Arts

May 9, 2025 0

Emily Feng on ‘Eerie Parallels’ Between the State of U.S., China Politics

Identity is a slippery, deceitful condition to define, even amongst ourselves. Look at your reflection on a Monday and you’re decisively one thing. Come Tuesday, that same image will provide different results. In reporter Emily Feng’s powerhouse new book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China, the question of who we are as reflected by our political surroundings and defined by our cultural baggage is clearly delineated through the narratives of approximately two dozen people […]

May 9, 2025 0

Artist Fulfills Dream With Dragon Boat Museum

by DongDong Yang

As a child, Peter Ng often watched dragon boats as they sped by Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau island. He was filled with awe and envy. “But I was not allowed to join a team because I was too young. I always wanted to,” Ng told the Sampan recently. Now, his love of the races and dream of taking part in them has led to a major personal success: He founded the newly opened Dragon Boat Museum in Quincy – the […]

April 30, 2025 0

‘She Represents All of Us’: News Legend Connie Chung Shows She Could Tango With Nixon … and Crack a Good Joke

by Anna Hu

Going to see Connie Chung talk is like going to a stand-up show where the comic also happens to be a famous journalist. The more than 200 audience members who filled the GBH Calderwood Studio for “A Conversation with Connie Chung” this March likely had a good idea of who she is: the first Asian American to anchor a broadcast program in the United States. They might have known that she broke into the industry and pushed her way to […]

April 25, 2025 0

Eddie Ahn Draws From His Life as an ‘Advocate’: Artist Chats About Creating Graphic Novel

by Anna Hu

During the height of Covid in 2020, environmental policy advocate Eddie Ahn started what he thought was just a pandemic project — posting snippets of his comic book memoir to social media. The posts — about career anxieties, the bumpy road to artistic success, and growing up Korean American with industrious immigrant parents — resonated with readers. And then his comic strips took off. The original goal was to develop a series of short stories for the small but well-respected […]

April 25, 2025 0

‘No One Can Walk It For You’ – Iranian-American Haleh Liza Gafori to Appear in Hub to talk about Her Translation Life

by Kevin A. Mani

Haleh Liza Gafori had the offer of a lifetime. And then she said no. Gafori was one of the lucky few to get accepted into Harvard Medical School. But instead, the Iranian-American writer and translator decided to pursue her true passion: The arts. “It’s a pity,” her mother said recently, holding a framed copy of her daughter’s acceptance letter. Instead, Gafori earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the City College of New York.Now, years later, […]

April 25, 2025 0

‘Beastly’ Is Poignant But Fails to Address Elephant in the Room

by Virginia Sun

The one-woman theater performance Beastly: An Autobiographical Feminist Folk Tale at the Boston Center for the Arts opens in a not-too-distant dystopian future where oil tycoons rule while the world burns. Melissa Hale Woodman, who created and starred in Beastly, delves into female sexuality, identity, and aging, while connecting these autobiographical experiences with critiques of patriarchy, corporate greed, and climate crisis. The show is told through interwoven short personal monologues with Woodman dressing up as animals to tell fables in […]

April 25, 2025 0

‘A Man of No Importance’ at Speak Easy Theater Compassionately Explores Queer Life

by Virginia Sun

The musical A Man of No Importance, set in 1960s Dublin, delved thoughtfully into how love, community, and art can be spiritual bulwarks for a closeted queer person amid homophobia and conservatism. At Speakeasy Theater, this wonderfully acted and staged performance addressed queer themes of both “coming in” to oneself and coming out to the world with emotional depth, vigor, and bravery. Paul Daigneault directed this beautifully produced musical, his last show after 34 years at the helm of the […]

April 25, 2025 0

Queer Voices Festival Makes a Show of Joy, Defiance & Pride

by Harmony Witte

Amid a political push back against diversity and the rights of transgender people, the Queer Voices Festival at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theater in late March brought together a diverse group of performances of pride, joy, grief – and defiance. “Gay, gay, gay!” is how opening performer Peter Mill described his evening’s song and dance show. Indeed, during his time on stage, Mill commanded the space with powerful vocals and a magnetic stage presence, performing a mix […]

April 25, 2025 0

Autism Symposium Focuses on Inclusion, Tech and Arts

by Sampan Staff

“We must learn to see not only the differences, but also the talents and admirable qualities that reside within them.” Those words, spoken by Dr. Xue-Jun June Kong, summed up the theme of this year’s Autism Awareness Symposium at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on April 5-6. The event – held during the globally recognized Autism Awareness Month – touched on a variety of topics related to the neurological condition including uses of technology, inclusion, arts and education. More than […]

April 11, 2025 1

Double Exposure: Photographer Lisa Tang Liu explores what it means to be ‘American’

by Adam Smith

Photographer Lisa Tang Liu made a career out of taking other people’s portraits. But she was never interested in taking her own photo — not even selfies on her phone. Then Covid hit, and some old, bad feelings from her childhood began to return. Having grown up in a predominantly white suburb in New Jersey as a child, she said, she felt “a sense of shame” for being Chinese. She wanted those around her to embrace that she was as […]

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