COMMUNITY VOICES | The Ordway’s “Miss Saigon” shows respect towards Asians: A cast member’s perspective
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An open letter to Sheila Regan and others who are reporting criticism of the Ordway’s new production of Miss Saigon. (Read Sheila Regan’s post, “We should all boycott the Ordway’s revival of racist musical Miss Saigon,” here.)My name is Orville Mendoza.I am a Filipino-American who immigrated to the U.S. with my family when I was two years old. My parents’ main reason for immigrating was so that my brother and I could have more opportunities and have a better life than we would in the Philippines. I know this because my brother and I would have this explanation brow-beaten into us over and over and over again when we didn’t do well in school.My parents told me stories of their childhood in the Philippines during World War II when they had to hide from the Japanese. They recounted the horrors of seeing their fellow townspeople murdered by Japanese soldiers. Continue Reading