This year’s 2026 Asian Heritage Month will be celebrated at Hope College by featuring Hope’s
Theatre Department’s production of Mia Chung’s play, “You for Me for You,” on Sunday, April
19 at 2 p.m. and on Friday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the DeWitt Mainstage Theatre on Hope’s
campus. The public is invited and admission is free to both performances, but tickets are
required to attend as space is limited.

For the April 24 event only, doors open at 7 p.m. and there will also be an opportunity for the
audience to participate in a Q&A discussion following the production with the playwright, Mia
Chung.

Additional showings are set for Apr. 17 and 18 and again on April 23–25 at 7:30 p.m., with ticket
purchases required. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors/Hope faculty and staff, and free
for Hope students and those under age 18.

All performances feature live captioning, DeWitt’s standard hearing loop, and an optional
sensory-story for the production’s light and sound design. The DeWitt Student & Cultural Center
is located at 141 E 12th St., facing Columbia Avenue between 10th and 13th Streets.

ABOUT THE PLAY
Directed by Rhett Luedtke, associate professor of theatre at Hope, “You for Me for You” follows
a pair of sisters, driven to desperation in their lives in North Korea, as they make a mad dash for
freedom. While one sister, Junhee, makes it to America and must wrestle with a new language
and fast-paced culture, the other, Minhee, is trapped, stuck in a world where symbolism and
double-speak are necessary for survival. As the sisters fight to find each other, they must also
determine where home is and what they are willing to sacrifice to gain it.

Luedtke says, of the directing process, “Mia Chung’s play is one of the most challenging and
exciting plays I have worked on in quite some time. It is simply beautiful. The play juxtaposes
the brutality of North Korea’s authoritarian regime against the craziness of American big-city life
but does so through a poetic blend of realism and dream-like sequences that are both comic
and surreal. It has been a delight to co-create this world with our creative team.”

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT & AUTHOR
Mia Chung is a writer for theatre, film and TV. Her play “Catch As Catch Can” premieres in
Chicago in 2026 as part of Steppenwolf’s 50th season and will be published in a special edition
of THEATER magazine (Spring 2026, Yale). She received a 2024 MacDowell fellowship, a 2023
Whiting Award for Drama, and a 2022 MAP grant for a new music-theatre work.

ABOUT THE HOPE THEATRE TEAM

In addition to Luedtke, the college’s production team consists of Jungah Han as guest scenic
designer from the University of Michigan; Michelle Bombe, chair of the department, as costume
designer; Eric Van Tassell, assistant professor of lighting and sound design, as lighting
designer; Ken Chamberlain, dance and theatre lighting and sound technician, as sound
designer; Kevin MacLeod as guest props designer; Stephen Krebs, technical director for
theatre, as technical director; Anna Hill, theatre department costume manager and dance
department costume designer, as costume shop manager; Dr. Mihyun Han, associate professor
of education, as primary cultural consultant; with additional help from seniors Wujin Kim and
Yeageon Song; and first-year students Seoeun Lee and Yenna Lee of S. Korea.

Also serving on the production team are junior Gabrielle Parker of Novi, Mich., as assistant
sound designer; first-year students Benjamin Bierma of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Adia Falvey of
Griffith, Ind., and Lee Tull of Delton, Mich., as assistant stage managers; and junior Jacqueline
Schatz of Clarkston, Mich., as stage manager.

The cast includes sophomores Ashlynn Blankenship of Lindale, Tex.; Trey Hunter of Detroit,
Mich., and Victor Powell and Bea Salazar, both of Norton Shores, Mich.; junior Isabelle Park of
Caro, Mich.; and seniors Eliana Cocking of Orlando, Fla.; Claudia Hwang of Norton Shores,
Mich., and Elliana Johnson of Greenville, SC.

Hope senior Claudia Hwang, president of the Asian Student Union and cast member, says,
“Collaborating with the Department of Theatre and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion to bring
playwright Mia Chung to campus has been one of the most rewarding experiences from my time
at Hope. It has been a joy to see the camaraderie formed through the sharing of cultural
experiences and stories, and we cannot wait to share this production with our audience for this
reason. We hope that, through Minhee and Junhee’s story, our audience’s eyes may be opened
to the similarities that humanity shares across cultural divides and borders that we ourselves
have created.”

Tickets are available at the Events and Conferences Office located in downtown Holland in the
Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The ticket office is open weekdays
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be reached at 616-395-7890. Tickets may be purchased by
calling or visiting the ticket office, online at hope.edu/tickets, or in person at the performance.
Reserved tickets must be claimed ten minutes prior to performances in order to guarantee
seating.

The April 24 talkback session is being presented by the college’s Center for Diversity and
Inclusion in collaboration with the Asian Student Union, the Hope Theatre Department, and
Hope’s Office of Culture and Inclusive Excellence.

To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event,
please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available
at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.