Illegal, A New Musical, with its vibrant and powerful combination of spoken word, rap, and singing, was presented at the Norris Ely Orchard Theater on Friday, March 22. 

Senior Ethan Song was instrumental in bringing the staged musical reading to campus. In the summer of 2022, he helped bring Illegal to Queens College in New York, where his family resides. 

“Illegal was written, directed, and produced by an entirely Asian American ensemble,” Ethan said, “and I think it is important to highlight people and voices that are generally underrepresented in their industries.” 

The historical fiction musical is about Chinese American immigrants and the history of Chinese Americans in the United States. The book, music, and lyrics are by Skyler Chin and Sita Sunil, friends from their days at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., from which they graduated in 2019. “It’s 1923. The United States is enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Act by systematically separating families and imprisoning them on Angel Island,” is how Mr. Chin describes the musical on his website. 

“It has been incredible to get the chance to share this story with audiences,” Mr. Chin said shortly before going on stage Friday night. “It is great to spread an educational message through entertainment, and to get to have a really good time. We are thankful for the opportunity. It’s a personal story for a lot of people.” 

The story is personal to Mr. Chin, whose grandparents were detained on Angel Island. As a senior at Yale, he went to Angel Island on an externship to do research there. When he got back to campus, he suggested a musical to Ms. Sunil. “Let’s do it,” she told him. Ms. Sunil said they had collaborated on other musical projects. 

Ethan was excited about bringing the event to the Loomis Chaffee community for various reasons, one of which was that he wanted to “spark an interest in Chinese American history. It is hard to be interested in something you do not know about. Personally, my interests have developed because the school has a strong commitment for students to learn new things. I want people to see what it was like for the immigrants, the conditions of the times, and to humanize the people.” 

Another interest of Ethan’s is the political scene. In 2022 he founded an organization called Chinese-American Youth in Civil Services (www.caycs.org) to provide mentorship and internship opportunities for Chinese Americans to become more involved in public affairs. Ethan believes that under-representation in politics is not for lack of interest but for lack of connections.  

“There is a large lack of Asian representation not only in local politics but at [state and federal levels],” Ethan said. “Part of the reason, in my opinion, is that politics is dominated by the old guard.” 

A Congressional Research Service profile of the 118th Congress released in November 2023 notes that there are 21 members (16 representatives, three delegates, and two senators) who are Asian Americans or Pacific Islander Americans. That is less than 4 percent of the 541 individuals in Congress. 

The performance of Illegal was presented by the Performing Arts Department, the Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, the Office of the Director of International Student Support, and the Chinese-American Youth Civil Service.