summer Happy Hour 2009 Chairs (Cindy Hwang & Neill Tseng) for leading this event and Cindy Hwang for the recap.