EP 593: Actors Trieu Tran and Iris Liu On Bringing the Story of Chinese Rocket Scientist Qian Xuesen to the Stage

A new play based on the true story of Qian Xuesen, the brilliant aerospace engineer from China who helped launch America’s space age—until Cold War paranoia forever changed the course of his life…and ours.

Qian Xuesen, a promising young engineer from China, travels to America in 1935 on a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship. Advancing quickly through the ranks at MIT and Caltech, he becomes a pioneer of the American space age, co-founding JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and helping the United States of America win World War II. Then, as extreme nationalism swells at the beginning of the Cold War, Xuesen finds himself accused of being a Communist, and what happens next shapes the future of both his new and native homelands.

Developed by Henry Ong and director and dramaturg Diana Wyenn from 2016 until the playwright’s passing in 2018, this production marks the long-awaited world premiere of the beloved playwright and LA Theater champion’s prescient and timely final play. Inspired by true events and filled with Ong’s signature blend of heart and humor, Ascent reveals how fear, extreme nationalism, and xenophobia affects individual lives, shapes political decisions, and overshadows truth—often with lasting global consequences.  @skylighttheatre #racism #xenophobia #qianxuesen