Youth for Asian Theater's 2009 company biographiesAmanda Arenas Amy Yee Angela May Chen Anita Wu Brandon Cai Brandon Cheng Cathy Huang Clarence Tse Connie Lo Courtney Lee David Tran Debra Fong Diem Vo Frances Yan Jacinta Wu Judy Cheng Justin Song Chan Katharine Chew Kelley Ogami Kim Do Liana Lo Maggie Huang Margaret Tsai Mark Lee Marvin Huang Matthew Gee Matt Kitagawa Melanie Tam Michelle Wu Nathaniel Dizon Paul Mallari Reza Kurniawan Sharon Gong Stephanie Tong Terry Kitagawa Victoria T. Wong Wilson Szeto Yessenia Chaiu Amanda Arenas This being Amanda's fourth year as a part of YFAT, she is determined to have fun yet again as one of the two (lovely, gorgeous, absolutely amazing, etc) program directors. She is fiercely dedicated to YFAT, spending late nights editing plays and constantly scribbling last-minute notes down on any piece of paper available--notepads, post-it notes, and even little chewing gum wrappers. She lives for the theater, and she lives for her friends--but mostly, she lives to have fun. Other favorite things of hers would be gummy worms, Jamba Juice, reading, and dancing. Amanda is outgoing, responsible, and always happy to help. She is always willing to meet new people in any ridiculous environment--so say hi whenever you get the chance! top Amy Yee Aloha! In her first year in YFAT, Amy will be a senior at Lowell High School this fall. She was born in the beautiful city of San Francisco on June 14. She is optimistic, hardworking, and very friendly. You'll always see a smile on her face. She loves the color green. Amy also loves traveling, volunteering, spending time with family and friends, shopping, eating, tennis, and long walks on the beach. She is very spirited and likes to taste exotic foods. Amy has owned up to five birds at once, but currently owns only 2 pet birds, who go by the names Ralph and Lauren, named after one of her favorite designers. She is very excited to be part of the tech crew and is ready for fun-filled and memorable year of YFAT! top Angela May Chen top Anita Wu Anita Wu, a Lowell graduate about to become a freshman at UC Berkeley, is returning for her second year to take on the task of being production manager again. Last year was her first and only experience with theater, but she gained valuable knowledge through studying the plays, co-stage directing, and managing a long list of props and costumes. Her comparatively shorter list of life experiences earned her the title of being "deprived" last year, even prompting a YFAT mission to un-deprive her. However, Anita consistently deprives herself of sleep, by using her power of procrastination (often with Facebook) until the early hours of the morning. When she is not at online, she enjoys spending time with her friends, listening (and somewhat dancing) to music, and taking countless pictures with her camera. Now eighteen years old, Anita hopes to escape her parental restrictions and gain independence when she goes (not so far) off to college. top Brandon Cai Despite constant remarks from friends and classmates that he is a "weird" person, Brandon has always been content with his state of being, even to the point of embracing such a fact. With his acceptance into YFAT the summer of 2009, Brandon feels that his weirdness will contribute to such an organization because of the opportunity members have of expressing their inner selves. Armed with nothing but himself, Brandon feels that he is ready for anything that will be thrown at him. Monkeys! Water Bottles! Paper Clips! Oh no! His weirdness is spreading to the YFAT members already! Brandon will be attending Lowell High School this coming fall to finish up his final year of high school. After that, who knows what will happen next? top Brandon Cheng top Cathy Huang Cathy Huang is pumped and ready to take on her second year as a program director and director, and third year as an actress in YFAT. She will become a senior at Lowell HS (c/o 2010!), but is still unsure of which college she would like to attend. Some of her current obsessions include: basketball, Harry Potter, popcorn, swimming, shopping, and nutrition. Her current goals include: learning how to drive, finding time to read Twilight, finishing summer reading, giving her sister a wonderful baby shower, and (of course) putting on the best show YFAT has ever had! :) top Clarence Tse Clarence will be returning as a member of YFAT for his fourth consecutive year. He is also a sophomore at UC Riverside as class of 2012. Enjoying a variety of activities such as reading, various games, eating (currently eating a hotpocket while typing this), starting (bon)fires, and, making fun of a few select short people (in the most playful fashion as possible, of course), he is essentially a guy who enjoys life as much as possible. Some Fun Facts: Enjoys long walks at the beach at sunset, but would enjoy a bonfire even more; has a tiny football-shaped scar on his right shoulder (don't ask); doesn't know how to swim. top Connie Lo Connie Lo is a 17-year-old two-face that tends to fall away from the norm. This soon to be senior at Lowell High tends to be more reserved around everyone because she is afraid of humiliating herself and scaring more people away than she already does. Despite her unwillingness to open up, Connie is a good listener and secret keeper: she'll listen to anyone who will talk about anything. She is generally nice to everyone but can turn coldhearted to those she considers fake and lying. She has a fondness for animals, but doesn't have any pets of her own (yet). Her current obsessions are cats, blue/green/mint colors, and daydreaming about her future. top Courtney Lee Courtney does not enjoy writing autobiographies. But because she was highly encouraged to write one for the YFAT biographies page, she did, which is contained in the text below. The 2009 YFAT season will be Courtney's second year with YFAT. She will be somewhere within the tech crew, either in the booth or on stage or wherever. Just do not expect to see her performing onstage. After working as a techie with YFAT 2008, YFAT Winter 2009, and Lowell Technical Theater for the 2008-2009 school year, she must say that gaff(er's) tape is better than duct tape any day (in terms of durability and versatility). Spike tape's good for the crazy colors and stage furnishing placement, while the miracle of medical tape awes Courtney. top David Tran top Debra Fong top Diem Vo 2nd year in YFAT, and possibly her last. Diem loves performing theater because it gives her the ability to portray different character roles, temporarily being someone else. Currently 18 years old, an incoming freshman at UC San Diego. Has an appreciation for art. Loves drawing, filmmaking, and creating things from nothing. She enjoys text messaging, exploring the unexplored, eating exotic foods, capturing those rare and spectacular "moments" and keeping them in her pocket. She hopes to travel all over the world, save lives, discover a cure for procrastination and most of all, experience all that is possible and even impossible. top Frances Yan top Jacinta Wu Jacinta in an incoming senior at Lowell High School and this is her first summer at YFAT. She has never actually acted before but wants to get a little taste of it and who knows? Her interest might expand from here. She loves laughing and joking around with her family and friends, listening to music, eating ice cream sandwiches and sweet gigantic strawberries, as well as doing random things once in a while.=D top Judy Cheng Miss Judy Cheng was born in Chinatown, San Francisco in 1991. She is about to turn 18 in two months. She is enthusiastically dedicated to her community. She helps out at YFAT with other SFUSD students, Vacation Bible School and choir with Cumberland Presbyterian Church, plays with her little cousins Amy and Kevin very often, and puts up with her mom, dad, sister and brother on a daily basis. The other day, Judy brought home, via the bus, a watermelon, a teddy bear, over 8 bottles of chocolate milk, a dozen of eggs, and lots of hot dog franks for her family to eat. Yum, right? top Justin Song Chan Justin Song Chan. Born on the 26th of December of 1989--this makes him the oldest actor of YFAT this year. He will be a second year at University of California, San Diego this Fall. This third summer may be the last he spends with YFAT and he hopes to treasure these coming times. YFAT has become a milestone in Justin's life and it and its people is something he'll never forget. Like the previous years, his likes, dislikes, and hobbies have generally remained the same. He still dislikes staying home, hot weather, and excessive stupidity. He likes creating friendships, writing, music, the night, the wind, and bananas. He plays a variety of sports, so let him know if you want to play something before rehearsal. He is often sleepy but he deals with it. For work, he makes exclusive jam and barbecue sauce. He is quite optimistic and dreams to one day become a traveling photojournalist [slash] writer after retiring around age 30. In addition to that, he also hopes to open up his own noodle house. Acting has taught Justin many valuable life lessons and he knows firsthand that you never know how much you'll love something until you try it. top Katharine Chew Katharine Chew is an incoming senior at Lowell High School and a YFAT first-timer. She hopes that she can help YFAT with her little experience as a Lowell techie and can't wait to dress up in all black clothing again, like a ninja! Her favorite color is yellow and her hobbies are walking, eating, sleeping, and bonding with friends. top Kelley Ogami Kelley Ogami is a girl who loves drama and loves life. She is a bit of a klutz who has a habit of falling hard for all her friends. She loves them and gives her heart away to all of them like pieces of chocolate. She was a freshmen at Lowell and is still at Lowell but is going to be a sophomore next year. (Yay 2012!) She'll miss being the freshmen - it was the best year of her life! She's certain she's still got a lot more years of fun to go. Throughout those years she hopes to continue acting. It's become one of her favorite activities along with horse back riding, swimming, hanging out with friends, and listening to music. Kelley will eat any kind of fruit except kiwi, has only eaten one hamburger in her life, has not chewed gum ever, and doesn't like soda because it tickles her nose. She loves animals and helps out at the SPCA; she usually helps during their summer camps as a Junior Camp Counselor. She really enjoys helping out the little kids and becoming friends with them. Kittens are the cutest but horses are the sweetest animals on the planet. She loves the sun and wish it'd show its face more often in San Francisco. She loves the city though! Thanks for being so patient with her and making her summer so much fun, YFAT! She's thankful for all her friends and family for supporting her! Because everyone puts that in their biographies. And because it's true!! Thank you and love you all! top Kim Do Kim Do first enrolled in drama classes her freshman year at Lowell. She takes public transportation whenever she can, and she is afraid to learn how to drive because she think she will run someone over. She likes playing RPGs, reading manga, hanging out with friends, and getting free stuff. Her hero is Craig Ferguson, and her favorite fruit is banana. She is Vietnamese, but is mistaken for Chinese often, which leads to awkward situations. top Liana Lo Liana goes by many names, the simplest being "Li". Lixia would be her Chinese name. Or go ahead and pronounce it "Lik-see-ahh" if you feel like it. Otherwise, combine with her surname to produce "LoLi". Though she used to dislike "LiLo", after three years of having close friends persistently call her that, she has grown used to it. Pseudonyms aside, Liana is a recent Lowell High School alumna headed to UC Berkeley this fall with chemical engineering as her major. Taking on her first year with YFAT, her primary job is a theatrical technician, but perhaps she will also attempt to direct a play and/or design posters for the show's publicity. When you first encounter Liana, she will probably be shy and withdrawn, but get to know her better and you'll discover that she can be quite loud and eccentric. If there is one hidden (or maybe not so hidden) talent she possesses, it is drawing. Though Liana has formally studied piano and violin--typical extra-curriculars--her drawing skills have been entirely self-taught, making them all the more personal to her. From an early age, she could often be found scribbling doodles in the margins of her class notes. As the years progressed, those doodles evolved into structured sketches which later became colored illustrations. Examples of her work can be seen on deviantART: http://icesplendor.deviantart.com/ top Maggie Huang After eating a giant chocolate chip cookie, convincing herself that she must do something out of character as it was her last year of high school, she tried out for YFAT, buoyed by all that sugar and cocoa goodness. Usually, she thinks before she speaks and reads the instructions before setting up anything electronic. She is not spontaneous, unless the occasion arises. YFAT is that liberating occasion. She will be a first-year college student this August, loves Chinese food, the beach, swimming, is a pseudo-health nut, hopes to one day become a social worker of some sort (if not a great literary expert), is afraid of birds, and is not intimidated by public speaking. She thinks things are what you make of them. top Margaret Tsai This is Margaret Tsai's third year in YFAT and she hasn't been more pumped. Her love for theater has grown in abundance since her first year. Margaret Tsai recently graduated as Lowell's class of 2009 and is an incoming freshman at SF State University majoring in nursing. Her goal in life is to help the downtrodden and make a difference in other people's lives. When she isn't spending her time volunteering, she enjoys spending her time either working out at the gym, hiking unexplored terrain, trying to learn guitar, rocking out at concerts, experiencing new/dangerous activities, and going on roller coasters. top Mark Lee Mark Lee is in his third year as writer/director for YFAT. He enjoys writing plays that blend comedy with drama, but the thrill mainly comes from putting intricate thoughts on paper. He loves finding out how different minds might interpret the same piece of work. A student at UC Berkeley, Mark enjoys playing basketball, listening to jazz & electronica music, and hopes to usurp the life of Michael Buble. To him, "laughing with" is always better than "laughing at." top Marvin Huang This is Marvin Huang's first year in YFAT and is looking forward to a great summer! He is entering his junior year at Lowell High School and is proud to be a Lowell Techie 2 years running. Marvin is also in love with being athletic. He's done over 8 different types of sports so far and hopes to reach 20 - if that's possible. He gets bored very easily so if anyone else shares his love of athleticism, please find him for a game of basketball or tennis, but just don't beat him too badly. :) top Matthew Gee Matthew Gee is a graduate of Thurgood Marshall Academic High School and is about to attend Sacramento State University for fall of 2009 as a kinesiology major. He has a passion for the performing arts such as dancing, acting, and acting. Matthew is returning for his second year of YFAT as is excited for the quick but long summer full of fun! top Matt Kitagawa Matt Kitagawa may be remembered as the guy who hit on the viewers of his Internet biography. For your information, it somewhat worked! So he is back for his second year of YFAT. Within this one year much has developed with his life. He graduated from Lowell High School class of '09 and is headed off to University of the Pacific in late August. He has also co-produced a demo CD with a fellow YFAT-er, Nathan Dizon and is continually practicing songwriting. One of his latest songs that he has written and submitted to a contest is about Nutrition Facts and may have been one of the best songs in his opinion written to date. He is extremely excited for this season of YFAT and cannot wait to get going and performing! He will see you at the show. Oh, yes. He just knows. Also for the fan-girls: his birthday is April 22nd; some of my favorite colors are blue and black; he preps his hair by dunking his head under the sink; and he is attempting to learn more guitar, piano, bass, drums, singing, and recorder over summer. top Melanie Tam Melanie Tam is starting her first year with YFAT. She goes to Abraham Lincoln High School and will be a junior in the coming fall semester of 2009. Melanie found out about YFAT from her friend who goes to Lowell. She auditioned for YFAT even though she did not know what it really was. She wants a future relating to art and filming and she think YFAT can really help improve her skills. Melanie loves to explore the city, chill with friends, eat food, stay out late doing amazing activities, and etc. She thinks YFAT seems like a cool program and hopes to gain new experiences. top Michelle Wu top Nathaniel Dizon Nathaniel Dizon is a YFAT veteran of 3 years and this will be his fourth summer with the organization. He is an alumni of Thurgood Marshall Academic High School of 2008 and is currently enrolled at San Francisco State University as a Sophomore. Ironically, Dizon attempted to transfer out of his Drama class the first day of his freshman year of high school to take a different visual arts class but his counselor pressed for him to stay. After finishing his first semester of Drama, he was very drawn to the realm of theater and he is now majoring in Theater Arts at SFSU (along with Communications). Aside from standing in the spotlight, this will be Dizon's second summer as a director and is very enthusiastic to work with the new cast members. Dizon can also be seen doing one of his many hobbies before, during, or after rehearsals which include: dancing, singing, juggling, freeline skating, hacky-sacking, astro-jacking, playing guitar/drums/ukulele, magic tricks, and writing. Other than that, his passion is the stage and nothing else. top Paul Mallari Paul Mallari, a 16 year old junior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory joined YFAT this year for the first time. He is Filipino. His interests are in entertainment in general - music, theatre, movies, television, books, video games, etc. Oh. And coffee. He loves coffee. He also has pretty crazy (day)dreams. At random times, night or day, he experiences bursts of an overactive imagination, thinking of mafia related octopi, boxing unicorns, flags with super powers, and that purple zombie bear laying in the corner of his room... but enough of that. He also has a new found interest in sound engineering, discovered through studying music theory in his spare time. In his sophomore year, he took a year of drama classes, mostly because he had to choose a visual/performing art and he didn't want more projects to deal with in an art class. Fortunately, thanks to YFAT, he can put these classes to use. Woo! top Reza Kurniawan Reza Kurniawan, a new addition in 2009, loves being in YFAT. He loves the games, plays, and friends there. He is going onto junior year at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep. He loves to play the guitar and hopes to progress in his musical career as time goes on. Reza also enjoys acting and being in plays and wants to learn to gain more experience from YFAT. When he puts his mind to something he can do it. He is planning to join YFAT for as many years as he can. top Sharon Gong Sharon Gong, born on "Pi Day" (3+1=4!) is 16 years old, and is a rising Junior at Lowell High School. This summer is her first year in YFAT, and is one of her first experiences in theater. Her television interests include the Food Channel, NCIS, and occasionally the Disney Channel. Sharon also enjoys programming, music, randomly browsing through photographs on deviantart.com, warm nights, walks outside (depending on the weather), being with friends, and is failing miserably at skateboarding (but still enjoys it). top Stephanie Tong Stephanie is serving her second year at YFAT. She recently graduated from Lowell High School and will be attending UCSC in the fall. She has developed a certain love for the performing arts and theater despite not having a lot of prior experience. Stephanie's interests include writing, art, dragon boat, taking long walks around the city, listening to copious amounts of music, practicing jump kicks, and learning how to ballroom dance someday. top Terry Kitagawa This person is Terry Kitagawa. He will be a soon junior at Sacred Heart. At SH he was in an acting class. Terry just joined YFAT and hopes he can further his experience in acting. He likes to hang out with his friends, and listen to music. He is in the process of playing the drums, and possibly the guitar. He may seem weird but after you get to know me he's cool. He hopes to make new friends and have good times in YFAT. top Victoria T. Wong Victoria T. Wong or Vicky is a native San Franciscan who will be attending UCLA in the fall. She joined YFAT three summers ago and have since been in two of their productions: "Condensed Milk" and "Conf[USED]". She loves YFAT to the extent that she accepted the position of Publicity Manager for the past two summers to help advertise for the annual productions. Besides acting, she enjoys hanging out with her friends, watching movies, shopping, baking, and taking walks. top Wilson Szeto top Yessenia Chaiu top |
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