Buried Alive Podcast (Copy) — StoryBoards NorthWest

PODCAST: Buried Alive

Currently in production, Buried Alive (2023), a historical podcast.

The Misty Poets

In the 1960s, at great risk to their lives, a group of teenagers in China defied the authoritarian regime by reading and writing forbidden texts, painting and exhibiting avant-garde works of art, and exploring western music. Held in secret, these early underground salons laid the groundwork for a movement called “The Misty Poets.” Their stories from China’s Cultural Revolution have been buried by fear and fading memory. We present these stories to preserve a history that should never be forgotten and reflects the struggles in America.)

“With the start of the cultural revolution in 1966, schools all over the country closed. So by the time that Mao made the declaration in 1968, many of the children who followed Mao’s rallying cry to “go up into the mountains and down to the countryside” had already ended their education after elementary school. The transfer engulfed about 10 percent of China’s urban population. Every family had to send one family member to the countryside. These children are referred to today as the Lost Generation.

The members of our salon were among the people who came back or didn't leave the city. They were teenagers left alone in Beijing for three full years without adult supervision.“

-Episode 1, Buried Alive

“The excitement overrode any sense of exhaustion. We lived on pure adrenaline. But the result of our naivete coupled with sleeplessness led us to unimaginable passion and often reckless behavior. Our minds took us to the surreal. I can only explain that what we felt was more real than real. We were drunk, not on liquor, but on the sheer joy of being alive and in the moment. There was no tomorrow. There was no ticking of time. There was only the sense of now. Hormones raging we were fearless and free to explore each other and ourselves physically and emotionally. There were no holds barred.“

- Episode 6, Buried Alive

“All music schools were closed and instruments destroyed. Many of our friends, including ourselves, destroyed precious instruments in order to avoid such severe punishment. I watched a piano being burned in a courtyard so the owner could deny being a counter-revolutionary. I suspect that he just couldn’t hide such a big instrument and burning was the only way to save his own life. These instruments were considered tools of the upper class. Mao said there is no such thing as art for art’s sake, and that all music belonged to defined classes and political lines. While abolishing western music, Mao created revolutionary sounds and songs for his political purposes.“

- Episode 8, Buried Alive

Meet the Cast

Kathy Hsieh as Jean

Kathy Hsieh is a Co-Executive Producer with SIS Productions, the Racial Equity in Grantmaking Strategist with the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, and is an award-winning actor, writer and director who works to create greater visibility and equity for theatre artists, especially those from communities who are less represented in the field. Recent projects include Seattle Shakespeare’s Drum & Colours productions of Hamlet and As You Like It, Book-It’s The Three Musketeers, and Macha Theatre Works’ Notes for My Daughter and Snow Woman. Next up, she can be seen in Sound Theatre’s Gaslight Project (Angel Street).
Shawn Wong as Grant

Shawn Wong is the author of two novels, Homebase and American Knees. He is also the co-editor and editor of six Asian American and American multicultural literary anthologies including the pioneering anthology Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers. The award-winning film version of American Knees will be released soon. In 2019, he started his own book series at the University of Washington Press, reissuing notable Asian American books such as Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu, Awake in the River and Shedding Silence by Janice Mirikitani, and a new work, Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle by Peter Bacho. Wong is Professor of English and the Byron and Alice Lockwood Professor in the Humanities at the University of Washington.
Mimi Gan as The Narrator

Mimi Gan is principal of Mi2 Media and produces documentaries and videos for social good. For 16 years, Mimi was a reporter/producer for KING 5 Evening Magazine and co-host of the kids show, Watch This! She also worked as a correspondent for The Discovery Channel and as a TV and radio journalist in San Francisco. She has been honored with 12 Emmys, an AWRT Gracie, and NATPE Iris. Mimi directed the award-winning documentaries, With Honors Denied and Giants which screened at more than a dozen film festivals, including Tribeca. Passionate about the arts, education and social justice, Mimi serves as a trustee for Seattle Children's Theatre and Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. In 2020, she co-founded SeattleUnite.org, a coalition of social and racial organizations to fight racism. Recently, Mimi co-created “Our Stories Are Your Stories” a storytelling and social campaign in response to anti-Asian Hate.Mimi received an A.B. in Social Sciences from Stanford University.
Andy Tran as Yansheng

Andy was born and raised in Seattle to two immigrant parents. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in drama performance and is currently working on becoming a registered nurse. He has sporadically worked on voice-over and narration work, but has recently been more focused on his studies. He's excited to get to dip a toe back into doing creative work and is honored to be able to both learn more about these amazing individuals and get to share their stories.