Written & performed by: Rachel Lin
Directed by: Nana Dakin
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MOCA Performs – Dear John, A Workshop Performance
September 21, 2023, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Free
Graphic designed by Rich Soto
The Museum of Chinese in America is proud to collaborate with writer/actress Rachel Lin again to present a workshop performance of DEAR JOHN. Previously at MOCA Cinema: Spotlight on Women Filmmakers in March 2023, Rachel presented her short film, Great Listener, a story about an Asian American actress who found herself forced to reckon with the real-life consequences of the pervasive typecasting. Parallel with an anti-Asian hate crime case, Rachel successfully captures the Asian American community’s struggles in today’s society through a very intimate story.
DEAR JOHN is a solo show inspired by real life events. In 2011, an estranged father, “John,” reaches out to a long lost daughter for the first time… on Facebook. When he begins writing her letters, she doesn’t reply. For years. Until a sudden illness beckons her to reconcile with her previously unknown past.
DEAR JOHN is an exploration of what it means to be a father or a daughter, our expectations of one another, and the ways we fall short. Spanning three continents and four decades, Dear John weaves together excerpts from John’s letters, historical context, and stories of growing up as an immigrant kid in New York City.
Creative Team
About RACHEL LIN, writer/actress
Rachel is an actor, writer, and producer based in Brooklyn who was born in the UK, and raised in New York City’s Chinatown. Most recently, she played Detective Victoria Cho on NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime. World premiere productions include: Women by Chiara Atik, Fat Kids on Fire by Bekah Brunstetter, Ajax (NYT Critics’ Pick), and Mary Kate Olsen is in Love by Mallery Avidon. She has developed work with artists & institutions like: Aaron Landsman, Elastic City, P.S. 122, Target Margin, William Burke, Riot Group, Tiny Little Band, and more. She is currently a Brooklyn Arts Council grantee for her solo show: Dear John. She is a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. She is the host of Upstage Left, a podcast featuring intimate interviews with theater makers and friends, available wherever podcasts are found. BFA, NYU Tisch.
About NANA DAKIN, director
Nana Dakin (she/her) is a queer Thai American director of new work, classics and devised performance based in NYC. Her work pursues social equity by examining the way culture is constructed and unsettling dormant biases. Upcoming: THE CHINESE LADY (Everyman Theatre). Recent: AGAIN (Theater Mu), EURYDICE (American Shakespeare Company), MAMMELEPHANT (Superhero Clubhouse/122CC), LOST COAST (The Playwrights Realm INK’D Festival), SORRY/NOT SORRY (Ars Nova ANT Fest), LOVE LETTER TO A SEED (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks), WHITE PEARL (Royal Court Theatre), RICHARD III (Lenfest Center for the Arts). Nana is an alum of the Soho Rep Writer Director Lab, NYTW 2050 Directing Fellowship, Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship, and Civilians R&D Group. She is a core member of B-Floor Theatre, Thailand’s most highly awarded theatre company, and of Superhero Clubhouse, a company that creates theater to enact climate and environmental justice. Nana is also the Board President of the Thai Theatre Foundation. MFA Theatre Directing: Columbia University. www.nanadakin.com