By Andrew Hamlin
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Yun Theatre’s Christie Zhao was hardly prepared for the news that the government had rescinded the grant for Yun’s newest project, “Home.”
Photo provided by Christie Zhao.
As she recalled, “I got the email on May 2nd, 2025—a Friday night. I was shocked. Ten thousand dollars is significant. And I quickly realized it wasn’t just us—tens of thousands of dollars had been rescinded from the theatre industry, all in one email.
“I’d been taught America is free, no censorship, you can do what you want. This taught me otherwise. There is what the government supports and what it doesn’t. Without money, it becomes significantly harder to …pay artists a fair rate. The market and the government funnel work into whatever fits their narrative—the message being, if you want funding, you have to translate your story into theirs. And our story doesn’t fit their narrative anymore.”
Yun was determined to overcome the setback. Their current show, “America ‘250’,” playing two shows on July 4, “grew from the absurdity of it all. In China, they celebrate anniversaries with massive galas. My experience of America on July Fourth is only fireworks. Now, suddenly there’s all this branding around ‘America 250’—on hats, logos, t-shirts, stickers on Bank of America windows. This anniversary became a very marketable product of patriotism. But it’s funny to me, because in Chinese slang, ‘250’ means kind of stupid and silly. I thought: Why not make a show about that?”
Photo provided by Christie Zhao.
The result, very much a flexible work, doesn’t limit itself to political mockery, “because then the focus would be about this country, not about humans. Really, we want this to be about us, about the immigrants, about this ensemble. It’s about what this country is—our dreams and hopes before coming, the disillusionment, the reality, finding home, defining home again, defining where we are, and eventually the question of who I am. I believe specifics create shared understanding. So we dive deep into the specificity of our experiences, mixing oral history, movement pieces, songs, and lots of different theatrical forms woven together.”
Putting the new show on wasn’t easy.
“We don’t have a stable rehearsal space or storage, so we’re moving between the library and different rooms at Theatre Puget Sound. Every day, we haul everything in, every day we strike it all. That’s enormous labor. And then there’s the space itself. We’re rehearsing during Juneteenth to Pride weekend, when Seattle Center is packed and loud. The noise reverberates into our room. Our work demands vulnerability and listening—and you can’t listen when there’s all this outside noise. There’s something almost poetic about it: We’re making a piece about not having a stable home, and we don’t have a stable home in the rehearsal room either. We’re always moving.
“But I cannot be more grateful for the ensemble. Everyone shows up ready to work, excited, sharing that weight. They’re remarkable.”
Photo provided by Christie Zhao.
As for future Yun projects, “we’re co-producing ‘The Chinese Lady’ with ArtsWest, opening Sept. 17, through October. We’re also continuing to develop our new play program. Earlier this year, we reached out to community writers for script submissions and chose Lyra Nan’s play, ‘Chuan & Mom’, for the next round of development later this year. We also received a 4Culture grant for another new play development project launching in September. And Home—we’re still working on it, refining the script. We have a staged reading scheduled for September.”
But, she feels, Yun isn’t done with “America ‘250’.”
“This devising process is truly our first time working in this format as an ensemble. I’m amazed at how much we’ve created, and simultaneously I feel this deep desire for more time. Two weeks isn’t enough—it’s just initial ideas. To make something really solid, rich, and complex, we need many cycles like this. I’m thinking differently now about longevity. Not where you throw everything at the wall to see what sticks, but genuinely respecting the process, trusting that it will reveal something rich rather than forcing a narrative onto the work. I hope “America ‘250’” has a future. I hope we keep telling our immigration stories through ensemble devising.
“Our team is so wide-ranging—community activists, actors, musicians, designers, people with deep theatre training and people with none, but all of them sincere and full of experience in their own ways. I want to keep developing this ensemble devising practice, build it into something that is truly ours.”
“America ‘250’” plays two shows on July 4 at BASE Experimental Arts + Space, 6520 5th Avenue South #122 in Seattle’s Georgetown. For prices, showtimes, and other information, visit https://yun-theatre.com/america-%22250%22.