NYTW SPOTLIGHT: Jaye Chen

Why is NYTW’s newest board member Jaye Chen keep re-reading the same mystery novels? Read our Q&A with her to find out!

How did you first get involved with NYTW?
I was a student downtown and walking along East 4th Street one night. I passed a small theatre and remember thinking, “Oh, they’re selling tickets that I can afford!” I don’t recall what I saw that particular evening, but what I first remember seeing there was RENT.

Most memorable show you’ve seen at NYTW?
It was difficult to get to the Workshop when my kids were very young. I was eager to bring them as soon as they were old enough; their first experience was OTHELLO. Even more memorable for me, though, was HADESTOWN. As soon as it ended, my spouse turned to me and said, “We have to see this again!” We returned with a big group of friends.

What is your first memory of going to the theatre?
My babysitter had been a teenager in the 1940s. She always had her radio set to the “oldies” station that played songs by composers like the Gershwins and Rodgers and Hammerstein, and vocalists like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. When I was ten, I realized that many songs were linked to musicals. I would check the TV Guide at her house and then watch old movies at home. I’m a child of immigrants, and I educated myself on American culture by watching these movies. Later, I was excited to discover that the movie musicals had actually been live productions. In the early 80s, I begged my parents to take me to Broadway to see 42nd STREET and MY ONE AND ONLY. My father slept through both.

Who inspires you?
The people in my family inspire me the most. It takes a lot of courage to start over in a new country. I feel a lot of empathy and admiration for people who leave or are forced to leave their homes, and am always awed by the human capacity to strive for a better future.

Without live theatre during the pandemic, what have you been watching, listening to, reading?
Reading mysteries, forgetting I read them, reading them again, then realizing halfway through that I know exactly what will happen—I call this pandemic brain. Sarah Vaughan and The Arctic Monkeys. Currently reading Homeland Elegies by fellow Board Member Ayad Akhtar. Serving on the board of the Workshop helped me stay grounded during those bleak months of March and April; I’ve gotten a lot of hope and positivity from my board service.

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