LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have historically been misrepresented in mass media and entertainment, and are rarely in control of how their stories are told or how they are portrayed.
This AAPI Heritage Month, I got a look at how six Las Vegas locals are taking the power back and reclaiming their narratives through the "My Own Story" workshop.
Performance artist Alex Luu created the workshop and has brought it to other cities, but this is the first time it's been made available to Las Vegas locals. With this first Las Vegas workshop, he's focusing on the AAPI community, with six locals participating.
It's an eight-week workshop sponsored by the Mellon Foundation during which Luu provides writing prompts and poses thought-provoking questions to the participants.
Over the eight weeks, Luu helps each participant craft a monologue, which they will perform before a live audience at the end of the workshop. Each individual's performance will explore pivotal moments in their lives.
"Everyone has a story, or stories, so 'My Own Story' gives participants a really rare chance to come into that space, to look at their stories, connect with each other, listen to each other's stories, write, explore, talk, and then ultimately perform their autobiographical stories to a public audience," Luu said.
The chance to tell our own stories, in our own words and on our own terms, is not something many in the AAPI community get.
"These stories are much more raw and real and kind of brings out the humanity in all of us, and that's why I created the workshop, which is to counter the stereotypes, because our stories and our communities, have been for whatever reason, to a great extent, historically and systematically either ignored, forgotten or misrepresented," Luu said.
Luu said the process of creating these performances evokes both laughter and tears, as participants examine both the triumphs and trials in their lives.
"It's a two-tier process. It's an empowering and liberating process for the storyteller and performer, and for the audience, it gives them the bigger picture of what's out there," Luu said.
The participants in this workshop represent a variety of countries, cultures, and age groups, Luu said. Some of them have no experience performing in front of an audience, while others, like Ava Cariño, are no strangers to it.
A spoken word artist, Cariño is familiar with getting on stage, but she said this will be her first time getting this vulnerable.
"It's so cathartic to write it on a page and perform it and to say, 'I went through this,' and someone saying, 'I see you in me,'" she said.
She said being in "My Own Story" has given her the space and permission to go deep. A big part of her performance is an exploration of her cultural identity — something she's struggled with.
"Trying to grapple between those two worlds of 'I'm too white to be Filipino but too Filipino to be white,'" she said.
It's why she said she never felt worthy of a cookbook passed down the Filipino side of her family for generations. It's a memento of her late grandfather and how he showed his love through Filipino food. That cookbook is a prop and central theme in her performance, which explores identity, grief, trauma, joy and so much more.
She said "My Own Story" is needed, especially in the AAPI community.
"Asian American stories or Pacific Islander stories are always erased or swept under the rug, or we're often told 'Don't speak about what you've gone through or keep it behind doors,'" she said.
After a lifelong struggle with trying to categorize herself or put herself in a box, she said "My Own Story" makes her feel like she's finally found a place — and that she's enough, as she is.
"Being in 'My Own Story,' I'm able to finally put those together and say, 'I'm white but I'm also Filipino,' and those shouldn't dominate each other, they should be in parallel and in tandem with each other, and understand the complexities that come with being a biracial Filipino American," she said.
You can watch Ava and her fellow participants take the stage in the auditorium at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV on Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10 starting at 7 p.m. both nights. Admission and parking are free.
The performances will feature adult themes and language, so it's best suited for adults.
