The East Side: Creating Harvard's First Asian-American Musical

Struck by the lack of Asian representation in theatre, Julia Riew '22 decided to write a show with Asian American experience at its center. Over the next year, a script was written, music composed, sets built, and scenes rehearsed. Discover how a small idea brought the Harvard community together to create a landmark original Asian American musical.
credits:
created by Jared Leong jaredleong.com/
supported by the Harvard University Asia Center
graphics and illustrations by Ramona Park
additional footage by Keehup Yong
music by Artlist.io
Special Thanks to:
David Moberg
KeeHup Yong
Jason Yoo
Julia Riew
John Lim
Michael Yin
Rocket Claman
And the entire The East Side team

[@annieyamamoto]

WOW! On a whim today, I typed in "Asian American musical theater" on my youtube search engine and this video popped up. I am in AWE! "Asian" musicals are so commonly written about war and things that have happened decades ago but THIS! This is new and exciting! Congratulations and best of luck to ya'll on this amazing project! -From a Japanese American Actress who always feels left out in the musical theater community. You give us hope!

[@faithlor3875]

This means so much to me. Showing how Asian-American can be on theatre is what really made me inspired. I love being on stage by singing and acting. I remember I went to the audition for the musical, I end up getting a lot of callbacks, but I never get the main and supporting role.

[@tommorgan2541]

❤️