Chinese Whispers to Premiere GOLDEN GATE, 3/18-20

Chinese Whispers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to uncovering the forgotten history of the Chinese pioneers who helped build the American West, has announced the world premiere of Golden Gate, a multimedia storytelling theater work that brings to life the experiences of Chinese immigrants in the Bay Area. Golden Gate runs Friday to Sunday, March 18 - 20, at the Southside Theater at Fort Mason Center. Tickets, $20 - $25, are available for purchase online atfortmason.org/boxoffice.

Golden Gate presents a tapestry of stories threading the past and present of Chinese immigrants to the San Francisco Bay Area. "From the time of the Gold Rush through the end of the 19th century, over a quarter million Chinese came to work on the railroads, in mining, agriculture, fisheries, industries and various enterprises of the West," said Rene Yung, founder and director of Chinese Whispers. "But there's hardly any mention of them as individuals in America's national narrative."

Since 2006 Yung and a team of artists and historians have traveled Northern California from the Sierra Nevada foothills to the San Francisco Bay, conducting interviews and collecting them into oral histories that form the heart of the work of Chinese Whispers. Yung has also led a research tour of the Bay aboard a replica 19th-century Chinese shrimp junk, she's mounted a multimedia art installation at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, presented storytelling events on historic sea vessels at Fisherman's Wharf, and convened public panels at the Richmond Craneway Pavilion and the EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park in Bayview Hunters Point.

In addition, Yung has conducted new immigrant storytelling workshops at the Chinatown YMCA. Golden Gate culminates these efforts, synthesizing the material into an evening-length performance with eight storytellers, an original soundscape by Jeremiah Moore and lighting and projection design by Stephanie Anne Johnson. Yung herself wrote the script weaving the stories together. "My aim has been to create a ritualized space to honor the past," said Yung, "to invoke the spirit of the ancestors who paved the way, and to honor the spirit of the immigrants who continue that journey today."

"Golden Gate bridges languages and generations by bringing together Chinese American community elders and bilingual youth -- and, moreover, the descendants of the European, African and Native American peoples who interacted with the Chinese," continues Yung. "The story of Golden Gate, while organized around the story of the Chinese immigrant experience, is ultimately the story of the American experience, as new immigrants have struggled to find belonging."

For more information about Chinese Whispers visit chinese-whispers.org.

Photo by Lisa Strong

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