By Kaitlin Bavaro
Correspondent
A near full house of students, their families, faculty members, trustees, administrators, local community members and out of state residents got to enjoy “Illegal: A New Musical,” on Sunday, March 24. The show told the story of Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century, who were considered America’s first “illegal” immigrants.
Inspired by the family history of the show’s co-creator Skyler Chin, “Illegal” follows the story of three young Chinese immigrants who must pass the interrogation at Angel Island in order to immigrate into the United States.
Kee Lin, played by Subin Kara Ahn, is a martial artist from Hong Kong, who must flee to America after being wrongly accused for the death of her brother. Slim Chin, played by Skyler Chin, is a poor man looking to open a business in America with his friend, Wong Fat Pork, who is played by Nicholas Leung. They must convince interrogators that he and Kee Lin are siblings, or be deported.
Kee Lin, Slim Chin and Fat Pork meet a young Chinese-American woman who serves as an interpreter at Angel Island, Carter Lee, played by co-creator Sita Sunil. She enforces the Chinese Exclusion Act and is faced with the ethical dilemma of choosing between justice for immigrants or the country she serves.
About two years ago, Yifeng Hu, associate professor of communication studies, saw “Illegal” at Queens College and was blown away.
“Since then, I had wanted to bring it to the [College’s] campus and surrounding community to raise cultural awareness,” Hu said.
After receiving support from the School of the Arts and Communication, as well as several cosponsors, Hu was able to finally bring this performance to the College’s campus. This was especially important to Hu, as she feels the show is extremely relevant given the surge of anti-Asian hate across the country.
Through rap, dance and spoken word, “Illegal” walked the line between comedy and tragedy. Having light hearted moments in a musical about a dark chapter of American history helps the audience understand and connect with the people portrayed in the musical.
“I’m still thinking about it, just how deftly they balanced the deadly seriousness of the material with the humanity of the characters, the humor, the mission to educate,” said Josh Fishburn, associate professor of design and creative technology. “When I think about everything they want to balance, it makes the musical that much more impressive."
The show ran flawlessly and the performance given by each actor was impressive, and through their hard work the audience was able to better understand an important but often under-discussed topic of history.
Eleanor Horne, a member of the College’s Board of Trustees, also attended the performance.
“It was a powerful performance by a multi-talented troupe. At the core of ‘Illegal’ is a horrendous chapter in American history that we do not discuss nearly enough. We prefer not to be reminded of our country’s inhumanity,” Horne said. “However, if we do not discuss it, dissect it, and understand it and the impact it has had on people’s lives, we find ourselves repeating it. The targeted populations might change, but the inhumanity persists.”
Sian Brossard, a junior English major at the College, was moved by the performance and the topics covered in the musical.
“Something that really stuck out to me was the repetition of the phrase ‘Liberty for some, and injustice for all,’” Brossard said. “It really emphasizes how so many institutions were made for the sole purpose to oppress non-white people in the U.S. and draws attention to the many other systems still in place that continue to do the same things to Asians, Asian Americans and many other immigrant groups and people of color.”
Illegal’s co-creators feel that many educational institutions do not cover Asian history nearly enough, and they aim to inform the masses through their show.
“I think people should see [“Illegal”] because it is filled with the history of how Asian Americans came over with their own struggles,” said Stephanie Afemeku, a senior communication studies major. “They dealt with discrimination and oppression when they came to Angel Island. If people were to watch this musical, they would learn how much Asian Americans survived here in the U.S.”
Creators Chin and Sunil were inspired to create “Illegal” from their own family history as well as from their passion about Asian history in America and their want to increase education on these topics in schools.
“Songs, music, storytelling, plays, humor and theater are just so humanizing,” Chin said. “It helps build empathy and it brings people in. People may want to research these interrogations after seeing them played out.”
“Illegal’s” co-creators find theater to be a very effective medium for education.
“Musical theater has been really effective in communicating ideas to people,” Sunil said. “People can read a chapter on it, but they might not absorb it or understand the significance of it. If you tie characters to this story, it helps people understand. People from all different cultures can relate to this.”
