BRUCE
LEE - learn about a great Asian American male star
by clicking HERE.
ANNA
MAY WONG - read about the first Asian Pacific American
female movie star by clicking HERE.
PHILIP
AHN - discover one of the pionnering Asian Pacific
American artists by clicking HERE.
US ASIANS:
Could you share your
experiences how you got the part of roles listed such as the following:
Character of "Jen"
in the Justice League Productions
"Kristen"
in the production of "Cattle Call" with Director Ruben O'Malley
"Sophie"
in the Emperor Mine Productions of Sunny Day
Backhouse Production
of "Up to the Roof" and the
PBS production of
Lohengrin (Children's Chorus)?
LYNN
CHEN:
Most of these roles, I got through people I knew.
Ruben O'Malley,
who was the DP for "Fortune,"
asked me to come in and audition for "Cattle Call." It
was filmed on a sound stage last year, but (I believe) the project is
on hold because there are additional shots needed to complete the project
My friend's
production company was doing "Up to the Roof" and they asked
if I'd play the DJ - a tiny part of the production.They shot those scenes
at Studio 54. I got to wear a fuzzy pink Kangol hat and huge yellow glasses
and scream - which as fun.
"Lohengrin"
happened simply because I was alredy in the stage production at the Metropolitan
Opera House and they aired that particular show - I was eight at the time.
I recently got the DVD and had a good laugh . . . my brother is in that
same production and his hair is sticking up.
US
ASIANS:Could
you share your experience(s) and what you had learned (as an actress)
in your Industrial Film experiences such as:
Pearson Education
US Version (Amy Lee) Walkabout Productions
Oxford University
Press (Voice-Over) Full House Productions and
The Future is
Now (Principal) Cyclotron Productions)
g
Lynn
Chen
LYNN
CHEN: Most of the Pearson Education industrial
shoot was shot like a television show, with multiple cameras, over a few
weeks. The other parts of it were done with teleprompter, much like “The
Future is Now” industrial I did. Teleprompter roles are great –
I enjoy reading lines off copy and not having to memorize anything, similar
to the reason why I love doing voice-overs…voice-over work is my
favorite. You go in and out looking like crap and you’re still doing
your job.
US
ASIANS:Who
are your role model(s) as an actor and why?
LYNN
CHEN: I’d like to have some of Audrey Hepburn
and Jimmy Stewart’s skills…they made some incredibly cheesy
lines work.
US
ASIANS:What
specific skills of Audrey Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart would you like to
have?
LYNN
CHEN: Intensity and grace
US
ASIANS:Do
you remember much of your experience of performing alongside Rudolf Nuruyev
at the Metropolitan Opera House as a child of five years old?
LYNN
CHEN:My
debut involved walking on stage, watching Nuruyev do his thing, and then
walking off. I remember he was really sweaty.
US
ASIANS:Are
you still dancing, at the present time?
LYNN
CHEN:Not
professionally. I like to take dance classes sometimes and have been known
to boogie down on occasion.
Lynn
Chen's father was the founding president and a member of the Board
of Directors of The Kunqu Society, Inc., which is a New York-based
company devoted to the to the preservation, study, and advancement
of Kunqu, a genre of Chinese musical drama.
WHAT
IS KUNQU? It is recognized as the high model of Chinese
musical literature. Possessing rhythm and beats, spoken Chinese
is a tonal language which contrasts high pitches with low and muted
pitches, thus setting apart sounds representing the masculine force,
yang, from those representing the feminine force, yin. Owing to
this linguistic phenomenon, music has always been inseparable from
literature. And since music has exerted such a tremendous influence
on Chinese poetry and poetic essays, these literary oeuvres can
generally be termed as the musical literature of China.
WHY
PRESERVE AND STUDY KUNQU? Though music and literature being
integral parts of each other, literature has been better preserved,
because most of it was written down. Music, on the other hand, most
of which was passed on orally, rarely survived the different chaotic
times and special circumstances. This accounts for why so many fine
poems, which were at one time popular songs in China, are but written
words today. Many of these once singable literary works can be appreciated
and analyzed today only as literature, but no longer as music.
WHAT
IS KUNQU THEATER? It is singing, dancing and acting to
poetic works by masters of Ming and Qing dynasties, the Kunqu theater
towers as the predominant dramatic force in China from the sixteenth
century down to the present day. Indeed, with the libretti of most
Kunqu plays so marked by poetic splendor, a Kunqu performance is
often treasured by audiences not only as a riveting theater of singing
and dancing, but also as a fine reading of high literature.
WHAT IS A KUNQU PERFORMER? They are a singer, dancer
and actor - all three in one, and the pivotal element on the stage.
All motions and emotions are expressed by the elaborately made up
and resplendently robed actor through dancing, singing and acting
against a stark background on a bare stage with minimum props.
WHAT ARE THE REASONS BEHIND THE KUNQU SOCIETY'S PURPOSE?
In view of China's increasing Westernization, and consequently
of the steady diminution of its cultural heritage from its glorious
past, the survival of Kunqu, the crown jewel of performing arts
in China, is crucial to China's cultural self-identity. It is for
this reason, and for this reason only, that the Kunqu Society is
devoted to studying, preserving and promoting the art of Kunqu.
Click HERE
to visit the Kunqu Society, Inc.'s website.
In
Asia, UNESCO honored Kunqu Opera as one of six masterpieces oral
history. The other selections being Kutiyattam Sanskrit theatre
(India); Nôgaku theatre (Japan); royal ancestral rite and ritual
music in Jongmyo shrine (Korea); the Hudhud chants of the Ifugao
(Philippines) and; the cultural space of the Boysun District (Uzbekistan).
For more information, please click HERE.
Lynn
Chen's father was the founding president and a member of the Board
of Directors of The Kunqu Society, Inc., which is a New York-based
company devoted to the to the preservation, study, and advancement
of Kunqu, a genre of Chinese musical drama. 
