

'Busing the Buffer Zone' Turns Chinatown Mothers' Boycott History Into Art, Theater
The exhibit “Busing the Buffer Zone” uses art and theater to explore the experience of Chinatown mothers who boycotted busing of students in Boston Public Schools in 1975. The exhibition, which includes a play by Christina R. Chan and an exhibition at the Pao Arts Center, runs through March 28. The stage readings are slated for March 28 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Pao Arts Center. An open rehearsal is March 20.
Daria Mohan Zhang
Mar 13
The Fires This Time: Hughes, Baldwin, Coates, and the Uncertain Path Ahead
T hrough the smoke and gasoline of the literal fires that raged through cities like Washington, DC, and Atlanta as a result of the civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s May 25th 2020 murder at the literal knee of state-sanctioned legal justice, and through the similar apocalyptic scenes that have hit Minneapolis (in 2020 and 2026) and Los Angeles in the midst of an occupation by federal agents, we hear voices and see faces. The revolution is being televised. Truth is out
'Rock' Book Dresses Down Fascist Fashions
Daniel Rachel’s remarkable This Ain’t Rock and Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich shows that from the brutal brilliance of Leni Reifenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will” to the ghoulish strutting of Marilyn Manson’s “The Golden Age of Grotesque,” the fashion horrors of Hitler’s Third Reich have never fully gone away. And in a time when many are drawing comparisons between mass immigration raids and the Nazis, the book seems more relevant than ever. Rachel clarifies


Artist Daphne Xu Captures Story of Busing in New Greenway Exhibit
Daphne Xu’s new project “Boston Busing in Chinatown, 1975,” a photographic installation, just opened early this month along the Greenway, near the Chinatown Gate.
Daria Mohan Zhang
Mar 2


Reclaiming Lost Histories: Exhibit Tells Story of Three Old Neighborhoods
he permanent exhibit, “Reclaiming History — A Journey Through Three Neighborhoods,” will officially open at the Josiah Quincy Upper School on April 27.
Adam Smith
Feb 27


Writer Windy Pham Bridges Cultures, One Page at a Time
The Magic of Tết is one of the 10 works Windy Pham has published in her series of bilingual children books, aiming to celebrate Vietnamese heritage through highlighting the culture and language.
Esther Wang
Feb 27


A Gracious Spark of ‘Creativitry’
Playwright Stan Lai talks with Sampan.


Column: Author of 'How My Grandfather Stole a Shoe' Writes for the Record
Interview with Julie Masis, author of "How My Grandfather Stole a Shoe and Survived the Holocaust in Ukraine."
Adam Smith
Feb 10
Review: 'Hamilton,' History and the Immigrant Experience
Hamilton, presented by Broadway in Boston recently at Citizens Opera House, brought the full vigor and verve that has made playwright Lin Manuel-Miranda’s hit musical so beloved over the last decade. Meticulously researched and rooted in Ron Chernow’s biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, the musical Hamilton brings to life the rise of this flawed, accomplished figure with an iconic musical score blending hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and Broadway.
Virginia Sun
Jan 27


We Must All Hear ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’
The Voice of Hind Rajab is based on the true story of Hind, the five-year-old trapped for hours in a car in Gaza. She is there, next to her relatives who had just been killed by Israeli gunfire. She begs to be rescued, using her cousin’s cell phone to call for help.
Linda Dittmar
Jan 21


Hand in Glove
This February the Galapagos Puppets will put on “The Fiery Mountain and Its Princess” with musician Jimmy Zhao and his daughter, Iris, who will perform at the Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, Feb. 14 to 17.
Adam Smith
Jan 21


Theater Review: ‘Wonder’ Delivers a Powerful Message … But Misses Opportunities
The world premiere of the musical “Wonder” is a compelling, family-friendly production that tells the story of Auggie, a boy with a facial difference
Virginia Sun
Jan 20


Book Review: 'Emperor of Gladness' Is Worth the Heartbreak and Pain
There’s something profoundly beautiful about a carefully constructed evocation of failure, despair, togetherness, and survival. When it’s unveiled sensitively, as it’s done so brilliantly in Ocean Vuong’s second novel The Emperor of Gladness, we are assured that the rough ride from the opening pages to the heartbreaking finale is going to be worth our trouble.


Review: ‘Fun Home’ Opens Window into Queer Family Secrets, Slippery Memories
Fun Home is a beautiful queer memoir-musical about investigating one’s past and wrestling with the maddening slipperiness of memory. Based on Alison Bechdel’s award-winning graphic memoir, the story follows Alison’s childhood, coming of age, and coming out story as a butch lesbian, as well as her attempts to understand her closeted gay father.
Virginia Sun
Dec 19, 2025


Renee Inomata, Attorney and Activist, Remembered as ‘Awe-Inspiring’
Renee Inomata, a Boston-area attorney, who was highly active — oftentimes behind the scenes — in the civil rights and Asian American initiatives, died on Dec. 1.
Adam Smith
Dec 15, 2025


Round Trip to Filipino Pride
For Filipino American History month in October, Sampan, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Filipino Cultural Club, Hoy! Pinoy!, hosted a live panel of three Filipino American immigrants.
Liam Crampton
Dec 5, 2025


Book Review ‘Goddess Complex’ Looks at Our Mirror Selves … and a Woman’s Purpose
T he notion of a doppelgänger in literature has been used for centuries, with varying degrees of success. Think of the ghost of Hamlet’s father, materializing to haunt the tortured Denmark Prince about crimes transpired and crimes yet to be. Consider Edgar Allan Poe’s William Wilson, in which the double trails our hapless character through his life. There is a doppelgänger in Twain’s Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Dostoyevsky’s The Double, Patricia Highsmith’s The
Christopher John Stephens
Dec 5, 2025


Theater Review: ‘Sardines’ Packs in the Impossible: Death and Laughs
S ardines is a comedy show about death. A 60-minute one-man show, comedian Chris Grace presents a compelling autobiographical monologue about life and death. He shares his personal experiences with grief, deftly swerving from high-energy moments to vulnerably, sharing about losing family members, as well as his husband and Sardines director Eric Michaud’s cancer experience. These well-executed emotional fluctuations included Grace orchestrating an audience a cappella renditi
Virginia Sun
Dec 5, 2025


Tet in Boston’s Lunar New Year Moves into Bigger Spot at Convention Center
Tet in Boston is getting bigger. This year the 37th annual Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival will be on Feb. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center.
Daria Mohan Zhang
Dec 3, 2025


Writing, Comic Timing Make Playfest 8 a Class Act
Performed at The Foundry’s black box theater the weekend of Nov 8, Playfest featured nine short stories from a band of Boston-based playwrights. Each compellingly showcased the creative heft of local writers and the comedic chops of an all-Asian American and Pacific Islander cast and crew.
Anna Hu
Nov 25, 2025

