Latest / philly has heART / Seng's Hair Salon presented by InterAct Theatre Company feat. Daniel Ubin Burgess and Karen Li

Transcript

Seng's Hair Salon presented by InterAct Theatre Company feat. Daniel Ubin Burgess and Karen Li · philly has heART

• 0:15
  Hey, Lucinda. How was your weekend? It's a great
• 0:18
  weekend when there's ballet. Tell us what you
• 0:21
  saw. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Not Shakespeare's.
• 0:28
  Giuliano Nunez. Giuliano Nunez. The resident
• 0:31
  choreographer at Philadelphia Ballet put on a
• 0:35
  modern mix of the classic Romeo and Juliet ballet.
• 0:41
  The music is original. The choreography, the
• 0:46
  set, the costumes, all brand new, all world premiere.
• 0:52
  Now, let me tell you, I got an opportunity to
• 0:56
  go behind stage Thursday night, opening night
• 0:59
  at the ballet, and the dancers were so excited
• 1:04
  to have new clothes. Aw, thank you. Yes. It brings
• 1:09
  some joy, you know? Yeah. Because you have to
• 1:11
  think, like, these big... These storybook ballets
• 1:16
  are coming with a set, are coming with costumes,
• 1:20
  are coming with the design, all of that. And
• 1:23
  so you're getting hand -me -downs from 20 years
• 1:26
  ago, right? When they originally premiered, maybe
• 1:30
  in New York, and then the show traveled, or maybe
• 1:33
  in Philadelphia, and they've just been in a box,
• 1:36
  right? For this, they had their brand new costumes
• 1:39
  on. They were so excited. The lighting? Talk
• 1:44
  about, now that I had the conversation with Tom
• 1:48
  Weaver, how they create and have the light also
• 1:54
  share the story. This was incredible, incredible.
• 1:58
  Lighting designer working overtime. Exactly.
• 2:00
  For those of you that have seen it or have not
• 2:03
  seen it yet, the set, instead of large curtains,
• 2:08
  is a book. And it opens and is named Verona.
• 2:14
  And as the pages turn, so does the set. Interesting.
• 2:19
  Yeah, it was very cool. Very cool. I slightly
• 2:23
  regret not going last night. Well. I gave my
• 2:26
  tickets away. If you still have an opportunity.
• 2:30
  It is ongoing until May 10th. At the Academy
• 2:34
  of Music. Is that all you got into? Is that it?
• 2:37
  I don't know. What did I do Friday night? You
• 2:39
  needed a break Friday. I did need a break Friday
• 2:41
  night. I asked you if you wanted to go to First
• 2:44
  Friday. I said I couldn't do it. You said absolutely
• 2:46
  not. I couldn't do it. And that was probably
• 2:49
  a good move because I had no business being out
• 2:52
  and about either. I just got hit with a load
• 2:55
  of stuff I have to manage for the next two weeks.
• 2:59
  It's fine. Nothing to do with work. Everything's
• 3:02
  fine. Everyone's fine. You'll get through it.
• 3:05
  But it made me reprioritize what I had to do
• 3:07
  this weekend. Yeah. Shall we get to the conversation?
• 3:11
  Let's get on to the conversation. Greetings.
• 3:26
  This is Robert Marsh and you're listening to
• 3:28
  Philly Has Heart Podcast. In this podcast, we
• 3:31
  sit down with artists, gallerists, educators,
• 3:33
  curators, and other creatives who comprise the
• 3:36
  Philadelphia art world to discuss upcoming performances,
• 3:39
  exhibits, and other events and initiatives that
• 3:42
  are not to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia
• 3:45
  is so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider
• 3:47
  this your weekend cultural recommendation. With
• 3:50
  me always is my producer, Lucinda Daggerland.
• 3:53
  Hello, hello. And today we have with us Seng's...
• 3:57
  Hair Salon, presented by Interact Theatre Company.
• 4:00
  Today we have Daniel and Karen. Welcome. Hello.
• 4:03
  How's it going? Very good, very good. As we do
• 4:07
  with all the artists that we speak with, we're
• 4:10
  bringing you two together today. We want to talk
• 4:12
  about Tseng's Hair Salon, but first we want to
• 4:15
  talk about your journeys that brought you to
• 4:17
  the performing arts. What moments, both big and
• 4:20
  small, directed you to where you are today? Well,
• 4:24
  do you want the long version or the high one?
• 4:27
  Whatever you want. Whatever you want. It's your
• 4:29
  story to share. Well, I got into theater through
• 4:33
  dance. And I got into dance through my mother.
• 4:36
  Because I was born, like, super preemie. And
• 4:40
  I just couldn't really develop the musculature
• 4:43
  to walk properly. And so my mom was like, let's
• 4:46
  not have that. And so she put me into these like
• 4:49
  kiddie dance classes where you're just pretending
• 4:51
  to be elephants and like you're riding a bike
• 4:54
  and you're just running around the room kind
• 4:55
  of crazy. But I loved it. And not long after
• 4:59
  that, my family immigrated to the United States.
• 5:02
  We left Hong Kong for California. And in California,
• 5:06
  I had the worst culture shock. I was four years
• 5:10
  old. And all of a sudden, I didn't understand
• 5:13
  what was going on around me. And I couldn't communicate.
• 5:16
  And I was having a really hard time making friends,
• 5:20
  being in school, like all of it. And so my mom
• 5:24
  was like, well, you like to dance and you don't
• 5:25
  have to talk. So let's do that again. It stuck,
• 5:30
  right? I've been dancing ever since. And eventually
• 5:35
  in high school, in my junior year of high school,
• 5:38
  I also started to take choir. And in my high
• 5:41
  school program, we did a spring musical every
• 5:45
  year. And so my choir teacher encouraged me to
• 5:48
  audition for the spring musical as a dancer.
• 5:50
  And I love that. And so I did. Which one was
• 5:54
  it? Annie, get your gun. Oh, nice. Nice. Okay.
• 5:58
  And so, yeah, I kind of really got my feet wet
• 6:02
  in theater through that. When it came time for
• 6:05
  me to pick a college major, I thought I would
• 6:08
  do the very sensible thing and be an international
• 6:12
  studies major. And I started taking all the classes,
• 6:16
  and I realized I just wasn't the person who was
• 6:20
  asking all the questions and sitting in the front
• 6:22
  row and really excited about the material. But
• 6:25
  I was taking all these extracurriculars in dance
• 6:28
  and theater and putting all of my energy into
• 6:30
  that. And so God bless my immigrant parents.
• 6:34
  When I told them that I wanted to switch to a
• 6:38
  double major in theater and dance, they were
• 6:41
  like, okay. Okay, well, give us plans A through
• 6:45
  D. What are you going to do with this major if
• 6:47
  you're successful? What are you going to do with
• 6:49
  this major if you're not successful? And once
• 6:51
  they were, I guess, sufficiently convinced that
• 6:54
  I had really thought this through and that I
• 6:56
  did have options, they're like, okay, do it.
• 6:59
  And here we are. Holy moly. Similar journey?
• 7:05
  No, not whatsoever. That's incredible. I never
• 7:09
  knew that. So that's amazing. It's a long story.
• 7:13
  Yeah, I have no words. Good on you. I mean, I
• 7:17
  have so much respect for you in that way. That
• 7:19
  is very awesome. My story is not similar. I don't
• 7:23
  know. Growing up, you know, I did feel like I
• 7:25
  never found my thing until I got to high school.
• 7:30
  And I didn't try hard in a lot of things. You
• 7:33
  know, I just enjoyed hanging out with my friends
• 7:35
  and playing video games and growing up in the
• 7:37
  suburbs. You know, I felt very basic. Not that
• 7:42
  now that I'm an actor, I'm not basic anymore.
• 7:45
  It wasn't until I got to high school I found
• 7:47
  sports. And I was like, okay, I'm going to try
• 7:50
  hard and do this thing. And I worked really hard
• 7:54
  at it for the first time. It was the first thing
• 7:55
  in my life where I really worked hard on something
• 7:57
  was playing lacrosse. And then I finally was
• 8:01
  able to take a theater class. I'm like, I'll
• 8:02
  take a theater class. I get to just mess around.
• 8:05
  I get a no biggie. My theater teacher, shout
• 8:08
  out Shannon Lynch, she saw that I could get really
• 8:11
  angry very easily. And she was like, I need you
• 8:15
  in the play. And, you know, it's a common story
• 8:21
  amongst many straight men. And I was like, okay,
• 8:26
  like, I'll go ahead. And my first play was She
• 8:28
  Kills Monsters. And I played Orcus, who is, like,
• 8:31
  a comedic relief character. And I got nominated
• 8:36
  for a Best Comedic Actor for The Cappies. It
• 8:43
  was, like, our Barrymore, our Tony. And I got
• 8:46
  nominated, and I was like... Holy moly. Oh, you
• 8:51
  know, it was the first time I was recognized
• 8:52
  for something, for anything. So I said, well,
• 8:57
  this feels great. I like this feeling. I'm going
• 9:01
  to keep doing this. And, you know, I was doing
• 9:04
  the sports thing because it meant so much to
• 9:07
  me. But then I was doing this theater thing.
• 9:09
  And then eventually I came to a crossroads where
• 9:11
  I had to choose one. And, you know, a professional
• 9:14
  lacrosse player doesn't pay. that well. I mean,
• 9:18
  I decided to be an actor too, so I was like,
• 9:20
  what's the lesser of two evils here? But I fully
• 9:24
  committed my junior year of high school and just
• 9:26
  did everything and anything theater. And yeah,
• 9:30
  Shannon Lynch, she just believed in me. She said
• 9:32
  that you could do this. You could actually do
• 9:34
  this. And I was like, okay, I trust you. If I
• 9:38
  don't, I'm gonna come back. And then I got, you
• 9:41
  know, I went to UArts. Yeah, we shout that out
• 9:45
  on the show, too. Rest in peace, UArts. And,
• 9:48
  you know, when I got to UArts, I was like, I
• 9:51
  actually didn't like it at first. But I came
• 9:55
  to realize I didn't know as much as I thought
• 9:58
  I did. And I learned a lot at UArts. So I really
• 10:00
  appreciate my time at UArts. Now I'm here. I
• 10:03
  love that. It sounded kind of like High School
• 10:06
  Musical. A little. So, I hate to admit it, but
• 10:11
  my college paper was about how I was playing
• 10:17
  lacrosse and doing theater at the same time.
• 10:19
  And I was like, oh my God, I'm like Troy Bolton
• 10:22
  or something. I was real, in high school, I had
• 10:27
  a really big ego in high school. And I was quickly
• 10:32
  very humbled once I got T -Words. Going back
• 10:34
  to Sings Hair Salon, Can you tell us about this
• 10:38
  production? Sure. So the show itself is a commission
• 10:43
  from Interact Theatre Company. This is the second
• 10:46
  of three plays that are part of the Philly cycle.
• 10:50
  So plays that are all about Philadelphia as a
• 10:53
  place and its people and its stories. So this
• 10:56
  one focuses on the Southeast Asian community.
• 10:59
  And Seng's Hair Salon, there is a Seng's Hair
• 11:02
  Salon in South Philly. So our playwright, Seng
• 11:06
  McDevance, she had a lot of time in the community.
• 11:10
  So she got a lot of stories. She did a lot of
• 11:13
  interviews. She collected a lot of the history
• 11:15
  of the people in this area. And the play is loosely
• 11:20
  based upon what they shared. For somebody who
• 11:22
  hasn't read the synopsis yet, how would you describe
• 11:27
  the plot? Sang's Hair Salon is about the main
• 11:31
  character, Sang, dealing with the history and
• 11:34
  her past of how she came to America and dealing
• 11:39
  with, I think, a lot of the struggles that immigrants
• 11:44
  can face when they come to America and trying
• 11:46
  to build their own business. daughter and her
• 11:50
  grandson and her community kind of follow her
• 11:54
  and see her path unfold during the show. It's
• 11:58
  a comedy. It's also a horror play. There is a
• 12:01
  horror element to the show. And it's a beautiful
• 12:05
  family show that I think a lot of people, for
• 12:08
  any immigrant family, can certainly relate to.
• 12:11
  How many characters are in it? How many characters
• 12:14
  are in it? Oh, actually, no, it's more than six.
• 12:17
  Yeah, so, I mean, one, two, three, four. Five,
• 12:24
  six, seven, eight. Eight characters. Oh, wow.
• 12:29
  What can the audience expect? Laughter at the
• 12:35
  bare minimum. Yes. I was going to say the same
• 12:38
  words. Over here, Karen Lee is... One of the
• 12:44
  funniest actors in the show. If not the funniest
• 12:46
  actor, I'll say it. I'll say it. Well, Daniel
• 12:49
  gets some of the biggest laughs. I do get some
• 12:51
  laughs. I do get some laughs. It's just overall
• 12:53
  like a very loving and fun show and just a lot
• 12:57
  of tender moments of familial love and acceptance.
• 13:01
  It's very healing for a lot of children of immigrants.
• 13:05
  Yeah. There's like some very strong moments that
• 13:08
  I think. Personally, myself, my mother, who is
• 13:12
  Korean, who came to America. There's just certain
• 13:15
  lines in there and certain moments of family.
• 13:18
  They're just like, oh, man, it's right at home.
• 13:21
  Yeah. And I think there's also a lot of political
• 13:25
  relevancy that you can expect for. the gentrification
• 13:30
  that's currently happening in the area, for the
• 13:33
  struggle between trying to keep the soul of a
• 13:37
  community intact when you have all of these outside
• 13:39
  forces, whether it's economical, whether it's
• 13:43
  cultural, whether you're maybe even fighting
• 13:46
  some of your own dreams, right? What you want
• 13:49
  to see for your future versus what you see as
• 13:51
  possible for your future. Yeah, I think there's
• 13:54
  a lot of... hope ultimately in the show, but
• 13:58
  you also see that it's not an easy path to get
• 14:01
  there. No. And I think it's very poignant for
• 14:04
  it to be in Philly, about a Philly hair salon.
• 14:08
  If you don't know, Chinatown was facing a really
• 14:12
  terrible... with a whole new arena being open
• 14:18
  and many businesses being torn down. As soon
• 14:21
  as I read this play, it just made me immediately
• 14:24
  think about that. And I think, you know, this
• 14:27
  family in this show deals with a very similar
• 14:32
  problem of gentrification and lives being changed
• 14:35
  and culture not being preserved. It makes me
• 14:38
  think of Verizon Center in D .C. I spent... The
• 14:44
  Obama years in D .C., I didn't work for him,
• 14:46
  but it was just more palatable to be there during
• 14:48
  that time. And I don't know, I don't have a reference
• 14:53
  point for what it was before the Verizon Center,
• 14:56
  but I know that when we came back, my husband
• 14:58
  and I, we returned there in 2019, and it just
• 15:04
  felt like such a shell of itself. What happens
• 15:07
  when the people that were supposed to fuel the...
• 15:12
  The new establishment aren't there anymore. And
• 15:15
  I don't even think it's Verizon Center anymore.
• 15:18
  I think it's the Capital One Arena. And that
• 15:21
  further underscores. Slightly adjacent, but the
• 15:26
  Kennedy Center too. You know, everything going
• 15:29
  on with the Kennedy Center and a lot of stories
• 15:31
  just being ripped out and being refused to be
• 15:34
  told at one of the largest platforms in D .C.
• 15:37
  Right. So let's review the when and the where.
• 15:41
  How long is Seng's Hair Salon running for? Two
• 15:46
  hours, and with a 15 -minute intermission, I
• 15:50
  would say roughly two hours. And as far as the
• 15:55
  date, we are going live with this podcast on
• 15:58
  Wednesday, May 6th, and I understand... that
• 16:02
  the closing date for Sang's Hair Salon is May
• 16:04
  10th? That's correct. Okay. Yeah, Sunday, May
• 16:07
  10th. TikTok, people. But, hey, May 10th is Mother's
• 16:10
  Day, and this is a show that is about family
• 16:14
  in all of the ways that you can possibly imagine.
• 16:18
  So bring your family. I love that. Love that.
• 16:21
  And where can the audience find Sang's Hair Salon?
• 16:26
  On the Interact Theater website, they can find
• 16:29
  tickets. You can look up Sanks Hair Salon. You're
• 16:31
  only going to get two options, the real hair
• 16:33
  salon and the show. Performing at the Interact
• 16:37
  Theater. Good for the real hair salon. It is
• 16:39
  performing at the Drake in the Presidium Theater.
• 16:41
  Not the Louis Bluver Theater. Yes, not to be
• 16:45
  confused with that. Down the street. I just want
• 16:47
  to interject here and say while I was looking
• 16:50
  up background information for this play, I found
• 16:54
  the... IRL, Sang's Hair Salon's Instagram. I'm
• 16:59
  like, wow, this is one heck of a marketing package
• 17:03
  that they put together. This looks very experiential.
• 17:06
  And I'm like, okay, this is actually a real brick
• 17:09
  and mortar place that I could go get my hair
• 17:11
  cut. Well, thank you both for sharing the story
• 17:14
  with us and for everyone to check out Sang's
• 17:17
  Hair Salon. We'll be right back with some rapid
• 17:19
  fire questions. And we're back with some rapid
• 17:22
  fire questions. Could you describe the Philadelphia
• 17:26
  art scene in one word? Supportive. It's a mystery
• 17:31
  to me because this is actually the first time
• 17:32
  that I've really had a chance to be in Philadelphia.
• 17:35
  So I'm still discovering it. And I hope to be
• 17:40
  able to get more familiar in the future. I love
• 17:42
  that. How long have you been here for then? Since
• 17:45
  we started rehearsing, which was the last week
• 17:48
  of... March, I want to say? Yep, 26th. Baltimore.
• 17:52
  Yes. Could you say something about them? Oh,
• 17:56
  sure. Yeah. I mean, the theater scene in Baltimore
• 17:58
  is also very supportive. It's also very community
• 18:01
  -based. So we have a lot of smaller companies
• 18:04
  that are doing a lot of original work. And I
• 18:07
  think something that I've seen from Philly is
• 18:10
  that there's also a lot of very original work
• 18:12
  that's being done here. So there's a lot that
• 18:14
  I hope the two cities will be able to kind of
• 18:17
  maybe co -mingle in the future. I think of them
• 18:20
  as spiritual sisters. I've said that on the podcast
• 18:22
  before, and I stand by that. No, it's good. Favorite
• 18:26
  musical number to perform in? To perform in?
• 18:31
  Favorite musical number? Or just whichever one
• 18:35
  you enjoy the most. I'll go off of my own experience.
• 18:39
  We did Pippin back at the University of the Arts
• 18:43
  straight out of COVID when we all had to wear
• 18:45
  masks. And we had a spacer between our face and
• 18:49
  our mask so we could sing. And my favorite. From
• 18:53
  Pippin was Glory. The first time that I had a
• 18:57
  named character in a musical, I was in Beauty
• 19:00
  and the Beast, and I played the Enchantress.
• 19:03
  And that was a really fun experience for me because
• 19:07
  it ended up being very physical. So the process
• 19:10
  of me showing up as an old woman to becoming
• 19:12
  this grand and powerful Enchantress, so that...
• 19:18
  was something that I really enjoyed as a dancer,
• 19:21
  being able to really stretch those muscles in
• 19:23
  an acting way. And then, of course, all the other
• 19:27
  ways that you are a specialty dancer in Beauty
• 19:29
  and the Beast. I can be a napkin. I can be a
• 19:31
  house person. Yeah, it's the best. Dream venue
• 19:36
  to work in. You know, it's not my dream, but
• 19:40
  I really want to see what's going on at Steppenwolf.
• 19:44
  What are they doing? I have only heard great
• 19:48
  things. I'm still such a novice, but I'm like,
• 19:52
  oh, I know they're doing good things over there,
• 19:54
  and I want to see what's up. And I'll say it.
• 19:58
  The globe. Nice. Let's do it. Come on. Hmm. Gosh,
• 20:08
  this is a hard question for me because I really
• 20:11
  enjoy going to, a lot of different places. So
• 20:16
  in the last couple of years, I've really made
• 20:18
  a lot of my career happen in the regional market.
• 20:22
  And so something that I haven't done yet is actually
• 20:26
  be able to perform in my own hometown on the
• 20:29
  regional market. So maybe I'll stay at Baltimore
• 20:31
  Center Stage. I love that. Nice, nice. I was
• 20:34
  thinking similarly in D .C. because where I'm
• 20:37
  from, we're like 20 minutes outside of D .C.
• 20:39
  So honestly, anywhere in D .C. would be pretty
• 20:42
  cool. I know it's been a short time, but at least
• 20:46
  for you, best place to grab a cheesesteak. All
• 20:51
  right. Go, go, go. Well, I did this last night
• 20:54
  because I went to Oscars to go watch the Flyers
• 20:58
  game, and I highly enjoyed their cheesesteak.
• 21:01
  How did they cut their meat? Was it, like, thick?
• 21:04
  Thin. Thin. Very thin. Thin is nice. I really
• 21:09
  like Woodrow's. I really like Woodrow's. They
• 21:12
  have truffle in their cheese sauce. Yum. And
• 21:15
  I remember I got into a debate with this one
• 21:17
  hardcore Philly guy, and they was like, Woodrow's
• 21:21
  is not a real cheesesteak place. They put truffle
• 21:23
  on it. I'm like, yeah, whatever. But I like the
• 21:26
  truffle in my cheese sauce. I like that it's
• 21:29
  thinly cut. Cool vibes. Man, cheesesteaks got
• 21:32
  so expensive. Golly. $17? Yes. I love the cheesesteak
• 21:38
  at Barclay Prime, and I haven't had the full
• 21:40
  experience, because I think the full one has
• 21:44
  gold in it, and it's $150. Yes. It's insane.
• 21:48
  It's insane. We got their standard baseline one
• 21:52
  for our company holiday party, and it was delicious,
• 21:56
  and it's the only one I've ever eaten. You're
• 21:59
  bad, Philadelphia. Comedy or tragedy? I want
• 22:04
  to be in a tragedy. I feel like I'm in a lot
• 22:06
  of comedic stuff. I'm constantly doing funny,
• 22:09
  funny. I'll be in a tragedy. I love being in
• 22:13
  comedy because when it hits hard, it hits hard.
• 22:17
  So I think the comedy and tragedy combo is killer.
• 22:24
  Yes, yes, yes, yes. I just want to make someone
• 22:26
  cry. And last, if you could have any actor, dead
• 22:30
  or alive, play you in a biopic, who would it
• 22:33
  be? Otsuka Okatsuko. He doesn't know it yet,
• 22:37
  but he is an actor. And I'll say an old biopic
• 22:41
  of me, of my dad playing me in the future. That's
• 22:47
  where I get it from. He's a goofball. I'll say
• 22:52
  my dad. Well, thank you both for joining us today.
• 22:55
  And everyone, check out Sang's Hair Salon, presented
• 22:58
  by Interact Theatre Company. You have four days
• 23:01
  to get to it. Get to it. Philadelphia Ballet
• 23:16
  is wrapping up their production of Romeo and
• 23:18
  Juliet at the Academy Music, with their last
• 23:20
  performance being May 10th. Check them out. Phil
• 23:24
  Ork presents Musician's Choice from May 7th to
• 23:28
  May 9th at Kimmel Center. Asada Kana Mason on
• 23:34
  piano presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music
• 23:37
  Society on May 12th at the Kimmel Center. Val
• 23:40
  Rossman's show is ongoing at Muse Gallery. Take
• 23:44
  a listen to last week's bonus episode with Val
• 23:47
  if you haven't yet. Common Ground is ongoing
• 23:52
  at 12 Gates Arts. American Interior by Dan Gunn
• 23:56
  and Where Spring Begins to Speak, works from
• 23:59
  the in -house collection, is ongoing at Pentimenti.
• 24:04
  Press Play at James Oliver Gallery, a group exhibition
• 24:08
  featuring print works from Alexis Notini, Amira
• 24:13
  Palwan, Jackson Kramer, and Katie Garth, is ongoing.
• 24:18
  Worth the hike up the stairs. If you know, you
• 24:21
  know. The Great Escape show is ongoing at Works
• 24:25
  on Paper Gallery. Robert, do you have your Chicago
• 24:29
  tickets yet? That is your favorite musical yet.
• 24:33
  Hashtag razzle dazzle. And with that... Philly
• 24:37
  has razzle dazzle. And dark. Thanks for tuning
• 24:51
  in to Philly Has Heart, your weekly cultural
• 24:53
  update. Subscribe and join us next time as we
• 24:57
  keep amplifying the artists shaping Philadelphia
• 25:00
  culture.