What I Learned From Creating My One Man Show

It all started in 2020.

NYC had just announced the lockdown, and all residents were forced into the confines of their homes.

As an actor, I felt lost. None of us were able to work at the time.

Stuck within the blue walls of my bedroom, I began creating skits where different characters engaged in entertaining, thought-provoking conversations on the state of the world.

And so birthed The Blu Room.

Each episode follows Rob Chen, the level-headed host of the talk show, along with his correspondents and friends, Mike Chang, a hyper-masculine frat bro, and Joey Bong, an all about love stoner boy, as they venture into difficult topics like Covid-19 and anti-Asian hate crimes.

The YouTube series was short lived, but it planted the seed for what would become my one man show.

And man, did that seed stay hidden under the soil!

2 years flew by and nothing happened until...

I saw an opportunity from the Asian American Arts Alliance where they were giving out micro grants to artists looking to support the AAPI community in NYC this past July.

I immediately thought of The Blu Room.

I submitted my application, and few weeks later, I got the email saying I that was one of the recipients for the What Can We Do? micro grant!

Each artist had until the end of September to create a physical event, project, or activity that served our community by the end of September.

And so began the two month journey of my one man show, The Blu Room.

This is what I learned.

1. There will be lonely nights.

Since I was bringing my digital show into the physical world, I had to create a brand new format and script as to how I was going to approach my performance.

I reached out to countless of BIPOC writers and actors in my network to see if they'd be interested in collaborating, but most people said they were too busy, and often times, my messages were left unread.

I don't blame them though.

It's hard to bring artists on board when all you have is a google document full of random bullet points.

There were moments where I felt so lonely and helpless.

But I wasn't going to give up that easily, especially not when I had a commitment to deliver my show.

This brings me to my second point.

2. Set a deadline and stick to it.

It's easy to push things to tomorrow.

I do it ALL the time.

However, the micro grant gave me a hard deadline that I had to adhere by, and so it lit a fire under my ass to GET SHIT DONE.

Since I only had two months to write the script, find a space to put on my show, and market my event to the public, I knew that time was of the essence.

I became a time management machine and it became clear what I needed to do in order to see my show come to fruition.

3. Book your venue space early.

Booking a venue became top priority and I realized very quickly how early in advance you need to schedule a space.

Since I started reaching out to places early September, most theater spaces were fully booked for the month, and if there were any availability, it was usually at an obscure hour of the night.

Also most professional performing venues charge around $500/hr to rent the space.

Between set up, tech rehearsal, an hour long performance, and clean up, my show would've easily costed $1500+.

Since venues know most independent artists can't afford this rate, they usually offer a deal where they give artists their space to perform, but in return, they will charge tickets to your show and all sales goes towards the house.

Personally, I was not a fan of this method because I wanted my debut show to be free for the community.

Once again, I was lost.

On one hand, I wanted my show to be accessible to everyone but on the other hand, I didn't have enough funds to book a venue even with my micro grant.

But something magical happened.

The community I had hoped to serve ended up serving me!

This made me realize one of the most important aspects of creating a one person show.

4. It takes many people to create a one man show.

I had reached out to a fellow actor friend and founder of Mixed Asian Media, Alex Chester-Iwata, who was kind enough to connect meet with Yuko Kudo, an artist and member of Prime Produce, a community based co-op space that supports entrepreneurs, educators, and artists who share values of service and hospitality.

This simple act of kindness single-handedly saved my show!

Thanks to Yuko, I was able to secure a space grant at Prime Produce.

They agreed to let me use their space without needing me to sell tickets or pay $500/hr.

Yuko also connected me with my director, Shino Francis, who was able to turn what was in my Google doc onto the physical space at Prime Produce.

Because of Shino and Yuko, we were able to transform the space from this...

to this.

All in less than two weeks!

Of course, there were stressful moments of uncertainty, but I never gave up on my one man show.

If there is one final note I wish to embark onto you, it is this...

5. Trust the process.

Even when I didn't have a performance space or director, I had faith that things would work out.

I focused on what I could control, and if it was out of my control, I let the universe take its course.

I'm not religious, but I started praying every night, and that made the small victories infinitely better when it actually happened.

When Shino emailed me agreeing to direct my show, I legit cried tears of joy in my living room. (don't tell her that though 😂)

Every word of encouragement from my friends and followers meant the world to me.

When you create something out of nothing, you love it before it exists.

So trust and believe that whatever idea you have, it will come to life as long as you work towards it one day at a time.

The rest will follow.

This was by far my most challenging artistic project to date, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you everybody who came to watch my show, whether it be in person or on the TikTok livestream!

And if you missed the show, no worries.

The full performance is up on YouTube for you to see :)

I hope you get to see the Blu Room in person someday.

Till then, stay safe and love fully!

Follow me on TikTok and Instagram to keep up with what I'm doing. For any business inquiries, please email me at robchenhere@gmail.com. Peace & love!