Geomancer Reading – May 30, 2026
My eternal gratitude to Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre for their support in securing a Communities and Artists Shifting Culture (CASC) grant from the City of Vancouver for a reading on May 30, 2026 as part of the 2026 rEvolver Festival in Vancouver. A complete revision of Geomancer was developed with the amazing dramaturg, Heidi Taylor. I was honored to be selected for the 2025 National Playwrights Retreat to work on this timely piece. Much thanks to the City of Vancouver for their support of emerging work.
The play Geomancer imagines an encounter between the Chinese rocket scientist Tsien Hsue-shen (钱学森 Qian Xue-sen) and his Chinese American biographer Iris Chang 張純如 in 1993, when Tsien was 82 years old and Iris was 25. Both hold significant prominence to the Chinese people, yet they are little recognized in the West. Iris arrives in Beijing to interview Tsien, but he refuses to cooperate. They forge a bond through a silkworm experiment, creating a conduit to the silk rituals of Chinese ancients. Tsien is investigating qigong and supernatural somatic capabilities, which he believes will lead to a new scientific revolution as profound as quantum mechanics and relativity. The core of this research is connecting humans to the open complex giant system, which might be what the ancients called “qi.”
Tsien’s past of being persecuted in 1950s McCarthyism connects with Iris’ future as a human rights activist. Their conflict over whether one can be both Chinese and American has contemporary relevance. The question of “can you be both” is a potent one for Asian Canadians living in Vancouver.
This is timely given the increasing scrutiny of Chinese scholars, scientists, and researchers, along with xenophobic and anti-China rhetoric, which has fueled hate and violence against people of Asian descent. The City of Vancouver knows this well, as it was named the Anti-Asian hate Crime Capital of North America in 2020.
Iris
Iris Chang (1968-2004) is the Chinese American author of three books, including Thread of the Silkworm, a biography of Qian Xuesen, The Chinese in America, and The Rape of Nanking, which garnered her worldwide fame and established her as a human rights activist. Her detailed description of the atrocities and characterization of the massacre as a holocaust brought on the wrath of Japanese rightists and denialists, in addition to provoking backlash from the American administration, which needed Japan’s support for its War on Terror. She committed suicide in 2004 at age 36. At the time of her suicide, she was working on a book about the Bataan Death March.
Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking played a major role in reconfiguring the 南京大屠杀 Nanjing Massacre as a powerful cultural symbol of China’s national trauma in a transnational context. In the Chinese press’ telling, Iris was a revolutionary martyr who died fighting for the just cause of speaking out the truth about the Nanjing Massacre, worn by her extended exposure to the horrific evidence of the massacre, along with vicious attacks of the Japanese rightists. The Chinese government placed a life-size bronze statue of Iris at the entry of the 南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆 Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre. In her ancestral home of Huai’an 淮安, Jiangsu 江蘇 province, a memorial hall 張純如紀念館 was dedicated to her. She had films made about her life and was commemorated in other films about the Nanjing Massacre. There is a Chinese dance drama featuring Iris Chang, along with other historical figures of the Nanjing Massacre. For more on Iris, click here.
Tsien
Tsien Hsue-shen (1911-2009) spent twenty years in the US, studying under Theodore von Kármán (the father of aeronautics), serving in the US military debriefing Nazi scientists, creating a blueprint for the Air Force, and stepping into von Kármán’s shoes as a professor at Caltech and then head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was accused of being a communist in 1950, detained for five years, and then deported. He returned to China and was instrumental in shepherding the nuclear bomb in 1964, launching a nuclear warhead missile (called the Silkworm in the West) in 1967, and developing the satellite Dongfanghong in 1970, all of which he proposed to China in the late 1950s. He mentored scores of proteges and created the scientific infrastructure, which some Chinese believe accelerated China’s technological advancement.
Tsien continues to be a cautionary tale for the Red Scare–both for (he brought military secrets to the Chinese) and against (lost scientific genius because of senseless persecution). Red Scare political prosecutions continue to plague scientists of Chinese heritage. Most recently, the China Initiative, started in 2018, has been accelerated by the U.S. Department of Justice to target Chinese scientists and their educational institutions, even though some high-profile cases against professors collapsed when the government was unable to establish intent and material omissions. In China, Tsien’s stoic resistance to American persecution and his scientific brilliance made him a new kind of hero that the Chinese government wanted young people to emulate. His mythology has been valorized in biographies, monographs, journals, newspaper articles, children’s books, television, documentaries, feature films, and a 9,300 square meter museum. For more on Tsien, click here.
Geomancer will be presented as part of the 2026 rEvolver Festival for a work-in-progress reading of selected scenes on May 30, 2026. Bilingual in Mandarin and English, this work-in-progress reading will test a newly commissioned translation and projection design.
I am thrilled that the following artists are part of the Geomancer Collective:
Jasmine Chen (she/her) (Cast – Iris) is a second-generation Taiwanese-Singaporean immigrant artist based in the unceded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səlílwโ ətaɬ Nations. She makes and supports multilingual interdisciplinary work that pushes for linguistic and formal diversity. Jasmine’s work as a performer, director, educator and creator has engaged with communities from coast to coast in repertory festivals, independent theatres, regional and outdoor theatres. She is the creator of Jade Circle and a member of the Five Blessings Collective. Jasmine is a recipient of the Gina Wilkinson Award, the Jon Kaplan Legacy Fund Canadian Stage Performer Award, Stratford Festival Jean Gascon Award, and is a Dora and Leo Award Nominee. She has been featured in CBC Arts, The Georgia Straight, The Toronto Star, Stir Magazine, Intermission Magazine, Fete Chinoise Magazine and the Vancouver Sun. Jasmine is an alumnus of the National Theatre School Artistic Leadership Residency. Website: msjasminechen.com. IG: @hausofchen
Kenneth Liu (Cast – Tsien) Born and raised in Taipei and relocated in his mid 40s, Kenneth’s been enjoying a busy film/TV and theater career based in the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations ever since. Fit and tall at 6’4”, Kenneth’s had principal roles in Lionsgate’s JOY RIDE and Angel Studios’ SIGHT feature films and co-star roles in NBC, CBC, Netflix, and Amazon series in addition to his commercial, modeling, and Mandarin theater credits.
Raugi Yu (he/him) – (Director) is a graduate of The Dome Theatre program in Montreal and The BFA Acting program here at UBC. Raugi has been acting professionally on Stage, TV and Film since the 90’s and is an instructor and private coach of acting. Raugi has acted in various theatres across Canada and the U.S. He has been on the ground level of development for many plays in his decades long career. Geomancer is an opportunity for him to develop his theatre directing practice. “I feel compelled to co-lead this project because I believe in Leslie’s writing and how her storytelling is not only exciting but also educational as well, while being entertaining. A trinity rarely achieved. I have been an actor since the 90’s and as exciting as it is to be the conduit I am now longing to be the conductor. I can see no better play than Geomancer to achieve that with. It is a play for us by one of us.”
Derek Chan 陳嘉昊 (Director) grew up in colonial Hong Kong, studied in Norway, and currently lives and works on the stolen and ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, colonially known as Vancouver. Derek received his BFA in theatre performance from Simon Fraser University. A playwright, director, performer, translator, and producer, Derek has been co-artistic director of rice & beans theatre since 2010. He has also worked with Playwrights Theatre Centre (artistic director apprentice), Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (associate artistic producer), and the rEvolver Festival (guest curator). Derek has been a National Arts Centre English Theatre Artist in Residence (19/20) with yellow objects, a new installation-exhibition in support of the ongoing pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. His play, Chicken Girl (2019/20), won the Sydney Risk Award for Outstanding Original Play by an Emerging Playwright, and was nominated for Outstanding Original Script at the Jessies.
Heidi Taylor (she/her) (Dramaturg/Production advisor) Heidi is a dramaturg, theatre maker, and arts leader based on the traditional stolen and occupied territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səlílwโ ətaɬ Nations. She invests in process design, developing performances from first idea through production for sited, text-based, community-engaged and solo works. She has dramaturged multiple bilingual projects. Through her work at Playwrights Theatre Centre from 2005-2024, she dramaturged the world premieres of Pedro Chamale’s Peace Country, Derek Chan’s Happy Valley, yellow objects, and Chicken Girl, Carmen Aguirre’s Anywhere But Here, Tetsuro Shigetmatsu’s Empire of the Son, 1 Hour Photo, and Kuroko, all of which explore bicultural experience. “After working with Leslie as dramaturg independently for the past year, I am committed to assisting this brilliant team of artists in developing the process and creative choices to connect to an audience. Geomancer has depth of character, complexity of ideas, and symbolic levels that are still being explored. It’s exactly the kind of theatre we need right now.”
Andie Lloyd (projection designer) is a queer interdisciplinary artist and community advocate, raised and living on unceded Qayqayt territories. She works as a lighting designer and media artist, and is a co- founder of HK House 香港屋 (@hkhouseofficial). Recent credits include: Secret Ingredients — Keely O’Brien, Lasa Ng Imperyo — rice & beans theatre, Paper Mountains — Anya Saugstad, Fat Joke — Neworld Theatre, Happy Valley/馬照跑．舞照跳 — rice & beans theatre, Clean/Espejos — Neworld Theatre. Andie is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada. Free Palestine. “Multilingual performance is the future. In a community that is becoming more and more connected through culture, language, travel and socioeconomics, bridging these connections becomes more and more needed with each passing day. As a Canadian-born and person of Welsh/Irish heritage who has been studying Chinese for over a decade, works like these are where I find my artistic home, and I take great pride in providing access to performance in languages other than English to all who desire to see it.”
Xin Xuan Song 宋欣轩 (she/her) (Translator) Born and raised in China, Xin Xuan is an arts administrator and multidisciplinary programmer based in the unceded and ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh peoples. Most recently, she held the role of Director of Artistic Planning at Kay Meek Arts Centre. Currently, Xin Xuan works as the Manager of Grants & Sponsorship with Vancouver Opera, Artistic Associate with Vancouver Folk Music Festival, and sits on the EDI Caucus with BC Live Performance Network as well as the selection panel for the Public Art Program with City of Richmond.
Evan Ren (Stage Manager) Evan is a stage manager based in Vancouver. Graduated from UBC theatre production and design in 2020, her selected stage management credits include: Where Have All the Buffalo Gone? (Axis Theatre); Frozen (ASM, the Arts Club); Footloose(ASM, Chemainus Theatre Festival); The Frontliners (vAct); Primary Trust (ASM, the Arts Club); Parifam (vAct); Forgiveness (ApSM, the Arts Club). Born and raised Shanghainese, Evan’s excited to see Chinese theatre in Vancouver!
Leslie Lum 林麗原 (she/her) – (Playwright) Born and raised in Strathcona, Vancouver, her theatre pieces include two previous readings of Geomancer and a reading of the Cantopop musical Cat Country. Leslie completed her latest draft of Geomancer at Caravan Farm’s National Playwrights’ Retreat in September 2025. She received a 4Culture grant to develop Cat Country and a City of Vancouver Communities and Artists Shifting Culture Grant to mount and test this reading of Geomancer. Poems and short fiction published in Canadian Literature, Wascana Review, Canadian Anthology of Short Fiction Volume II, Into the Fire: Asian American Prose, Asian Week, Asian American Journal, and more. She is working on a memoir of her mother and her activism in Strathcona entitled Grass Daughter. “I have persisted with Geomancer for over a decade because Iris Chang and Tsien Hsue-shen are incredible historical figures who have had a huge impact on China and North America, yet their stories are not widely known in the west. I believe this is the version and the time and place for Geomancer.”