New solo show! (& Lisa's workshop goes to Vietnam)

Hi, my name is Lisa Liang and I help people tell their unique intercultural or intersectional stories. I'm also an actress-writer-producer. I've been invited to a conference in Hanoi and I'm creating a new solo show--so I'm requesting help for both.

***The initial goal of $5,000 to attend the conference was met on Day 5! I'm going to Vietnam thanks to my wonderful funders! ❤️ New donations are going toward producing my new solo show. I hope to raise another $5K for that. More info below.❤️ ***

The show explores the concept of home as it pertains to family, place, and oneself. My father’s Guatemalan family is of Chinese, Spanish, and indigenous descent. My mother’s side is Irish-European American. In the show, I link my feelings of loss of home to my Chinese grandfather's loss of his entire family and homeland when Japan bombed Shanghai, then WWII broke out, and then the communists took over, so he was never able to return to the mainland. I include memories of Guatemala that begin happily and then make way for more complex, nuanced experiences of the ways in which my Guatemalan identity ebbed away as my father’s job moved us around. Since my peripatetic childhood made “home” less about place and more about people, what happens when the elders are gone?

Humor will pop up throughout the story because that's how I roll...because that's how both sides of my family roll.

The project advances cultural equity and inclusion by representing Latinos, Asians, people born in Central America, and mixed-race people, all of whom make up a sizable portion of the L.A. County population, which is 49.1% Latiné, 15.6% Asian, 14.4% born in Central America, and 3.3% mixed race per the 2020 Census.

Funds will go toward renting a venue; paying the director, designers, stage manager, and house manager; printing & mailing postcards; PR rep & press kits; ads; production photos; programs; and concessions.

I was going to create a $5,000 campaign for the show alone, but then the opportunity arose to present at the AIELOC conference. I don't want to ask for help more than once, so I'm combining the two campaigns.

Thank you for your consideration, especially when there is so much at stake in the world and so many enormous causes to donate to. I hope leading my workshop at AIELOC and performing my new show will both help with healing, not harming, in their small ways.

***Please be aware that GoFundMe automatically "suggests" a tip, but you DO NOT HAVE to leave a tip. You can change the percentage to zero (0%) or whatever you like!***

For more info on my work, click here.

GoFundMe has no section for PERKS, but I'm offering them in this way, subject to change if the funds only go toward the show (in which case some perks will likely be show tix):

Boarding Pass - $10 USD: Thank you! And a thank you on the website & Facebook page, plus a pictorial travelogue of the trip via email.

ETA: January 2024

Economy Section - $25 USD: All of the above plus a handwritten thank-you note from me.

ETA: February 2024

Economy Plus Section - $50 USD: All of the above plus the DVD of my first solo show, Alien Citizen. If you already have it, I'll send you 25 brand new writing prompts I've never used before.

ETA: February 2024

Business Section - $100 USD: All of the above plus a short video showing highlights from the trip. Private link will be provided.

ETA: April 2024

1st Class Section - $200 USD: All of the above plus a 60-minute session of my workshop on writing your solo show / memoir / keynote / personal essay, one-on-one with you via Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, or MS Teams.

ETA: April 2024

1st Class & VIP Lounge Section - $500 USD: All of the above plus a "Sponsor" credit in all website, social media, and newsletter mentions of my work at the conference.

ETA: April 2024

The Private Plane - $1,000 USD: All of the above plus entry into my one-day Jumpstart workshop OR Associate Producer credit for the new solo show.

ETA: 2024

The Learjet - $2,000 USD: All of the above plus entry into my 6-week workshop.

ETA: 2024

Here's the original request for help to take my workshop to AIELOC in Hanoi, which was successfully funded in 5 days (!):

It would be an honor and a privilege to lead my workshop at this conference, but I can't get to Hanoi without your help. Funds will cover travel, lodging, transportation, meals, and long distance cell phone calls for one week. It might all cost less than $5K (?), in which case the extra will go toward my new solo show.

The conference theme is "Radical Dreaming: Community, Healing, Joy, and Play." My workshop aligns with this theme perfectly! For a decade I've observed how sharing personal experiences with nuance, vulnerability, humor, and courage can create an experience of community and catharsis, which often leads to healing. The workshop includes creative prompts that evoke joy and a sense of play.

AIELOC does truly important work, so I would be thrilled to collaborate with them at the conference. They support "educators and leaders around the world committed to speaking up, learning, advocating for change, taking action in addressing racism and discrimination in the international school ecosystem, amplifying the work of BIPOC, and researching topics of their own interest."

Any help you could give would be deeply appreciated. If at least half of the goal is raised by Dec 15, I'll tell the conference organizers that I can attend and will buy the RT ticket.

If at least half isn't raised by Dec 15, I will regretfully not be able to attend the conference, because that's their deadline and I can't afford to commit to it without having at least half the funds by then. In that case, the funds will be put toward producing the new solo show I've been working on. More details below.

If the deadline IS met, I'll go to the conference. If after that, the initial funding goal of $5,000 is exceeded, I'll put the extra toward producing the new solo show. If the deadline isn't met, all funds will go to the show.

If the larger goal of $10,000 for the conference and show is exceeded, I'll apply the extra to hiring an intern for 5 hours a week to help me with my small business. Like so many small businesses, mine has had a tough year+. Any help with admin and marketing will be hugely welcome.

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12/14/23: The deadline was met, taking the workshop to Vietnam is fully funded, and now any new donations will go toward the new solo show. :)