Every year, Nikkei Student Union (NSU) hosts Cultural Night (CN), an annual production featured at UCLA's Royce Hall that commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 and shares underrepresented Japanese American culture with the UCLA and surrounding community. CN is completely student produced, featuring a three hour play that tackles a relevant Japanese American issue or event, and three student performance groups. The production lasts for one night, hosting over 1,000 audience members (free of admission), and amounts to around $40,000 in expenses every year.
This year, I had the pleasure of writing, directing, and producing CN. It was a long and arduous process that took almost an entire year to see come to fruition but it was the most rewarding experience I have been able to be apart of and am happy with the result. I elected to take on this huge responsibility my senior year because I was thankful for the opportunity to be apart of large production for the prior two years as an actor. Being a part of such a large endeavor gave me the opportunity to explore facets of myself that I didn't know existed since I had never been exposed to theater when I was younger. It also provided a community of peers that blossomed into long lasting friendships. I was thankful for all that was provided for me the two years that I was an actor and wanted to give the younger members of NSU the same, if not a better, experience than I had.
Through this experience, I learned a lot about seeing a year-long project through to completion. Although I have had experience in leadership, this was the first time that this leadership culminated in a production of this magnitude, which combined the work of hundreds of people, some of which I didn't even know. There were many, many hardships to overcome throughout the long period of planning and execution, and I am thankful for being able to learn from my mistakes. I have already communicated my experiences to the next Producers and am excited to see what they can do with this knowledge and their ambition.
Even though I learned a lot about leadership and organization, I am most thankful for learning about human connection and how to appreciate those around me. Throughout my time as Producer, I faced many setbacks, but was always helped back up by the people I surrounded myself with. I could go on about specific experiences directing and producing (and I probably will in future posts), but it all boils down to the fact that the people around me kept me going. The reason why I wanted to tackle this endeavor in the first place was to provide a space for other club members to form friendships and explore themselves and through countless pep-talks and many hours of unrewarded assistance, it was clear to me that people appreciated the effort I put into this production. One of the conversations that I had with a friend that spent a huge part of her senior year helping me with CN especially stuck with me. She said that she wouldn't have done all that she had for CN if it wasn't for me. I hate to sound self-centered, but this statement really made me appreciate the people around me who sacrificed their time and energy to help accomplish one of my goals. I am supremely thankful for the people in my life and CN helped me see this better. It also illustrated the importance of supporting friends and peers. Even if a task seems minuscule and mundane, offering assistance can go a long way in improving that person's life.
If anyone that helped with CN is reading this, I'll talk to you soon!
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