On This Side of the World Takes Flight and Takes Hearts

Mixed Asian Media - June 5, 2023

By Jalen Jones

On This Side of the World takes stage at East West Players — the nation’s premier Asian American Theatre. Paulo K. Tiról and Noam Shapiro’s musical follows a young Filipina who takes a one-way flight from the Philippines to America, with courage and “a suitcase full of stories collected from immigrants who came before her” to sustain her. The premiere musical is a loving and generous dive into the bountiful experiences of Filipino immigrants. Cassie Simone, Allen Lucky Weaver, and ViVi Le delve into how they’ve personally related to their work on the show, their favorite scenes, and more.

Thank you so much for sitting down with us today! Before we really jump in, would each of you mind doing a short introduction?

Cassie Simone: Hi, everyone. My name is Cassie Simone, and I am first generation Filipino American on my father's side. My father's family moved here in 1974 from the Philippines, and he met my mom here — she was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, German Irish American girl. So I’m half-Filipino, half-Caucasian. I play Kayla in the show, who is one of the six passengers, among many other little characters in multiple vignettes throughout — which you'll have to come to the show to see.

ViVi Le: My name is ViVi Le, I'm the assistant director for On This Side of the World. My mom is Vietnamese, and my dad is Thai. It’s a pleasure to be a part of this!

Allen Lucky Weaver: I'm Allen Lucky Weaver, but please feel free to call me Lucky — it's a family name. Both my parents are from the Philippines, but they're both mixed. My mom is of Spanish and Filipino heritage, and my dad is of German and Filipino heritage. They both came here sometime in the late ’70s; my mom for college, my dad to escape the Aquino government for whatever reason. That leaves me kind of a mutt; I'm Filipino, German, and Spanish, and I was also culturally brought up by my stepdad, who is Italian. There's a richness of cultural background from where I'm from.

On This Side of the World is so special — I've never seen a production that's explored so many different facets of what it’s like to be specifically Filipino American. How did your own identity fit into your line of work while on stage?

CS: I actually had a little bit of insecurity coming into this at first, thinking maybe I didn't really belong on that stage because I wasn't a “full” Filipino, and maybe didn't deserve to be there. It wasn't until a little bit later, Paulo [the music and lyrics for the show] messaged me, and said the way that I looked was a topic of conversation. But he and Noam [co-creator and director] did not feel that they should be the gatekeepers to who identifies as a Filipino or Filipino American, and that I very much deserve to be up there with everybody else.

I don’t know if you noticed, but in the character descriptions, Paulo and Noam had written that Kayla is a mestiza! I don't know if that was always there, but I did really notice during this last round of rehearsals that the character was actually written to be a mestiza Filipina. That meant so much to me. I felt completely solid and accepting of the role. From there, I can draw upon all of the rich experience that I had in growing up with my Filipino family. I grew up raised by my Filipino side only, as my dad was a single dad. We lived in Ohio of all places, and I grew up in a fully immigrant household with all of the things that come with that, as I'm sure we're all familiar. I was definitely able to draw from all of my childhood experiences. 

One of my favorite moments of the musical was the “Yaya” song that you were in. You were singing all over the floor, and then suddenly you're going around the stage rapping! Lucky, how was it choreographing that number?

ALW: I mean, Paulo gave such a really great foundation of a framework. And Cassie is so awesome to work with. So it was kind of just going “let's do this,” shaping it to Cassie’s strengths and really bringing the character she worked on forward. The girls in the back are there to inflate her ego, and to frame that image of who she is. But it's Cassie that ties it all together. The movement, the storytelling, all of it.

CS: I'm so glad you came in, Lucky, because you reeled in all the wackiness that I was doing. You made it make sense, so I'm really appreciative of that. 

ALW: I also thought about what different things meant beyond the surface. Like when we sleep on the floor, you know, what does that mean to us? Are we going to have another night doing that? So just adding elements like that. There was a sprinkling of that [thinking] throughout other numbers. I remember during [“Fiesta State of Mind,”] there's a moment where they're all looking at Jemmalyn [played by Zandi De Jesus], and I thought how our “Hello” is “Have you eaten yet?” [The process involved] unveiling these references and familial inside jokes that only we would get. It’s rewarding because as an actor I haven’t been asked what that kind of life looks like. My very first gig, a director said, “Give me an accent,” for one of my characters. It wasn’t even like, “What's your accent?” It was just, “Give me an accent.” Until a certain time, I was just [labeled] “ambiguous” when getting work. But now we're in a time where we can say what we are, be celebrated for it, and be cast authentically for it — it’s incredible.

ViVi, were there moments as you were assistant directing that called for you to pull from your experiences as an Asian American, or as a multiethnic Asian American?

VL: Noam works in a way I really resonate with, and I find myself working in very similar methods. We just clicked right away. He really trusted me with a lot of responsibility. He allowed me to work one-on-one with the actors, and we focused a lot on character work, but at the end of the day, this is a Filipino American story. That’s why it's so unique and so special, and there's so many cultural references I am privileged to be able to witness.

The type of questioning I have [regarding my identity] is not that dissimilar to having multicultural parents, having one white parent and one Asian parent, or being Filipino American versus Filipino from the Philippines. Having multiple identities in your life is a place that I can pull from in terms of being an assistant director. I saw my family in this story. One of the songs is called “My Mother is an Immigrant,” and my mother is an immigrant; straight up, my mom's a boat person. It’s funny because I believe that in storytelling, the more specific you are, the more relatable it is as a story. I was able to identify very easily with the production, and I didn't feel any conflict from not being Filipino.

What were some of your favorite scenes to work on?

ALW: The one I can closely relate to the most would be “Rice Queens.” Using someone who is as fabulous as Steven [actor Steven-Adam Agdeppa], and seeing the idea come to fruition was mind-blowing. Any time Steven does the scene I have like a visceral experience and I scream! I scream like I'm at a drag show. I scream like I'm gonna get nodes, and I don't care. [“Rice Queens”] also touches on society outside of theater, like how men look at some of these fetishes (that were called out in “Rice Queens”). I really relate to the number, but all of them I love.

CS: I love partying backstage before Zandi [actor Zandi De Jesus] and I come in for an interlude, my favorite backstage moment is how the audience is just eating it up! And Steven has them in the palm of their hand. 

VL: I actually feel like this is an underrated gem of the show, but my favorite song is “Light of the Home.” The harmonies are beautiful, Cassie, Zandi, and [actor Andrea Somera]’s voices blend and shine through that song. It's easier to kind of overlook because it happens right after “Cool Tito,” which is this huge number. It's not as flashy staging wise, but it's so beautiful. The story is so clear and so specific, and [the actors] are phenomenal when they do it.

CS: Actually I was going to say that number as well, so we're on the same page! But talking in terms of crowd-pleasing and satisfying, it would be “Ay! Amerika.” It's very satisfying! I also love the simplicity of “Lantern in the Window,” where I'm in the car driving through the Midwestern winter with my fiancé. I just love a park-and-bark, you know? And while not easy vocally for me, I just love being able to just sit there and tell a really beautiful story, and I know that I'm being supported so beautifully and technically.

I’d love to hear about your relationship with East West Players! It's really impressive as a theatre focused on Asian American productions. What has your experience been like working with East West Players?

CS: This is my first time being on this stage! However, I've seen a couple of things at this theatre. They do fabulous work. I've had many friends who have graced the stage of East West Players over the years, and so I've always really wanted to work here.

ALW: Oh yes, I've had quite a long relationship with East West Players. I grew up here in L.A., so when I went to a performing arts high school in West L.A., I remember hearing about this all-Asian theatre company. And lo and behold, I became a professional actor. In 2016 I was cast in their production of La Cage aux Folles, with Gedde Watanabe and Jon Jon Briones — I got to play their maid, and I actually turned that role very Filipino. It's traditionally played by a person of color, and I took my Filipino wings and I took flight with that. I made her a Filipina diva. Then a couple years later, I was Snehal Desai's assistant for Mamma Mia. And now I’m a choreographer, so I kinda grew up through the ranks [over the years].

VL: I had no “East West Players” [for most of my] artistic career — a lot of art schools are predominantly white institutions. It's harder to be a better actor when you have less access to the arts growing up. So when you audition for these programs and you’re from underprivileged backgrounds, you have less of a shot of getting in than folks who went to performing arts high schools. I told myself that if I got my way in, that's God telling me this is what I was meant to do. And so I got in, and God gave me a message.

I went to theatre school and I joined an Asian American theatre company in college called LCC. I was their theater director for two years, and while there we had close ties to a lot of other Asian American entertainment-oriented groups. We saw a ton of East West Players shows, and I became very invested and I fell in love with the East West Players’ line of work. Me and my friend dreamed of working on a show for East West Players together, and I never would have imagined that just a few years out of college this dream for us would come true. She's also working on the show, as a production operator. My first show was only last season. It's like all my dreams came true within a few months — only a year ago, I was working at Trader Joe's. I'm so happy, and I can't believe that I get to work at East West Players, which I've dreamed of for so long.

All the hard work is paying off!

CS: It's amazing that we all have this cool job. And we get to tell such an incredible story that is so emotionally and artistically fulfilling. I completely believe that what we're doing is magic. And we're getting paid for it. I feel so incredibly blessed.

ALW: It did not feel like a job. I got my last check on opening night from the producer, and I was like, “Oh, yeah! Part of the agreement was the pay.” But putting on this show, seeing your faces, getting to work with ViVi and hearing her insight — it was all payment enough. I just actually got the financial part too, so I’m like, “Oh, cool, I'll pay my rent.” [laughs]

On This Side of the World has extended its run by popular demand, now through June 10, 2023! Tickets are available on the East West Players website.

Be sure to follow Cassie Simone @cassiesimone, Allen Lucky Weaver @allenluckyweaver, and ViVi Le @viviaile on Instagram to keep up with their work!