East Side Story Broadway Podcast Network

Artistic Director of Hypokrit Theatre Company, an O'Neill and Lincoln Center Directing Fellow, Women's Project Lab (Director), Arpita's resume is endless. I have the extreme pleasure of working with Arpita on my musical, The Golden Threshold, and we sat down to dig deep into her story of coming to America, living in New York and how she's flourishing as a South Asian director. Our conversation veered into imagining what the world would be like if no country had been colonized. That's a play I'd want to see.
Instagram:

@eastsidestorypod

@cheeyangmusic

@pita625


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In just a month, we've surpassed 1000 downloads of our podcast. Thank you for supporting this endeavor! Back to regularly scheduled programming, Part 2 uncovers Eddy's experience being Asian, my philosophy of conversation vs. confrontation, his time at Hamilton and more.

Eddy is not only a light on and off stage, he's also one of the nicest humans in New York City. I'm glad to get the opportunity to sit down with him and engage in thoughtful discussion about his life.

Full transcript available soon.
Instagram: @eastsidestorypod / @cheeyangmusic / @edru00
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Making his Broadway debut through auditions in open calls without an agent, Eddy Lee is the success story everyone should know. Since the interview is a little longer than usual, I have split up the episode in two.

Part 1 delves into Eddy's life growing up, how he feels like he has three mothers (his mother, his sister and grandmother who all raised him), to pursuing his passion in performing, to booking Hamilton.

Eddy is not only a light on and off stage, he's also one of the nicest humans in New York City. I'm glad to get the opportunity to sit down with him and engage in thoughtful discussion about his life.

Full transcript available soon.
Instagram: @eastsidestorypod / @cheeyangmusic / @edru00
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We're up in Salem, CT doing a workshop of my new musical, The Golden Threshold. Since episodes are being delayed, here's another bonus episode with some of the cast, Meetu Chilana and Sorab Wadia. Full transcript will be available soon. IG: @eastsidestorypod / @cheeyangmusic / @meetuchilana / @sorabwadia
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We're up in Salem, CT doing a workshop of my new musical, The Golden Threshold. And since episodes are being delayed, here's a bonus episode with not one, but three cast members of the musical. Kuhoo Verma, who appeared in the first episode of the series, returns with Kimberly Chatterjee and Jamen Nanthakumar.

Full transcript will be available soon.
IG: @eastsidestorypod / @cheeyangmusic / @whatisakuhoo / @kimberlychatterjee / @jamen_nanthakumar
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Grappling with Otherness

"Don't ever forget, you will be thought of as an other." - Cynthia Meng


Within a year of freelancing, Cynthia has worked in rooms for musicals in-development on Broadway, Off-Broadway and out-of-town tryouts. What is her secret? Does it only have to do with luck, like she puts it? Or is it more? I believe there's certainly more to that and we investigate that in the episode.


In This Episode, You Will Learn:


What Cynthia thought of playing classical piano (3:05)




What Cynthia studied at Harvard (13:45)




How Cynthia got to work on Hadestown (21:19)




The difference between Broadway and Off-Broadway for Cynthia's jobscope (29:12)




How has Cynthia conquered being Asian and Female in this industry (34:03)




And so much more…





Some Questions We Discuss:


What was classical piano competitions like? (3:52)




Was musical theater part of family tradition? (8:41)




Did she actively run away from what her parents associated with? (12:40)




What was it like to work on a Tony Award winning musical? (23:37)




Does seeing yourself represented on stage makes a difference in your career choices? (37:30)





Links and Resources:

Follow Cynthia on Instagram

Follow Listening Party on Instagram

Follow Canal Street Market on Instagram

Harvard University - Computer Science

Moulin Rouge (Musical)

Lempicka (Musical)

Hadestown (Musical)

Follow East Side Story on Instagram

Follow Cheeyang on Instagram


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