We were lucky to catch up with Audrey Shon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Audrey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

Growing up on an small island located in Pacific, my people’s stories tend to be neglected when it comes to the narrative of Asian culture. I do not belong in an ethnic group that will immediately comes to people’s minds when they are addressing to Asians. However, I am very thankful of the soil that nourished me and taught me lessons in my early life.
I relocated to New York City last year to pursue a career in theater, and I really hope that one day, I will be able to share the story of my people and my land through theatrical arts.
Because of the scarce quantity of population in our community, (I’m comparing us to the U.S. , we still have 23 million people living on that island anyway) and perhaps the political censorship conducted by our gigantic neighboring country (they seem to consider us as their territory, typical bully behavior in my opinion). The story about this island is not widely-known, and I wish to bring changes to that. That is how I wish to be remembered by people, a voice of minority, that is always willing to stand up against hierarchy, and an advocator who is not afraid of any kind of threat or censorship. I am on my way of becoming a theatric producer, and I wish to help carry out pieces about my homeland, supporting playwrights and actors who come from similar backgrounds and cast influence on the next generation, Asian or non Asian.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Born and raised in Taiwan. I belong to the so-called generation Z demographic group. I was a theater kid growing up, sometimes considered as an art geek by a lot of my peers. I was blessed with the opportunity to work with local troupes at a very young age and had starred in a few classic adaptations including “Peter Pan” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, mostly performed in English. These experiences of acting in bilingual productions lead to my choice of major in university, which was English Literature.
I left school during COVID season but was fortunate enough to find a job as a international representative at a small-scale yet prosperous musicians’ studio. I was also a part of Taiwanese show biz, in which I worked with an idol band, NO FACE NO REaLity, I worked as their manager for a couple of years. It was then I started to discover the importance of backstage positions and had decided to walk on the path of becoming a producer. As you may notice, most of my job involves in the music industry, indeed, I wanted to be a music producer at the beginning.
I then moved to New York City last year in order to acquire knowledge and inspiration from a city that has such a rich history and also diverse categories of arts. Frankly speaking, I never thought that I will have a chance to work in the theater industry again after college. Because I was an activist and an active member of both the student union and the school’s wind orchestra, I thought I am going to end up either in politics or in music industry. Nevertheless, God seems to have other plans for me. I originally wanted to work with label companies when I arrived at the city, which is more similar to the industry I was in back in Taiwan, but I ended up working in a theater, just as what I was doing when I was 10 years old.
My recent credits include The Shine Challenge 2025 by Ishmael Reed in February (Theater for The New City). Yes, I am acting again, this is the very first time after high school. Furthermore, I am the producer of Red Threads by Ned Du (The Flea), a tragicomedy in which he tells a story about a Taiwanese American family striving to survive under the tense international situation, scheduled to be staged in summer.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Like what I have mentioned in previous answers. I always consider my people to be silenced in many mainstream platform. (fun fact: we are not a member of the United Nations and also, apparently not on geography text books of most of the countries in the world.) I do not want to use the word “underprivileged”, but it is indeed challenging for us to be seen by general public. Therefore, I said it before and I am going to say it again, my mission is to tell the story of my homeland through art, I hope to work with as many artists as I can and hopefully someday we will be able to create an influence so significant that it will be impossible to shut us up.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am the assistant director of a fundraising gala that my theater is hosting, which is going to take place in mid February. The director is the owner of that theater so being an assistant director basically means that I am in charge of all the trifle things. From seating arrangement to making schedule to contacting the venue. When viewing independently, each task seems simple as a breeze, but when things start to pile up but I tend to feel much more like being dragged into a tornado. It is stressful, especially when I am still working on two other productions at the same time. However, I think that I am already learning a lot. This is my first time organizing a fundraising event, and also my first time of working at an 501 (c) institution. The different philosophy of non-profit organizations and all those new tax laws and regulations I have to study about is indeed tiring, but interesting at the same time. On top of that, I am doing all these stuff in a non-native language, can’t say I am satisfied with my performances right now, but I think I am improving a bit day by day and I wish to keep that spirit.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: ajs_kuma
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JingYunShon
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits

NO FACE NO REaLity (the idol group)
NCCU Wind Band
Theater For The New City