Bios | News / Interviews | Reviews | Photos | Press release (updated Feb. 17, 2008)

In 2000, Zen Shane Lim (Raymond Chow) began his passionate journey as a professional actor. He's appeared on shows such as Intelligence, Da Vinci's Inquest and Smallville. Zen has shown his love for theatre with strong leading roles in Exit the Dragon, Bondage and the popular Sex in Vancouver series. He also nurtures his growing production company, KaiZen Creative Group.

Grace Chin (Jessica Leung) is a communications consultant and thesp. A member of the Editors' Association of Canada and of UBCP, Grace has worked with VACT, Theatre in the Raw, CBC Radio and in the Vancouver Fringe, as well as on independent films. She co-produces the Scripting Aloud scriptreading series, and is Twisting Fortunes’ co-writer and co-producer.

Suzi Petersen (Bridget Jang) has been active in the film and television industry since her first paid appearance as a background performer eight years ago. She comes to the craft of acting later in life, and is always inspired by working with creative cast and crew. Suzi has trained at Studio on the Drive, with the Vancouver Theatresports League and with Mel Tuck. Twisting Fortunes is her first theatre appearance. Suzi lives in Steveston, Richmond.

Alex Chu (Wayne) comes to Vancouver after having spent the previous eight years living in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Singapore and Hong Kong. He can be seen performing in various plays and indie film projects in Vancouver.



Kathy Leung (director) has been intimately involved in theatre and film production as a writer and director after writing her first short script, Lily's Crickets, which screened at numerous festivals and received nominations at the Leo and Golden Sheaf Awards. Recently, she co-founded Scripting Aloud, a monthly script-reading series featuring pan-Asian writers and/or content.

Charlie Cho (co-writer, co-producer) is a writer/performer in the Hot Sauce Posse sketch comedy group (currently in sleeper cell mode), a current affairs associate producer at CBC Radio (part-time), a freelance writer for the WestEnder and Georgia Straight newspapers (occasional), and an editor of Ricepaper magazine (former).


CREW: Kit Koon: Stage manager | Marcus Wu: Set design | Darren Boquist: Lighting design | Chad Band: Video/stills projection | JJ Lee: Wardrobe | Jocelyn Chee: Makeup/hair artist | Phil Chau: Stage hand/background performer | Terry Wong/wonger.ca: Graphic design/promotional stills | Robin Chan: Videographer | Enrico Pelaez/Pelaez Photography, Jade Amin: Performance stills | Michele Nitta, Michele Dodick, Hayley Petersen, Jim Sheehan, Josephine Ching: front of house

Feb. 7, 8, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 2008: TF Productions' current play: The Quickie

Sep. 7-15: TF Productions is co-producing a Fringe Festival play, Supermarket Scuffle: Jumbo Pack Edition by Darren Joe, with Binky Productions. It runs Sep. 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 2007, in Vancouver. For more info, visit the official website at www.marcusandandrew.com.

May 18-19: Lick The Wax Tadpole (Charlie, Suzi, Kit and Ross Bragg, Darren Joe, Sunny Oh, Jamie Slade) and Slant Eyed Peas (Kathy, Alex and Ed Fong, Jono Lee, Andrea Yu) premiered at Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre's Etch-Your-Sketch. JJ was a comedic consultant.

May 18: Kit and Charlie were interviewed by Joyce Lam about Lick The Wax Tadpole, along with fellow Etch-Your-Sketchers Simon Yang (Yangtzers) and Ed Fong (Slant Eyed Peas), on Wake Up with Co-op on CFRO 102.7 FM. [Listen 19:50].

May 11-12: Charlie's interview with Bowen Zhang about Lick The Wax Tadpole aired on both the Mandarin and the Cantonese editions of Channel M's news.

Apr. 15: JJ Lee was interviewed by Megan Lau in the current (12.2) issue of Ricepaper magazine.

Mar. 28: Grace Chin was interviewed by Kay Huang on Channel M's Mandarin Magazine. To air in May. Check back for details.

Mar. 17: Charlie Cho, Grace Chin and Kathy Leung appeared with Paul Bae, Angela Mackenzie and Steve Ken on a media/entertainment panel at Roads to Success: 2nd Annual Korean Canadian Career Conference. Organized by the Corean Canadian Coactive Society.

Feb. 6: Grace Chin and Charlie Cho were interviewed by Rick Cluff on The Early Editon on CBC Radio, 690 AM in Vancouver. With an excerpt featuring Zen Shane Lim. [Listen 6:24]

Feb. 4: Kathy Leung and Zen Shane Lim's interview with Sheryl Mackay about Scripting Aloud and Twisting Fortunes on North By Northwest aired on CBC Radio in British Columbia. [Listen 9:53]

Feb. 2: Grace Chin and Charlie Cho were interviewed by Joyce Lam and Grace Kim on Wake Up with Co-op on CFRO 102.7 FM. With an excerpt featuring Zen Shane Lim. [Listen 19:42]

Feb. 1: Charlie Cho, Grace Chin and Zen Shane Lim discussed Asian dating in Vancouver with UBC associate professor Henry Yu's fourth-year history class: Asian Migrant Communities in Vancouver.

"After seeing a scene from TF performed at Gung Haggis Fat Choy, I immediately asked the cast to come to my class at UBC to talk to the students. The play addresses some of the pressing issues concerning Asian Canadian youth, but with a light hearted touch that engages and provokes at the same time as it makes you laugh. The students really enjoyed it." - Henry Yu

Jan. 28: Zen Shane Lim and Grace Chin had a captivated audience of 400 laughing with the reading of a scene from the play at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. Photo by Tim Pawsey / Hired Belly

We've also been promo'd and/or listed by CBC, The Province, The Georgia Straight, Ricepaper magazine, The Ubyssey, Perspectives, Schema Magazine, rabble.ca, Inside the CBC, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, Martini Boys, Hired Belly, Asian American Theatre Revue, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, explorASIAN, AsianCanadian.net, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, Vancouver Public Library and Future Tense.

"Twisting Fortunes seems to have quickly found its audience. Too bad it can't run for another week. Here's hoping for a remount soon...and maybe even a sequel." - Twisting Fortunes is just like "real dating" Todd Wong, Gung Haggis Fat Choy

"Chin and Lim portray such strong characters with so much personality that each awkward moment makes you want to cover your eyes. I found myself wondering whether I might just get up from my chair and proceed down through the seats and onto the stage to try and sort out the ineptitude of the pair. 'Can’t you see he loves you? And you – good grief, just make your move already!'" - Erin Jane, reviewVancouver

"Two thumbs up, way up. 5 star performance. Highly acclaimed." - Jade Amin, Jade Photography

"I didn't see the play, but I was so happy to read the script. I loved it. Twisting Fortunes ROX!!!" - Malaya Cooks

A New Twist on Love in the City

Vancouver, BC - Wind it up for a bittersweet, frothy mix of romance and sexual tension this winter with Twisting Fortunes, a made-in-Vancouver play set to the buzz of Terminal City's café culture.

TF is written by Charlie Cho (Hot Sauce Posse, Ricepaper magazine) and Grace Chin (Scripting Aloud co-producer), and is directed by Kathy Leung (writer of the Leo-nominated Lily's Crickets, Scripting Aloud co-producer), with sponsorship support from Scripting Aloud and Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (VACT).

Reminiscent of the Richard Linklater film Before Sunrise, Ray Chow and Jessy Leung exchange coffee, tea and repartee against a video and photo montage of familiar Vancouver venues in TF's intimate look at personal, sexual and racial politics on the multicultural Left Coast. A radio reporter and simultaneous non-dater, Ray is tired of the game. An aspiring actor and serial monogamist, Jessy still hasn't found what she's looking for. They both want out - or do they want in?

Zen Shane Lim, the male lead in VACT's popular Sex in Vancouver theatre episodic based on the successful American Sex in Seattle series, headlines this two-act play about an accidentally Asian pair who find it easy enough to fall in like, then find their relationship anything but. Chin, an actor herself, takes on the female lead.

TF is the first theatrical production to emerge from Scripting Aloud, a monthly pan-Asian Canadian scriptreading series active since 2005.

Twisting Fortunes played February 6, 7, 8, 9 at the Playwrights Theatre Centre (1398 Cartwright Street) on Granville Island.

Media enquiries:
Charlie Cho
co-writer, Twisting Fortunes
co-producer, TF Productions
twistingfortunes@gmail.com

Photos 1, 3, 5 by Jade Amin. Photos 2, 4, 6 by Enrico Pelaez/Pelaez Photography. Paintings in photo 4 by Yang Hong.

Photos/design by Terry Wong / wonger.ca Wardrobe by JJ Lee (CBC Radio's Vancouver by Design columnist) High-resolution images available for publication.