CAST

Ariel Dizon Barish is a Filipino and Jewish American painter and printmaker from Riverside, California. She graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy and is finishing up her final year at UC Santa Cruz as an Art major. She has been awarded the university’s Irwin Scholarship and intends to attend an MFA program. View her portfolio here.

Nicholas Uglow is a queer artist and printmaker from Santa Cruz, California. He has spent the last 4 years traveling abroad, participating in residencies and workshops while pursuing his interests in Japanese woodblock printing. A recent graduate from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Nicholas’ goal is to obtain an MFA and become a professor of printmaking.

Luka Salib is a 21-year-old Egyptian American actor and musician most recently accredited in Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice and Laura Boutros’s Amduat: The 12 Hours of Ra. He seeks to explore decolonization and multiculturalism in his work and art.

Rowena Chiu is a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein. In 1998, she was sexually assaulted by him at the Venice Film Festival, and was coerced into signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which silenced her for over twenty years. In 2017, a New York Times journalist came to her home and doorstepped her husband of over a decade, revealing information about the assault and NDA. Rowena was featured in the subsequent NYT investigation, but she insisted on remaining anonymous. In 2019, she finally broke her story on the NBC Today Show, live in front of three million viewers. Rowena's story has featured in both the book and the movie, SHE SAID. Read more here.

Rae Yuen is an actor, vocalist, and illustrator from the San Francisco Bay Area. She recently premiered as 'Sugarpie' in Aimee Suzara's production of Tiny Fires. While she has performed primarily in theatre spaces, she is thrilled to make her film debut with the cast of SO TO SPEAK.

Jane Quiazon is a Filipina-American teen actor and performer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She began performing with Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose and enjoyed featured roles with high school and college theater programs. Jane is proud to make her film debut in a project that centers the experience of Asian American women!

Phoenix Ever is a recent graduate from UCSC, earning her bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in Theatre Arts. She currently works in the Santa Cruz community as a Mental Health Support Coordinator and is excited to be a part of a project that highlights Asian American feminine experiences.

Vanessa Wang is currently a second year majoring in Film & Digital Media at UCSC. She grew up in the San Gabriel Valley (in L.A. County) with parents that are both very supportive of the arts as well as general fans of film. This cultivated in her a love for film from a young age, and she hopes to continue trying new things and taking different opportunities to explore this field.

Minnu recently graduated with an undergraduate degree from UCSC. She often likes to spend her free time reading, climbing, and exploring new hobbies.

Erin Akamine is a fourth year Linguistics and Literature double major at UC Santa Cruz. Erin plays the cello and hopes to find more time to read books outside of their courses!

Jazmine’s passion for storyboard art and post-production film editing has brought her to UCSC, where she is currently working on her BA in Film and Digital Media. She has been in student leadership under Bayanihan at UCSC for two years, serving as a current coordinator of Alay (an art and self expression organization) and a previous coordinator of Digital & Social Media (a marketing/social media management organization). Her other interests include graphic design, photography, ballroom dance, and collecting blind box figurines.