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What up here buds? 
I just wanted to give you a 

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taste of Behind the Stage Door. 
Yes, it's a new little special 

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that I'll be doing from time to 
time showcasing some of LA's 

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premier theatrical highlights. 
In this one is including Kim's 

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Convenience, which is now 
playing at the Amundsen Theatre 

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until April 19th. 
The interviews you'll be hearing

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is from a special media invite 
that I was gladly to be a part 

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of at the Korean Cultural Arts 
Center here in Los Angeles, CA. 

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So if you have the time, please 
make make your way out to Kim's 

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Convenience. 
Yes, the Netflix hit series is 

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now a play for all to enjoy. 
So no disrespect to Timothy 

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Chalamet, I guess we could say 
Los Angeles is still down with 

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the arts. 
Enjoy the special interviews and

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again come and check out Kim's 
Convenience until April 19th at 

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Los Angeles's Amundsen Theatre. 
I am with Gabo and James. 

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We're both understudies for some
of the characters in the show. 

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And are you so excited to just 
have a chat with you guys? 

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So welcome to LA. 
You guys have never been 

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welcome. 
Welcome. 

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But I'm just so excited that you
guys are bringing this project, 

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especially as I said in the Q&A 
earlier, you know, there's a lot

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of racial tensions that have 
happened over the years, 

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especially in Los Angeles with 
black and Korean, you know, 

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unity. 
It's just like there's, there's 

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always like that middle ground. 
And so how do you guys emulate 

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your characters or even use some
of your real life instances and 

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occurrences that have happened 
into the characters that she 

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play That's. 
A good question. 

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I mean, I don't know that we 
bring anything into what's 

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already written. 
We except our like underneath 

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what's our lived experiences. 
I lived actually through the 

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riots here. 
I used to live in LA. 

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Years where else in LA? 
Pasadena at the time when it 

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happened and I just remember 
just feels so surreal watching 

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Reginald Denny get his like head
smashed in with this thing live 

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on television. 
And I'm just like, whoa. 

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And I knew, you know, everyone 
knew something's going to 

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happen, something's going to go 
down. 

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But to actually see it play out,
it was just so heartbreaking. 

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And, and, and it's like, it 
doesn't represent like, I think 

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it's just always people who are 
taking advantage of situations 

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to, to do all the looting and 
all that stuff that they don't 

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entirely represent clearly what 
the tension really is. 

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You know, and of course people 
were angry, people were upset 

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and, and there was a lot of 
things that happened that were 

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very disappointing for so many 
people, like in the, in the 

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court system and everything. 
And as a, as a Korean, I was 

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very shocked at the outcome of 
the court proceedings, you know,

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and I'm, I was very 
disappointed. 

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I, I mean, I'm all about justice
and I just knew this is not 

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going to go well. 
And, and I understood the pain 

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and, and, and it's not just that
incident, but it was just like 

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the, the straw that broke the 
canvas back at the time. 

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And so, yeah, I've, I've seen 
it, I've lived here. 

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I wasn't, I can't say that I'm 
somebody that was in the heart 

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of that tension, but as someone 
kind of close enough to see it, 

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I felt it definitely. 
And I think this play is very 

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important because it just, it 
just makes all the characters 

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very human. 
They're not perfect, but I, I 

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think if people can get through 
some of the scenes, some of the 

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scenes, I think if you just take
a snapshot of it might go, wait 

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a minute, you know, and people 
might get really upset. 

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But it's like, no, you have to 
look at the bigger picture of 

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what's actually happening. 
The, the play does not shy away 

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from racial moments, racist 
moments. 

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And they really show the 
ignorance of, you know, one of 

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the characters that's being 
racist, but but also the, how 

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they change throughout the play.
And so I think I don't even know

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if I'm answering your questions 
you you. 

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Honestly are, and I mean in such
a good way because I wanted to 

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interject on that because 
honestly, representation matters

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as we know, and now you guys are
at a pivotal moment. 

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We have cultures from various 
aspects of Africa now pouring in

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with Afrobeats being one of the 
number one, you know, music 

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genres and then K pop just 
exploding, you know, K pop DNA 

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hunters, Korean food out here. 
I mean, we all love the food and

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the culture, but to see 
representation on stage, I think

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it is that it's vivital moment 
where stories do matter in 

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Timothy Chamet. 
No man, honey, if you're saying 

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people are bored, you need to 
come to LA and see this show and

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Bobo, same question for you. 
You know, how does this, you 

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know, emulate for you or what 
does it do for a culture in 

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general for you? 
I mean, ultimately this play I 

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find is it's about a lot of 
things, but I think one of the 

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fundamental things it's about is
the humanizing of what would 

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otherwise be considered the 
other. 

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And so, you know, the beauty I 
think of, of, of working on such

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a tight script is that all I 
have to really bring is not 

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just, you know, the trauma from 
experiencing racism in my life, 

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but I can bring my full self to 
this because I get to play well,

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I'm also lucky I get to play 
multiple roles. 

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So I get to bring so many. 
Exactly. 

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I get to play so many roles with
so many different facets and 

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aspects of my personality. 
Just to show what you were 

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saying before, that these are 
fully lived in characters. 

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They, they make mistakes. 
They're, they're messy. 

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And it's the kind of ugly to 
look at at times. 

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But that is, you know, my hope 
would be that someone watching 

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the play who isn't Korean or who
isn't black can still be like, 

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I've had that exact argument 
with my daughter or I've had 

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that exact same experience, you 
know? 

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That's that's what. 
It is add one more thing, yes. 

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Please. 
I find that there is a 

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connection between Korean 
culture and black culture in 

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North America in many ways, like
African culture in general. 

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Like if you look at ancient 
Korea, they're very tribal. 

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There's like into beats, into 
rhythms. 

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And I think that's why Koreans 
gravitate and idolize so many 

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African Americans. 
Like growing up, we love the 

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music, we love the athletes. 
We just we're like into a a lot 

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more of that and I think. 
There's a lot of influence that 

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I see even in like the K dramas.
It's it's like Nigerian dramas 

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even just dramaticize. 
But it's like, I love how you 

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both had said something about 
uncomfortability. 

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And yes, it's OK to watch art 
make you uncomfortable because 

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it's the uncomfortable 
conversations. 

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And this is what I like to bring
on my podcasts, of course, is to

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bring out the uncomfortable 
situations into a likelihood of 

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the conversation because if we 
can't be uncomfortable and 

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vulnerable, what are we doing on
this earth? 

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Exactly? 
What are we doing? 

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So gentlemen, thank you for your
time. 

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And of course, this is Sapphire 
again with some of the cast. 

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Of Kim's. 
Convenience. 

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And I have Ryan and Rosie with 
me. 

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Can you tell me your roles in 
the show tonight? 

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Yeah. 
Yeah, so like you said, my 

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name's Ryan and I play Jump. 
Yep, and like you said, my name 

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is Rosie and I'm the standby for
Janet and Amma. 

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Beautiful. 
So vulnerability and 

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uncomfortability, that is one of
the two biggest things that my 

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show Sapphires Airplay is all 
about. 

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I like to make people 
uncomfortable, but also listen 

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because in the cultures that we 
all represent, me being African 

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American, you all being Korean, 
Asian American or Asian 

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Canadian, even both the like, 
yeah, representing these 

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cultures, It's a wondrous joy 
right now that we are in 2026 

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and we are seeing an abundance 
of culture just blowing up the 

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way that it is. 
So how do you emulate your 

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characters in that 
uncomfortability, but also 

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making the message known like, 
hey, we're here. 

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We've always been here, and our 
stories do matter. 

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Yeah. 
I mean, so we've touched on it a

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little bit in the Q&A just about
the whole, you know, the the 

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permission to be messy, you 
know, Asians and specifically 

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Koreans and especially the way 
our media is kind of being 

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portrayed right now in a very 
specific light. 

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It is very model minority esque.
And so getting a chance to yeah,

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sort of like, I feel like you 
don't for instance, you don't 

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see K pop idols being vulnerable
or no, it's a big deal. 

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It's kind of stepping out of the
norm. 

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Absolutely. 
Whereas a piece like this, it 

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asks us, it forces us to to lean
into that. 

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My character, specifically Jung 
is, is facing a lot of his past 

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and it's alluded to for the 
first half of the play before we

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even meet him. 
And so getting a chance to sort 

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of spill all that out for the 
audience after only hearing 

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stories and, and getting 
snippets of the the whole 

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picture, getting to actually be 
like, oh, this is what's been 

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going on with him. 
And this is the the mess that's 

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going on in is, is a privilege 
as an artist, but also just as 

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an actor. 
It's a lot of fun. 

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As actors, we're kind of forced 
to do that as. 

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People. 
You know, we need to sort of be 

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the, the what has to happen in 
here has to be in in order in 

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order to put all the character 
stuff in there, right? 

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And so I'll let Rosie speak to 
her process, but you know, 

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getting a chance to like dig 
into my stuff in order to mix 

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and mingle with the junk stuff, 
it's always an interesting 

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experience. 
For me. 

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I think doing Kim's for a lot of
Asian actors, Korean, especially

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Korean actors, it's the first 
time we're doing a show. 

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Where it is. 
Our cultural background or 

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ethnic background and that in 
and of itself can be very 

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exposing and can we be feeling 
quite vulnerable, possibly for 

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the first time? 
You have to dive deep into who. 

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You are. 
In a different way than you've 

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had to when you are portraying 
any. 

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Other character. 
Not specifically Korean. 

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And I think what's so beautiful 
about this project and, and how 

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each person in the cast has, has
sort of taken that bull by the 

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horns is, is we come from 
varying backgrounds of Korean 

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identity. 
And, and I think because of 

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that, it's created such a 
beautiful mosaic. 

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Of. 
Korean experiences through this 

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show, even though we're all 
representing one family. 

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So we were given the freedom to 
explore that and it was embraced

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within the rehearsal process to 
bring those to the the 

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characters that we were 
portraying. 

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So that vulnerability, that 
seemed kind of intimidating at 

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first. 
It was. 

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Actually the. 
Key to. 

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Unlocking these characters. 
Would you say it's even 

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therapeutic in a way to kind of 
bring out this vulnerability and

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give a little bit of your own 
self even? 

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And the struggles that you may 
have experienced as a child 

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dealing with representation, 
dealing with culture, dealing 

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with the fact that many of us 
come from immigrants and we want

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to just make our parents and our
culture and our ancestors 

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powered. 
Do you think that's like, also 

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like, and This is why Kim's 
Convenience is going to be one 

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of those stories that long, you 
know, long after we can say this

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is a story for us. 
Absolutely. 

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Absolutely. 
I I don't think this play will 

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ever be going away. 
It is a Canadian classic. 

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00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,200
It's a international classic. 
As well it's. 

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00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,400
Interesting what you're saying, 
the therapeutic versus therapy, 

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00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:43,920
obviously very important 
conversation for actors in 

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00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:47,520
general, because a lot of, like 
I said, a lot of the work we do 

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resembles a lot of therapy and 
and inner work type of stuff. 

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But I'm not, I'm not acting out 
my fantasies in my real life, 

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getting to reconcile with my 
parents, all this kind of stuff,

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you know, but it is therapeutic,
you're right. 

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And getting a chance to sort of 
like play that out and see how 

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that sits. 
But, you know, understanding 

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that there is that clear line 
between therapy and being a 

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therapeutic exercise. 
And so, yeah, as artists, you 

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00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,480
know, we're kind of forced to to
dip into those. 

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And, and, and like Rosie was 
saying, just like this, the 

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sandbox that Ian's built for us 
to play in is so rich and, and 

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there's so much depth in it that
we've been doing it for over a 

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year and a half now. 
And and we're still continuing 

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to mine more and more. 
And now I'm sitting with one of 

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the leading ladies, Miss OPA. 
Esther. 

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Esther, it's a pleasure. 
The Q&A almost had me in tears. 

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You definitely shedded some 
tears. 

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But let's get a formal 
introduction. 

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Do you mind introducing 
yourself? 

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Of course. 
My name is Esther Chung, and I 

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play the role of Oma. 
Oma. 

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I said OPA. 
Oh, my God, I knew I was going 

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to come around and get you back.
There we go. 

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Please. 
I don't want the ancestors mad 

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at me now. 
Thank you. 

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And I am standing in front of 
Frank. 

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Frank, Frank John. 
No relation. 

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OK I was about to ask like is 
this the? 

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Sun, but no. 
So Frank somebody son, he's 

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somebody. 
Oh, you somebody, son. 

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And Frank, what is your role 
with, you know, Kim? 

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'S convenience. 
Stand by for the show. 

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So I cover the world job. 
Beautiful. 

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So we've been talking about 
vulnerability, the importance of

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culture and just disability. 
And now because of K Pop demon 

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hunters, we are now just like 
overwhelmed in a good way of 

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Korean culture in a sense. 
But like we were talking about 

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in the Q&A, it's only just a tad
bit of the culture. 

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So what do you think Kim's 
Convenience Store can bring, you

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know, overall to Angelenos who 
have never heard of the show, 

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especially I've never even heard
of the Canadian show Netflix had

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provided. 
Like, what do you think us 

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Angelenos can take from this 
story and kind of pass on to our

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friends, if we will? 
I think the, you know, the K pop

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demon hunters I've although I 
love and I'm obsessed. 

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Yes, yes. 
And K pop in general and K 

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dramas are kind of like this 
glossy sort of version of Korean

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culture. 
It's only one aspect. 

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All of the fans are probably 
just regular people just living 

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their lives, which is what I 
think convenience is about. 

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It's about real people and their
their lives, their stories, 

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their relationships. 
It's not glossy, it's not sexy. 

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It is heartfelt, it is joy 
filled. 

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It is filled with conflict and 
some resolution. 

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So I think for Angelino's, if 
you like kind of a real kind of 

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gritty slice of life, then you 
know it's the place to be. 

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Love that, love that. 
I'd say for. 

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Folks in LA coming to see the 
show, I think they'll get a 

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glimpse of a culture that's. 
Both different. 

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But also similar because our 
it's. 

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It's. 
Obviously a Korean store, a big 

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Korean population in Ali, but 
the concept of a convenience 

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store, it's like universal, 
especially in Canada, you get a 

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piece of what Canada's like. 
What's Toronto? 

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Toronto's like as well, and so I
think that's the biggest thing. 

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I can dig the cat, dig the sea. 
It's similar about our two. 

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Neighbors. 
So that's weird, right? 

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We're so cuz we're so 
intertwined, but at the same 

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time we are different. 
Yeah, different from the 

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Americans. 
So. 

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It's just it'll be really cool 
for people to come and see. 

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Oh, Canadians like this. 
Canadians have this kind. 

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Of Snap. 
Yeah, different cultures. 

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Yeah. 
When we talk about even just 

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plays in general, you know, now 
that there's so many more that 

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are coming out about 
representation, like Jaja's hair

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braiding salon. 
And now we have this and it's 

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like, OK, how can we keep these 
stories going throughout the 

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test of time? 
Because when we think of plays, 

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we think of like Les Mis and 
Hamilton, but how do we bring 

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shows with people of color, 
Koreans, you know, who are 

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rarely seen in any form of 
media? 

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How can we solidify this in 
history? 

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Like, what do you think, Esther,
10 years down the line where 

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Kim's Convenience could like 
take off to? 

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I mean, I, I feel like it's, you
know, it's kind of reaching it's

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pinnacle. 
It is, you know, kind of 

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achieving heights. 
Like to be at the Amundsen is 

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yeah, wild actually. 
So for me personally as an 

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actor, that's kind of a height 
and, and zenith for me. 

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00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:35,760
But yeah, I, I, I I. 
I don't know. 

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What do you mean? 
I think for me, I think it 

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wasn't fun. 
It would be amazing if this was 

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taught in schools. 
I I love that I love that by. 

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Other people. 
Yes. 

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Young folks. 
Yes. 

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Think about cream the arts. 
To look at. 

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The thing see what how insurance
because he describes a little 

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bit in the like in the book I 
think of like how he came about 

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00:16:57,920 --> 00:16:59,920
me yeah like. 
Hopefully someone will think. 

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Oh, I can do that. 
Yes. 

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And so I think that's the legacy
I hope it would be. 

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That kind of background is 
actually really great, not just 

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the story itself, but also the 
story of NS. 

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NS will hate this actually, 
because he does not like 

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00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:17,839
Spotlight at all. 
But I could tell, yeah, because 

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I because what I want to say 
part. 

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And firstly with that is that to
see how he got traction, how he 

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did it in Fringe, how in Fujian,
how it, you know, and then how 

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it got to be on stage and then 
how it got to be on Netflix. 

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00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,480
We, we need to see examples of 
those creators. 

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We need to become those, yes, we
have to. 

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00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,760
Decenter, whose voices are 
already being well established, 

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never going to go away and back,
will probably be the majority. 

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For. 
Our our lifetime for sure, but 

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to center then those stories 
that deserve recognition, that 

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are valuable, even if it's the 
mundane, even if it's the 

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benign, those, those stories are
really important absolutely for 

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me to create those stories. 
We do create those stories, 

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create those spaces. 
And you know, even with when 

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people think of the Netflix show
that ended in controversy with 

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the limitation of representation
of the writers room. 

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00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:17,360
So now bringing it to its play 
format, do you feel more 

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00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:19,280
represent? 
Do you feel like the story is 

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00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:24,080
more represented because, you 
know, Asian, Korean culture is 

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00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,480
in the forefront? 
You know, they're not just in 

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the background, They're not just
filling in the seats. 

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00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,480
They are front and center 
emulating the some of these 

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characters that I'm. 
I'm excited to see how explosive

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00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:38,640
these performances. 
I'm really looking forward to 

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00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,440
your portrayal. 
And just again, your emotions 

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00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,440
really reached out to me during 
that Q&A because representation 

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00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:46,920
doesn't matter. 
Being seen. 

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And thick girl to thick girl, we
need more. 

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We need more bodies of all forms
on stage, not just the best. 

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00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,880
Friend, yes, not. 
Just a fetishized version. 

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00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:02,200
Absolutely. 
Living our lives. 

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00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:05,200
We're just as interesting. 
We're just as deserving. 

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00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:06,600
We're just. 
We should be as valued. 

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00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:07,840
Absolutely. 
For sure. 

350
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:08,080
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

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00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:10,440
Oh, my goodness. 
Any. 

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00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,280
I mean, to piggyback, I mean, 
this is like women's power in 

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00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:17,680
the middle. 
Frank is literally the best as 

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00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:22,680
far as he's a loving partner of 
of Megan and he has always been 

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00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:26,840
at the forefront of protecting 
us, but also knowing we we got 

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00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:28,440
it. 
Yeah, yeah, I know. 

357
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,880
That place to speak and just. 
Oh, but you know, I love that 

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00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:38,000
because again, in I'm so happy. 
I love that to, to put him on a 

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00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:39,480
pedestal. 
Yeah, deserves it. 

360
00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:42,480
It's amazing. 
I I'm really, I'm like kind of 

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00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:45,960
hoping that I get to see you in 
action as the understudy because

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00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:47,520
again, understudies don't get 
enough love. 

363
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,240
I didn't say. 
This it was not Sapphire 

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00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:53,840
allegedly allegedly don't speak 
English. 

365
00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:58,920
I'm so sorry. 
No, no, don't don't apologize. 

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00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:03,800
But like, I think you guys 
really have something bigger 

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00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,800
than I don't think any of us can
expect. 

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00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:09,720
And I think that's really like 
breaking the barriers of what 

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00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,520
Center Theatre Group is really 
trying to bring is this whole 

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00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:15,680
cultural explosion because 
stories. 

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00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,040
Not white stories. 
I want to see more represent. 

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00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:22,680
I want to see more of our people
in the seats. 

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00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,480
You know and and. 
Being able to say they can do 

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00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:28,760
and see themselves on stage like
you said earlier.