“I don’t want to just survive. I want to live.”

 

EASTBOUND is a new bilingual musical about the unexpected meeting of two brothers from opposite sides of the world, their quests for survival, and the power of choice.

 

Calvin, a Chinese-American adoptee, has been in remission from a rare blood cancer that he’s had for nearly his entire life — until one day, his cancer relapses and he is given a six month prognosis. His only chance of survival is to receive a bone marrow transplant from a living blood relative. Exhausted by years of chemotherapy, Calvin wants to forgo further treatment and focus on living his remaining days to the fullest. He has never been to China — his birthplace —and his dying wish is to connect with the country that he’s from. His mother agrees to take him, with her own agenda of locating Calvin’s birth family in the hopes of saving his life.

 

Meanwhile, Calvin’s biological brother, Yun, has traveled from China to New York on a research project. Hiding his struggle with his sexuality from his wife and mother, Yun becomes involved in a romance with his roommate — and must choose which life he wants to live: the one in America where he can be who he truly is, or the one in China where he makes his family proud by honoring tradition.

 

Told through the soundscape of a contemporary score fused with traditional Chinese folk music and Mandopop, EASTBOUND is performed in English and Mandarin.