What up here buds? I just wanted to give you a
taste of Behind the Stage Door. Yes, it's a new little special
that I'll be doing from time to time showcasing some of LA's
premier theatrical highlights. In this one is including Kim's
Convenience, which is now playing at the Amundsen Theatre
until April 19th. The interviews you'll be hearing
is from a special media invite that I was gladly to be a part
of at the Korean Cultural Arts Center here in Los Angeles, CA.
So if you have the time, please make make your way out to Kim's
Convenience. Yes, the Netflix hit series is
now a play for all to enjoy. So no disrespect to Timothy
Chalamet, I guess we could say Los Angeles is still down with
the arts. Enjoy the special interviews and
again come and check out Kim's Convenience until April 19th at
Los Angeles's Amundsen Theatre. I am with Gabo and James.
We're both understudies for some of the characters in the show.
And are you so excited to just have a chat with you guys?
So welcome to LA. You guys have never been
welcome. Welcome.
But I'm just so excited that you guys are bringing this project,
especially as I said in the Q&A earlier, you know, there's a lot
of racial tensions that have happened over the years,
especially in Los Angeles with black and Korean, you know,
unity. It's just like there's, there's
always like that middle ground. And so how do you guys emulate
your characters or even use some of your real life instances and
occurrences that have happened into the characters that she
play That's. A good question.
I mean, I don't know that we bring anything into what's
already written. We except our like underneath
what's our lived experiences. I lived actually through the
riots here. I used to live in LA.
Years where else in LA? Pasadena at the time when it
happened and I just remember just feels so surreal watching
Reginald Denny get his like head smashed in with this thing live
on television. And I'm just like, whoa.
And I knew, you know, everyone knew something's going to
happen, something's going to go down.
But to actually see it play out, it was just so heartbreaking.
And, and, and it's like, it doesn't represent like, I think
it's just always people who are taking advantage of situations
to, to do all the looting and all that stuff that they don't
entirely represent clearly what the tension really is.
You know, and of course people were angry, people were upset
and, and there was a lot of things that happened that were
very disappointing for so many people, like in the, in the
court system and everything. And as a, as a Korean, I was
very shocked at the outcome of the court proceedings, you know,
and I'm, I was very disappointed.
I, I mean, I'm all about justice and I just knew this is not
going to go well. And, and I understood the pain
and, and, and it's not just that incident, but it was just like
the, the straw that broke the canvas back at the time.
And so, yeah, I've, I've seen it, I've lived here.
I wasn't, I can't say that I'm somebody that was in the heart
of that tension, but as someone kind of close enough to see it,
I felt it definitely. And I think this play is very
important because it just, it just makes all the characters
very human. They're not perfect, but I, I
think if people can get through some of the scenes, some of the
scenes, I think if you just take a snapshot of it might go, wait
a minute, you know, and people might get really upset.
But it's like, no, you have to look at the bigger picture of
what's actually happening. The, the play does not shy away
from racial moments, racist moments.
And they really show the ignorance of, you know, one of
the characters that's being racist, but but also the, how
they change throughout the play. And so I think I don't even know
if I'm answering your questions you you.
Honestly are, and I mean in such a good way because I wanted to
interject on that because honestly, representation matters
as we know, and now you guys are at a pivotal moment.
We have cultures from various aspects of Africa now pouring in
with Afrobeats being one of the number one, you know, music
genres and then K pop just exploding, you know, K pop DNA
hunters, Korean food out here. I mean, we all love the food and
the culture, but to see representation on stage, I think
it is that it's vivital moment where stories do matter in
Timothy Chamet. No man, honey, if you're saying
people are bored, you need to come to LA and see this show and
Bobo, same question for you. You know, how does this, you
know, emulate for you or what does it do for a culture in
general for you? I mean, ultimately this play I
find is it's about a lot of things, but I think one of the
fundamental things it's about is the humanizing of what would
otherwise be considered the other.
And so, you know, the beauty I think of, of, of working on such
a tight script is that all I have to really bring is not
just, you know, the trauma from experiencing racism in my life,
but I can bring my full self to this because I get to play well,
I'm also lucky I get to play multiple roles.
So I get to bring so many. Exactly.
I get to play so many roles with so many different facets and
aspects of my personality. Just to show what you were
saying before, that these are fully lived in characters.
They, they make mistakes. They're, they're messy.
And it's the kind of ugly to look at at times.
But that is, you know, my hope would be that someone watching
the play who isn't Korean or who isn't black can still be like,
I've had that exact argument with my daughter or I've had
that exact same experience, you know?
That's that's what. It is add one more thing, yes.
Please. I find that there is a
connection between Korean culture and black culture in
North America in many ways, like African culture in general.
Like if you look at ancient Korea, they're very tribal.
There's like into beats, into rhythms.
And I think that's why Koreans gravitate and idolize so many
African Americans. Like growing up, we love the
music, we love the athletes. We just we're like into a a lot
more of that and I think. There's a lot of influence that
I see even in like the K dramas. It's it's like Nigerian dramas
even just dramaticize. But it's like, I love how you
both had said something about uncomfortability.
And yes, it's OK to watch art make you uncomfortable because
it's the uncomfortable conversations.
And this is what I like to bring on my podcasts, of course, is to
bring out the uncomfortable situations into a likelihood of
the conversation because if we can't be uncomfortable and
vulnerable, what are we doing on this earth?
Exactly? What are we doing?
So gentlemen, thank you for your time.
And of course, this is Sapphire again with some of the cast.
Of Kim's. Convenience.
And I have Ryan and Rosie with me.
Can you tell me your roles in the show tonight?
Yeah. Yeah, so like you said, my
name's Ryan and I play Jump. Yep, and like you said, my name
is Rosie and I'm the standby for Janet and Amma.
Beautiful. So vulnerability and
uncomfortability, that is one of the two biggest things that my
show Sapphires Airplay is all about.
I like to make people uncomfortable, but also listen
because in the cultures that we all represent, me being African
American, you all being Korean, Asian American or Asian
Canadian, even both the like, yeah, representing these
cultures, It's a wondrous joy right now that we are in 2026
and we are seeing an abundance of culture just blowing up the
way that it is. So how do you emulate your
characters in that uncomfortability, but also
making the message known like, hey, we're here.
We've always been here, and our stories do matter.
Yeah. I mean, so we've touched on it a
little bit in the Q&A just about the whole, you know, the the
permission to be messy, you know, Asians and specifically
Koreans and especially the way our media is kind of being
portrayed right now in a very specific light.
It is very model minority esque. And so getting a chance to yeah,
sort of like, I feel like you don't for instance, you don't
see K pop idols being vulnerable or no, it's a big deal.
It's kind of stepping out of the norm.
Absolutely. Whereas a piece like this, it
asks us, it forces us to to lean into that.
My character, specifically Jung is, is facing a lot of his past
and it's alluded to for the first half of the play before we
even meet him. And so getting a chance to sort
of spill all that out for the audience after only hearing
stories and, and getting snippets of the the whole
picture, getting to actually be like, oh, this is what's been
going on with him. And this is the the mess that's
going on in is, is a privilege as an artist, but also just as
an actor. It's a lot of fun.
As actors, we're kind of forced to do that as.
People. You know, we need to sort of be
the, the what has to happen in here has to be in in order in
order to put all the character stuff in there, right?
And so I'll let Rosie speak to her process, but you know,
getting a chance to like dig into my stuff in order to mix
and mingle with the junk stuff, it's always an interesting
experience. For me.
I think doing Kim's for a lot of Asian actors, Korean, especially
Korean actors, it's the first time we're doing a show.
Where it is. Our cultural background or
ethnic background and that in and of itself can be very
exposing and can we be feeling quite vulnerable, possibly for
the first time? You have to dive deep into who.
You are. In a different way than you've
had to when you are portraying any.
Other character. Not specifically Korean.
And I think what's so beautiful about this project and, and how
each person in the cast has, has sort of taken that bull by the
horns is, is we come from varying backgrounds of Korean
identity. And, and I think because of
that, it's created such a beautiful mosaic.
Of. Korean experiences through this
show, even though we're all representing one family.
So we were given the freedom to explore that and it was embraced
within the rehearsal process to bring those to the the
characters that we were portraying.
So that vulnerability, that seemed kind of intimidating at
first. It was.
Actually the. Key to.
Unlocking these characters. Would you say it's even
therapeutic in a way to kind of bring out this vulnerability and
give a little bit of your own self even?
And the struggles that you may have experienced as a child
dealing with representation, dealing with culture, dealing
with the fact that many of us come from immigrants and we want
to just make our parents and our culture and our ancestors
powered. Do you think that's like, also
like, and This is why Kim's Convenience is going to be one
of those stories that long, you know, long after we can say this
is a story for us. Absolutely.
I I don't think this play will
ever be going away. It is a Canadian classic.
It's a international classic. As well it's.
Interesting what you're saying, the therapeutic versus therapy,
obviously very important conversation for actors in
general, because a lot of, like I said, a lot of the work we do
resembles a lot of therapy and and inner work type of stuff.
But I'm not, I'm not acting out my fantasies in my real life,
getting to reconcile with my parents, all this kind of stuff,
you know, but it is therapeutic, you're right.
And getting a chance to sort of like play that out and see how
that sits. But, you know, understanding
that there is that clear line between therapy and being a
therapeutic exercise. And so, yeah, as artists, you
know, we're kind of forced to to dip into those.
And, and, and like Rosie was saying, just like this, the
sandbox that Ian's built for us to play in is so rich and, and
there's so much depth in it that we've been doing it for over a
year and a half now. And and we're still continuing
to mine more and more. And now I'm sitting with one of
the leading ladies, Miss OPA. Esther.
Esther, it's a pleasure. The Q&A almost had me in tears.
You definitely shedded some tears.
But let's get a formal introduction.
Do you mind introducing yourself?
Of course. My name is Esther Chung, and I
play the role of Oma. Oma.
I said OPA. Oh, my God, I knew I was going
to come around and get you back. There we go.
Please. I don't want the ancestors mad
at me now. Thank you.
And I am standing in front of Frank.
Frank, Frank John. No relation.
OK I was about to ask like is this the?
Sun, but no. So Frank somebody son, he's
somebody. Oh, you somebody, son.
And Frank, what is your role with, you know, Kim?
'S convenience. Stand by for the show.
So I cover the world job. Beautiful.
So we've been talking about vulnerability, the importance of
culture and just disability. And now because of K Pop demon
hunters, we are now just like overwhelmed in a good way of
Korean culture in a sense. But like we were talking about
in the Q&A, it's only just a tad bit of the culture.
So what do you think Kim's Convenience Store can bring, you
know, overall to Angelenos who have never heard of the show,
especially I've never even heard of the Canadian show Netflix had
provided. Like, what do you think us
Angelenos can take from this story and kind of pass on to our
friends, if we will? I think the, you know, the K pop
demon hunters I've although I love and I'm obsessed.
Yes, yes. And K pop in general and K
dramas are kind of like this glossy sort of version of Korean
culture. It's only one aspect.
All of the fans are probably just regular people just living
their lives, which is what I think convenience is about.
It's about real people and their their lives, their stories,
their relationships. It's not glossy, it's not sexy.
It is heartfelt, it is joy filled.
It is filled with conflict and some resolution.
So I think for Angelino's, if you like kind of a real kind of
gritty slice of life, then you know it's the place to be.
Love that, love that. I'd say for.
Folks in LA coming to see the show, I think they'll get a
glimpse of a culture that's. Both different.
But also similar because our it's.
It's. Obviously a Korean store, a big
Korean population in Ali, but the concept of a convenience
store, it's like universal, especially in Canada, you get a
piece of what Canada's like. What's Toronto?
Toronto's like as well, and so I think that's the biggest thing.
I can dig the cat, dig the sea. It's similar about our two.
Neighbors. So that's weird, right?
We're so cuz we're so intertwined, but at the same
time we are different. Yeah, different from the
Americans. So.
It's just it'll be really cool for people to come and see.
Oh, Canadians like this. Canadians have this kind.
Of Snap. Yeah, different cultures.
Yeah. When we talk about even just
plays in general, you know, now that there's so many more that
are coming out about representation, like Jaja's hair
braiding salon. And now we have this and it's
like, OK, how can we keep these stories going throughout the
test of time? Because when we think of plays,
we think of like Les Mis and Hamilton, but how do we bring
shows with people of color, Koreans, you know, who are
rarely seen in any form of media?
How can we solidify this in history?
Like, what do you think, Esther, 10 years down the line where
Kim's Convenience could like take off to?
I mean, I, I feel like it's, you know, it's kind of reaching it's
pinnacle. It is, you know, kind of
achieving heights. Like to be at the Amundsen is
yeah, wild actually. So for me personally as an
actor, that's kind of a height and, and zenith for me.
But yeah, I, I, I I. I don't know.
What do you mean? I think for me, I think it
wasn't fun. It would be amazing if this was
taught in schools. I I love that I love that by.
Other people. Yes.
Young folks. Yes.
Think about cream the arts. To look at.
The thing see what how insurance because he describes a little
bit in the like in the book I think of like how he came about
me yeah like. Hopefully someone will think.
Oh, I can do that. Yes.
And so I think that's the legacy I hope it would be.
That kind of background is actually really great, not just
the story itself, but also the story of NS.
NS will hate this actually, because he does not like
Spotlight at all. But I could tell, yeah, because
I because what I want to say part.
And firstly with that is that to see how he got traction, how he
did it in Fringe, how in Fujian, how it, you know, and then how
it got to be on stage and then how it got to be on Netflix.
We, we need to see examples of those creators.
We need to become those, yes, we have to.
Decenter, whose voices are already being well established,
never going to go away and back, will probably be the majority.
For. Our our lifetime for sure, but
to center then those stories that deserve recognition, that
are valuable, even if it's the mundane, even if it's the
benign, those, those stories are really important absolutely for
me to create those stories. We do create those stories,
create those spaces. And you know, even with when
people think of the Netflix show that ended in controversy with
the limitation of representation of the writers room.
So now bringing it to its play format, do you feel more
represent? Do you feel like the story is
more represented because, you know, Asian, Korean culture is
in the forefront? You know, they're not just in
the background, They're not just filling in the seats.
They are front and center emulating the some of these
characters that I'm. I'm excited to see how explosive
these performances. I'm really looking forward to
your portrayal. And just again, your emotions
really reached out to me during that Q&A because representation
doesn't matter. Being seen.
And thick girl to thick girl, we need more.
We need more bodies of all forms on stage, not just the best.
Friend, yes, not. Just a fetishized version.
Absolutely. Living our lives.
We're just as interesting. We're just as deserving.
We're just. We should be as valued.
Absolutely. For sure.
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, my goodness. Any.
I mean, to piggyback, I mean, this is like women's power in
the middle. Frank is literally the best as
far as he's a loving partner of of Megan and he has always been
at the forefront of protecting us, but also knowing we we got
it. Yeah, yeah, I know.
That place to speak and just. Oh, but you know, I love that
because again, in I'm so happy. I love that to, to put him on a
pedestal. Yeah, deserves it.
It's amazing. I I'm really, I'm like kind of
hoping that I get to see you in action as the understudy because
again, understudies don't get enough love.
I didn't say. This it was not Sapphire
allegedly allegedly don't speak English.
I'm so sorry. No, no, don't don't apologize.
But like, I think you guys really have something bigger
than I don't think any of us can expect.
And I think that's really like breaking the barriers of what
Center Theatre Group is really trying to bring is this whole
cultural explosion because stories.
Not white stories. I want to see more represent.
I want to see more of our people in the seats.
You know and and. Being able to say they can do
and see themselves on stage like you said earlier.