At five years old, Baayork Lee’s life changed forever.
“Casting came to Chinatown looking for kids for 'The King and I,' and I was cast. And from five years old, there I was. Going uptown and seeing Broadway shows,” said Lee.
What You Need To Know
- New York City native and Broadway actress Baayork Lee got her big break at a young age, but she decided it was time to start giving back to her own community
- A little over 10 years ago she founded an afterschool Theatre Club at P.S. 124 in Chinatown, hoping to provide elementary school kids with more opportunities in the performing arts
- Their experience was captured in the documentary “Curtain Up!” - a 2021 New York International Children’s Film Festival Selection
What followed was a successful career on Broadway, most notably originating the role of Connie in “A Chorus Line,” Lee said. “There was not that much diversity on Broadway for Asian actors and I thought, you know, the door’s opening a little bit but I think we have to educate the children first and the parents because also we need audience members. They are ten stops away and they haven’t been to 42nd Street or a Broadway theater so that was very, very important to me to go back to Chinatown and give them the opportunity that I had.”
Lee founded an extracurricular Theatre Club at the elementary school P.S. 124 in Chinatown, through her not-for-profit the National Asian Artists Project.
Seventh graders Charlotte Wang and William Cui are both alumni of the Theatre Club. Their experience was captured in the documentary “Curtain Up!" - a 2021 New York International Children’s Film Festival Selection.
“Kind of like my first step into like the arts,” said Wang.
“At first my mom was hesitant, she was like, ‘No you shouldn’t be doing this, focus more on school and your grades and stuff.’ And then over time it was like, you know, what, yeah, let him try it. And now I think she’s starting to realize it was a good choice.” said Cui.
Cui and Wang hope to continue with the arts and have learned more than just some new performing skills from the program.
“Definitely the confidence, I feel like I would be a completely different person if I never went to the Theatre Club. I’m not too sure what would have happened!” said Cui.
“I feel like there are so many over exaggerated stereotypes and thoughts and different opinions about Asian Americans,” Wang said. “You can’t judge one whole race or ethnicity just based on one example you see.”
“For future generations, I hope that people will just hire them for their talents, and not for how they look or anything,” Lee said. “Just their talent and that’s the most important thing, I think for me in the end.”