Kim’s Convenience | The Reunion Cast
We’re thrilled to have the 2020 touring cast of the Arts Club edition of Kim’s back together to read the show that originally premiered in 2018 at Pacific – Jessie, Jimmy and Maki were in the original production, while Howie and Andrew joined when Kim’s hit the road. You can learn a little more below, and see these talented folks in action at 7:00 PM on Saturday March 13th here.
Andrew Creightney | Alex / Mike / Mr. Lee / Rich
Howie Lai | Jung
Howie was born in Harbin, China and moved to Canada when he was barely a year old. Howie’s mother emphasized the importance of the arts and helped him begin his journey performing at a young age. After completing a B.A. in Political Science at the University of Victoria, he began training and performing full-time on stage and in front of the camera for over a decade, travelling between Vancouver, New York City, and Los Angeles. His love for powerful ideas about the human condition is his driving point, and Howie continues to immerse himself in the process of exploring roles that share a variety of perspectives and voices.
Jessie Liang | Janet
Jessie is is sincerely grateful to be living, working, and playing on the unceded and traditional territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nations. She is a Taiwanese-Brazilian actress, playwright, acting coach, and the founder of Acting Expanded – a brand that offers online courses and coachings to actors, as well as theatre-related merchandise.
Since graduating Studio 58’s prestigious Acting program, Jessie can be spotted on television series like Charmed (CW), Away (Netflix), and Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Nickelodeon). Before COVID19 shut theatres down, she reprised her role as Janet in The Arts Club 2020 tour of Kim’s Convenience. In addition, she’s the Resident Artistic Producer of the award-winning theatre company Solo Collective.
James Yi | Appa
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, James is a Vancouver based actor in film, tv and theatre.
Some of his film and tv roles include Jimmy Young on Kim’s Convenience, Officer Koh in The Interview, Mr. Pinchman in Gabby Duran, and Mr. Laframboise in Crash Pad. Some of his theatre roles have been: Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, Sammy Fong in the musical, Flower Drum Song and Moonface Martin in Anything Goes.
As a deeply devoted family man, James’ favorite moments are just sitting around the kitchen table and laughing with his wife and two daughters. James is also an avid golfer and sports nut and is a crazy fan of the Browns, Indians and Lakers. He hopes and dreams for the reunification of North and South Korea to happen as well as a Super Bowl win for the Cleveland Browns but sadly feels like the latter is far less likely to happen in his lifetime.
Maki Yi | Umma
Maki received a BFA in Theatre Performance at University of Regina and a MFA in Interdisciplinary
Studies at Simon Fraser University. Maki was an artistic apprentice at Pacific Theatre in 2011/12 season. In 2013/14 season, she presented at Pacific Theatre Lobby Project: Suitcase Stories, 10-minute
autobiographic stories, which was to become a full length play. In 2015, her collaboration with culturally diverse artists for the interpretive movement piece of a Korean short story, Weaver Woman, premiered at the Dancing on the Edge Festival, produced by Tomoe Arts. After being invited to Uno
Festival in 2015, Suitcase Stories, the full-length play, premiered at Pacific Theatre in 2016/17
season, and remounted at Evergreen Cultural Centre in 2017/18 season and at Pacific in fall 2020. In September 2018, Maki appeared in Kim’s Convenience at Pacific Theatre. Maki enjoyed playing a cat in Chicken Girl by Derek Chan, a new work from Rice & Beans Theatre in May/June 2019. In January 2020, she returned to PT stage to perform Gramma, another autobiographic play, and moved onto Arts Club tour of Kim’s Convenience until the abrupt cancellation due to COVID. Maki recently returned to PT to perform for Testament and is grateful to come out of her cave since the lockdown.