FUSONG

FUSONG, a present-day historical musical drama, tells the story of two Chinese women in two different centuries linked by their complicated destiny. As Fusong is kidnapped from her small village in China and thrown into the dark world of San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1866, Isabel, a novelist, grapples with her books being banned and how the truth of Fusong’s story impacts her own place in the divided America of 2025. Their lives intertwine, leading them on a journey to discover their shared legacy of resilience and resistance to the status quo. Inspired by the journeys of the 3000 women kidnapped from their homes in China who then survived the brutalities of 19th century America, this is a tale about honor, sacrifice, love, and the kind of endurance that transcends time. Based on "The Lost Daughter of Happiness" by Geling Yan.

Commissioned by the novel's author in 2023, 29-hour reading in April, 2024, continued development in 2025. 2025 NAMT Festival recommended show.
A note from CTJ: It has been so meaningful to be part of an all-female Asian/Asian American writing team adapting Geling Yan’s searing novel “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” into a musical, and helping to create a piece for the theatre that not only centers an AAPI cast but addresses many aspects of our history in the United States that are not substantively explored on stage, and from a woman’s perspective. In writing the libretto and lyrics for this piece (with the brilliant composer Cecilia Lin), I’ve been challenged to face my own generational trauma from the treatment of Asian Americans in this country (from the Chinese Exclusion Laws to the anti-Asian hate that has reared its ugly head in present-day America), but also to embrace my own generational fortitude and resilience against it. As I wrote the lyrics to the show’s finale, “This is our fate: we are stronger than hate. And we can rise above the tide our ancestors provided”, I found the clarity to heal one of own my essential wounds, for which I am grateful.