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2010 Works in Progress |
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The 2010 Works in Progress series commences with a showing of the film Long Story Short directed by Christine Choy and written by Jodi Long.
Long Story Short tells the story of Larry and Trudie Long, a popular husband-and-wife nightclub act of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Narrated and framed by the experiences of their daughter, actress Jodi Long, the film traces the couple’s rise from the Chinatown nightclub circuit to a coveted appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. When Jodi is cast in the Broadway revival of “Flower Drum Song,” a show in which her father performed in the original 40 years before, her parents find themselves revisiting a past they had buried long ago. Combining a family story with show business history and the ravages of racism, it is a story of pain, passion, and perseverance.
Christine Choy AKA Chai Ming Huie, was born in Shanghai, China. Christine Choy was trained as an architect; she received her Master of Science degree from Columbia University, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, and Directing Certificate from the American Film Institute. Presently, Choy is helping set up New York University in Shanghai. Previously, she has been a professor and the Chair of New York University’s Graduate Film/TV Program. She has also taught at Yale and Cornell Universities as well as SUNY Buffalo. She was a visiting scholar at Evergreen State College, Oslo and Volda Film Institute, Norway. Choy has received over sixty international awards including a 1989 Oscar Nomination for Best Documentary for Who Killed Vincent Chin? She is the recipient of numerous fellowships, among them, John Simon Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Asian Cultural Council. In 1997, she received the best cinematography award for My America…or honk if you love Buddha at the Sundance International Film Festival. Choy is an educator and a creative artist; a pioneer Asian American film maker, she has produced/directed/photographed more than seventy works in various forms. Her works have been broadcast on HBO, PBS, Sundance Channel, Life Time, NHK, and many other stations. Her works have also been featured at Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, Hong Kong, Pusan International festivals as well as the Asian American International Festivals in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. She is the founding director of School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong and is also a member of Project Vetting committee of the Film Development Fund, Hong Kong and an International Trustee Member of the Asia Society from 1995 to 2002. She has been appointed as a member of the Fulbright committee from 2005 to 2008.
Long Story Short marks Jodi Long’s debut as a screenwriter. Last season her one woman play, Surfing DNA, was produced at East West Players in Los Angeles which garnered her an Ovation Nomination for Best Solo Performance. A native New Yorker, Jodi made her Broadway debut at age 7 in Nowhere to Go But Up directed by Sidney Lumet. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in NYC and is a BFA graduate of Purchase College's Conservatory of Theater Arts & Film. Other Broadway credits include Loose Ends with Kevin Kline, The Bacchae with Irene Pappas, Sondheim/Furth’s Getting Away with Murder, and most recently as Madame Liang in the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. For the same performance at The Mark Taper in Los Angeles she won The Ovation Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Off- Broadway: Roundabout Theater; McReele. Lincoln Center; Wendy Wasserstein’s Old Money. Public Theater; David Hwang’s Golden Child and Family Devotions. Manhattan Theater Club; Chay Yew’s Red and Phillip Gotanda’s The Wash. LaMama; The Tooth of Crime. Regional credits include The Mark Taper, Long Wharf, Arena Stage, Actor’s Theater, South Coast Repertory, in parts ranging from Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (Pittsburgh Public), Cherie in Bus Stop, (River Arts), to Marina in Mark Lamos’s Pericles, (Hartford Stage). Jodi was “M” in Philip Glass/David Hwang’s world tour of 1,000 Airplanes on the Roof, a 90 min. monologue. Television audiences know Jodi as series regulars Mme. Ybarra in Café Americain, Margaret Cho’s Mom in All American Girl, in Michael Hayes, Sex and the City, and Miss Match with Alicia Silverstone. Recently she was seen on Cashmere Mafia as Lucy Lui’s Mom and is a recurring on Eli Stone as Judge Marcia Phelps. Film credits include Paul Schrader’s Patty Hearst, Mike Newell’s Sour Sweet, Striking Distance, The Pickle, The Hot Chick and the upcoming Mask of the Ninja. As the lead singer with Fred Houn’s Asian American Art Ensemble, she released a jazz album, Bamboo That Snaps Back. Jodi was recently honored by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California for her contribution to the visibility of Chinese Americans as an actress. She is also the recipient of the Los Angeles Woman’s Theater’s Maverick Award 2000, The Titan Theater of New York ’s Earthshaker Award 2001 and Pan Asian Rep’s 2001 Award, all for her work in the theater.
Works in Progress is a program of the Cultural Services Division of the Torrance Community Services Department. Presented in association with APC Gallery, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Chinese American Museum, Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, El Camino College Community Education, Organization of Chinese Americans/Greater Los Angeles, Palos Verdes Arts Center, South Bay Chinese American Chamber of Commerce, Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, Torrance CitiCABLE, Torrance Historical Society & Museum, Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Torrance Public Library, Torrance Symphony Association, UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, University Art Gallery CSU Dominguez Hills, Visual Artists Guild, Visual Communications
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Long Story Short |
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The filmmaker with her mother. |
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