Feb 09 | 4:00 pm
The Truer History of the Chan Family
Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Director
Co-Presented by:
WORLD PREMIERE
Chinese American playwright and wannabe social influencer seeks fame and fortune, American-style – by exploiting her family’s Gold Rush history as sex traffickers and vaudevillians, only to be set straight by family ghosts in a musical odyssey through America’s anti-Asian hate and filial Chinese expectation.
Gallery
Ten Times Better
(precedes The Truer History of the Chan Family)
Jennifer Lin, Director/Producer
George Lee is an 88-year-old blackjack dealer who still works five days a week. He’s a familiar and beloved figure in the pit of the Four Queens Casino in downtown Las Vegas.
But none of those card players knows his astonishing story or his place in ballet history. A child dance prodigy who grew up poor in Shanghai. A refugee fleeing war.
It’s a uniquely American story: an immigrant striving to prove himself. An Asian pioneer in ballet and on Broadway.
The film is a tale of talent and perseverance in the face of hardship, and a reminder of the extraordinary stories behind the nameless faces all around us.
Trailer:
(Press the ‘V’ Logo for Full Screen)
Info
Venue
Bright Family Screening Room (BFSR)
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Dates
Feb 09, 2025 | 4:00 pm
Details
85 minutes
All Ages
In English
Access
Closed Captions for Ten Times Better
Sun, Feb 09
Related Events
Masterclass with playwright and screenwriter Eugenie Chan
Join us for an afternoon of conversation and reflection with playwright and screenwriter Eugenie Chan. Get the inside scoop on the making of her film The Truer History of the Chan family, watch some sneak-peek clips, and take away inspiring prompts for exercises you can use in your own creative practice! Eugenie combines myth, family lore, imagined histories (as well as tales told by fellow Asians), and humor to tell stories that capture the epic sweep of Chinese Americans in the American West.
Film Screening of Ten Times Better with Filmmaker Jennifer R. Lin
Join us for the closing event for Emerson’s 2025 Teach in on Race, an inspiring evening featuring the film Ten Times Better, followed by a panel discussion with filmmaker Jennifer R. Lin and a reception.
Ten Times Better is the incredible story of George Lee, an 88-year-old blackjack dealer whose life holds an untold history in the world of ballet. A refugee who arrived in the USA with a burning desire to succeed, George’s story is a testament to perseverance and the power of following one’s passion. His mother’s advice—“You must be ten times better”—led him to become an Asian pioneer in ballet and Broadway, having danced in Balanchine’s original The Nutcracker and appeared in the original production of Flower Drum Song directed by Gene Kelly.
This film showcases the extraordinary stories behind the faces we may not always notice but who have shaped the cultural landscape in ways that matter.
After the screening, enjoy a closing reception from 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM, providing an opportunity to meet the filmmaker and panelists.
Join the Discussion
Q&A following the screening:
- Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Director
- Eugenie Chan, Producer/Screenwriter
- Byron Au Young, Composer
- Bindi Kang, PA, Assistant Professor, Emerson College
- Alison Yueming Qu, Executive Director, Chuang Stage, Associate Producer of HowlRound Theatre Commons/Emerson College Office of the Art; Moderator
Artists
The Truer History of the Chan Family
Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Director
Erin Mei-Ling Stuart is a multidisciplinary Bay Area theater maker. She directs, choreographs, devises, acts, dances, and makes music. Erin has made some DIY experimental and dance videos, which have screened at American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), West Wave Dance Festival (San Francisco, CA), Reel Pride Film Festival (Fresno, CA), Tampa Bay Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (Tampa, FL), The San Diego Tijuana DanceOnFilm Festival, and Shotgun Players’ 2 minutes in 2 days Festival and 30/30 Vision Project (online). Erin’s stage directing credits include 30 works for EmSpace Dance, the dance theater company she founded and ran for 18 years, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 at Shotgun Players, and the premiere of Brian Thorstenson’s Wakefield. The Truer History of the Chan Family is Erin’s first (nearly) feature-length film.
Eugenie Chan, Producer/Screenwriter
Eugenie Chan is artistic director of Eugenie Chan Theater Projects. Theatres that have produced or developed her prize-winning plays include Crowded Fire, Houston Grand Opera, The Public, Playwrights Horizons, Cutting Ball, Magic Theatre, Centenary Stage, Perishable, Thick Description, Northwest Asian American Theatre, East West Players.
Her screenplays have been seen at: Berlin, Big Apple, Cinestory, Dis-Orient, Mill Valley, San Diego Asian and Toronto film festivals. She teaches at San José State University. She is an alumna Resident Playwright: East West Players, Crowded Fire, New Dramatists and the Playwrights Foundation.
She is thrilled that her first film, The Truer History of the Chan, is part of ArtsEmerson Projecting Connections. With gratitude to ArtsEmerson for your visionary support. And boundless thanks to the Truer History team. www.eugeniechantheater.org.
Byron Au Yong, Composer
Composer Byron Au Yong has collaborated with Eugenie Chan for over 25 years. His musical projects range from intimate chamber works to large-scale, site-specific installations. Highlights include Activist Songbook, Piano Concerto—Houston, and Stuck Elevator presented at venues such as the American Conservatory Theater, CounterCurrent Festival, Hawai’i Opera, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Nashville Opera, and Virginia Tech Center for the Arts. His honors include a Creative Capital Award and Sundance Institute Time Warner Foundation Fellowship. He is currently an Associate Professor and Arts Leadership Director at Seattle University.
Kar Yin Tham, Consulting Producer
Kar Yin Tham is an independent filmmaker working both in narrative and documentary films. She has helped produce projects that have won awards at film festivals nationally and internationally, including Best Short (Adrift in Sunset) and Best Narrative Feature (Collisions). Kar Yin co-directed and produced Home is a Hotel, which won the audience award for Best Feature Documentary, and the juried award for Best Bay Area Documentary at the 2023 SFFILM Festival. Alongside creative pursuits, she has an established career in the nonprofit sector.
Ten Times Better
Jennifer Lin, Director
Jennifer Lin, director/producer, spent more than 30 years as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her first documentary was Beethoven in Beijing, a feature about the Philadelphia Orchestra’s China legacy, which premiered nationally on PBS’s Great Performances.
Partners
ArtsEmerson presents Projecting Connections: Chinese-American Experiences. Using film as a lens to reflect on the vast lived experiences of the Chinese in the Greater Boston Area, this special series will feature monthly films and post-show curated discussions designed to build and foster meaningful community conversation.
New England’s Largest Asian American Film Festival
The Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF) empowers Asian Americans through film by showcasing Asian American experiences and serving as a resource to filmmakers and the Greater Boston Community. BAAFF is a co-production of Asian American Resource Workshop and ArtsEmerson.
