To my parents, who have always, always supported me, even during my musical theater phase. You, who came to every performance, listened to every idea, read every story, and asked for more. I can’t put my gratitude into words, which is corny, but true. You have always given me permission to be myself, so much so that I only want to die a little knowing that there is mention of both alcohol and sex in this project and you’ve seen it and know it was me who wrote it. Yikes. I love you, thank you.
Thank you to the Dean of Studies for the funding–without it, I literally wouldn’t have been able to make this project, and I am so grateful.
To the professors and advisors and faculty members who supported and motivated me: Eva Woods Pieró, Shane Slattery-Quintanillla, Baynard Bailey, and especially to my thesis advisor, boss, friend, M Mark, who has been a mentor to me since the very beginning, even when all I wrote were clichés, even when I still write clichés, and to my advisor Sophia Harvey, who made me feel seen and understood when I felt like no one got it. Thank you.
To my cast and crew, who pretended not to notice that I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. What a pleasure it was to work with you. Especially with AAPI collaborators, which was a very special first for me. To Malcolm who made the shoot literally possible in every sense, to Griffin (and Malcolm, and Nic, and Soobin) who made it beautiful, to Nalani and Tori for their happy help, to Tori for her insane animation, to the lovely cast who turned something I wrote into something wonderful and alive. Thank you, thank you.
To Sam for the amazing poster, and the never-ending support.
To my friends, who still manage to get hype when I send them the 25th version of the same scene they’ve watched a thousand times.
To my halmoni, who is my forever inspiration.
I love you, thank you.