Over a decade ago, me and two other Philly-based Asian-American theater friends of mine heard about a casting call for the musical Miss Saigon at the Walnut Street Theater, and we joked about auditioning. It was a “if you do it I’ll do it” type of situation. So we agreed. Cuz it would be funny, we thought. But also, I had heard tell of Asian performers across the country who do production after production of Miss Saigon and The King and I whenever it was being produced, wherever it was being produced. So aside from it being funny if I were cast, I was also curious to see if I would meet anyone who fit the above description. At the audition I was basically the only person who didn’t know other people! And the rumors were true. Pretty much all of the 20 or so people of Asian descent knew each other, and it clearly not their first Miss Saigon rodeo. It was a fascinating experience to get to peek into that world — I was mostly frolicking in the sort of more “esoteric” or experimental corners of the performance-creation world and this was super new to me. As fascinating as it was, and as much fun as I had pretending to be a musical-theater performer for a 12-week contract, I was also sad about it. Because why in 2011 were so many outrageously talented Asian performers relegated to perform in a musical perpetuating such awful stereotypes of Asian people?

Fast forward through many years of talking and joking about making a show called MISTER Saigon, and it’s finally no longer a joke. 2026 marks the beginning. Produced by Team Sunshine, this project is commissioned by Asian Arts Initiative, FringeArts, and Pao Arts Center (Boston), with the help of 20 organizations across the country, and will start by interviewing male-identifying (past or present) people of Asian-descent who have performed in a minimum of 2 professional productions of the Miss Saigon to learn about how this production shaped their lives and experiences. It’s a massive undertaking. It’ll take yeaaarrs to complete. And I’m looking forward to every second of it.

Royalty free image by Cottonbro Studio