POST SHOW MUSINGS

 

I wanted to share an amazing audience response from an actor named DC Wolfe who came to the show Saturday night with my good friend Weiko Lin (an incredible writer whose play, 100 Days, premiered at LOFT ensemble in February 2011).

For DC, this story hit close to home as well--he is Vietnamese, and one of the children who was airlifted from Saigon in 1975 on one of the Babylift flights. Only three years old at the time, DC was not actually an orphan--his mother was advised by U.S. Civilian Personnel that the easiest way to get her young son out of the country before the imminent communist invasion was to get him on one of the orphan rescue flights out. DC was not on the first outgoing flight that crashed, but he had friends who did leave on the first flight and survived the crash. It moved me deeply to find out he was in the audience--someone who was directly connected to the events and understands on a deep level my dad's connection to the fall of Saigon.

Like many actors, I'm self-centered. I often only think about myself--the need to tell my stories and share my art with the world. Why? So I feel valuable. So I can be seen and heard. But that's a recipe for disaster in the artist's world if left unchecked. I have to constantly remind myself it is not about me. This seems contradictory to my script; after all--I did write myself into it. And my inner critic constantly harps on me for it, astonished at my narcissism and berating me for not simply telling my dad's story. But a huge part of the story isn't simply the details of the events that transpired in Vietnam--it's the journey to find the courage to tell the story in the first place. It's the process of asking difficult questions like "where did I come from" and "why am I the way I am?" Having DC attend the show and speak to me afterward helped me remember that I'm not simply doing this to heal myself, or my dad. I'm doing this because countless people were affected by the Vietnam conflict, in many walks of life that often get overlooked, and the process of healing often starts with reminding yourself that you are connected to every single person on this planet. In every country, from every generation. Everyone's story is your story. By telling your own, you're telling someone else's. And most likely setting both of you free.