HOSTS

LILY TUNG CRYSTAL

Lily is an actor, director, and artistic director of Theater Mu. She is also the founding artistic director emeritus of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her directing credits include David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish and Flower Drum Song at Palo Alto Players, and the San Francisco leg of the simultaneous world premiere of Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow at Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company. For all three shows, she was named a Theatre Bay Area Award finalist for Outstanding Direction. Tung Crystal also directed the Bay Area premiere of the musical Allegiance at Contra Costa Civic Theatre. As an actor, Lily has worked with theaters across the country, including Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Cal Shakes, Crowded Fire, Magic Theatre, Mountain Play, New World Stages, Portland Center Stage, SF Playhouse, and Syracuse Stage. She is a 2016 YBCA 100 honoree, named by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a “creative pioneer making the provocations that will shape the future of culture.” 

SAYMOUKDA DUANGPHOUXAY VONGSAY

Saymoukda is a Lao American poet, author, playwright, and installation artist. She was born in a refugee camp in Nongkhai, Thailand and immigrated to Minnesota in 1985. Because of her unique background, her work is focused on creating tools and spaces for the amplification of Lao and Southeast Asian refugee voices through poetry, theater, and experimental cultural production. Her plays have been presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Theater Mu, Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists, Lazy Hmong Woman Productions, and Theater Unbound. Her plays include Kung Fu Zombies Vs Cannibals, Hmong Lao Friendship Play, Title IX, and Kung Fu Zombies Vs Shaman Warrior. She's developing the musical In the Camps: A Refugee Musical. You can learn more about her work at saymoukdatherefugenius.com or follow her on Instagram and Twitter @refugenius.

PERFORMERS

FRANCESCA DAWIS

Francesca returns to Mu after perfoming opposite Isabella in peerless. Also with Theater Mu, Francesca has starred inWalleye Kid and Filipino Hearts. Her other theater credits include Once at Theater Latté Da, Standford’s The Phantom of the Opera (Christine), The Ballad of Baby Doe (Baby Doe), Die Fledermaus (Adele), and Ching Chong Chinaman (Desdemona). She was the Concertmaster for the Stanford Philharmonia and Symphony Orchestras. Francesca is a 1st place - Cal-Western Regional NATS Vocal Competition, Stanford Music Department Vocal Prize winner. Offstage, she works for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. B.A. Psychology, Stanford University.

ISABELLA DAWIS

Isabella is an actor, singer, pianist, and writer. She is happy to return to Mu after recently performing opposite Francesca in peerless, her fifth Mu production. Isabella is bookwriter/lyricist for the musical Half the Sky, which tells the story of an Asian American woman climbing Mount Everest — first presented at Theater Mu’s 2019 New Eyes Festival. Half the Sky is a 5th Avenue Theatre First Draft commission, for which she and composer Tidtaya Sinutoke were recently named the winners of the 2020 Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award. As a playwright, Isabella's work has been supported by Musical Theatre Factory, Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Festival, the O'Neill Center, Town Stages, Central Square Theater, the Skeleton Rep, New England Conservatory, and the Schubert Club. As a performer, her recent credits include the Center for Contemporary Opera, 54 Below, the 24 Hour Plays Nationals, and the New York Philharmonic Biennial (featured soloist). She is currently a Rockwell Scholar at the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts in NYC. isabelladawis.com

KAT EVASCO

Kat is queer Pinay immigrant writer, comedian, and theater artist best known for her autobiographical one-woman show, Mommy Queerest, co-written with John Caldon. Her current projects include developing and directing three full-length solo shows: Prieto by Yosimar Reyes, Locus in Control by Jason Bayani, and Irene Tu’s Rest In Peace Irene. Kat’s work has been featured on Vice, Shondaland, Bustle, The Advocate, Out Magazine, and NBC News Asian America. Kat is a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow in playwriting and was published in the 2018 Emerge Anthology. She proudly works the Center for Cultural Power (formerly CultureStrike) as the Sr. Program Director.

JOELLE FERNANDEZ & FRANKIE HEBRES

Joelle and Frankie are dancers, choreographers, teachers... and yes you guessed it - a dance couple! Their movement is rooted in Hip Hop, House, and Filipino folk dance. Before moving to Las Vegas last October, Frankie and Joelle were recipients of the Cultural Community Partnership Grant from the MN State Arts Board, coaches of The Pups for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, and teachers at several dance studios in the Twin Cities. They dance because it brings them joy and healing while inspiring others.

GAOSONG V. HEU

A Hmong American performance artist, musician, vocalist, published writer, educator, arts administrator, and scholar of Hmong performance practices. Gaosong has over 15 years of training in both Western Classical music and traditional Hmong folk music. As a lover of art and advocate for diversity, access, and inclusion; Gaosong received her B.A. in Theater Arts from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and is a graduate of Columbia University's M.A. program in Arts Administration. Currently, Gaosong is working with the Minnesota Opera as the Community Organizer of the first ever Hmong youth opera, The Song Poet. She will star in the world premiere of The Late Homecomer, a one woman show based on the winning novel of Kao Kalia Yang, produced by Literature to Life based in New York City, NY. When Gaosong is not performing or working as an arts administrator, she is the Chief Operating Officer of Marc Heu Patisserie Paris, Saint Paul's premier destination for french desserts and pastries. To learn more about Gaosong's work, you can visit her website at gaosongvheu.com or follow her on facebook at facebook.com/gaosongvheu. 

MAYDA MILLER

Mayda is a young yet seasoned Korean Adoptee multi-musician/artist/producer from the land of 10,000 Lakes. Mayda’s music has been featured locally as well as internationally. Numerous of Mayda’s songs have been on Rachael Ray show, Good Morning America, KFC youtube, Reebok Seoul commercials, Jersey Shore, and cable networks such as Showtime and MTV. Recently, Mayda has just signed with South Korean Indie Label, Musicaroma/Feel Good Inc. On a her 3-week tour in Seoul, Mayda was able to meet her birth parents for the first time. In lieu of the performances, her trip was documented on public television as well as media print. In the middle of March, Mayda then went on a 2-week tour debuting in Europe from Ireland, Germany, Copenhagen, Spain, to Sweden! On returning to the US, Mayda is releasing a brand new batch of songs in the beginning and end of this year.

BAO PHI

A two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist, Bao Phi has appeared on HBO Presents Russell Simmons Def Poetry, featured in the live performances and taping of the blockbuster diasporic Vietnamese variety show Paris By Night, and a poem of his appeared in the 2006 Best American Poetry anthology. His poems and essays are widely published in numerous publications including Screaming Monkeys and Spoken Word Revolution Redux. He has two collections of poems, both published by Coffeehouse Press. He has a short story published in Octavia's Brood and an essay published in A Good Time for the Truth. His first children’s book, A Different Pond, received six starred reviews and won multiple awards including a Caldecott Honor and the Charlotte Zolotow Award for excellence in children’s book writing. His second children’s book, My Footprints, was release by Capstone in 2019.