On Saturday, January 21, 2023, AYLUS, partnered with the Pearland Chinese Association, was able to hold their annual Lunar New Year celebration for the first year coming back from the COVID-19pandemic. Along with Shawn Xiao, the gala was hosted by four AYLUS members: Kara Li, Tina Dong, Edwin Gao, and Derek Zhu.
Starting January 8th, the hosts viewed the first, four-hour-long performance showcase at the West Pearland Library, noting the required items in their respective setups. Following the showcase, the four stayed 2 hours overtime for additional public speaking and language training from Shawn. The following week, on the 14th, other performances were revised and acknowledged in another The 4-hour-long show and an abstract script were written by Derek. Two days later, the hosts had a 6-hour-long meeting for script revisions and more speaking training. Designated speaking pairs were assigned as Kara with Edwin and Derek with Tina.
The evening before the event, Friday the 20th, the hosts met up at Edwin’s house to finalize the draft and prepare to speak in a 5-hour-long meeting. Kara revised much of the English portions as Shawn added and redid most of the Chinese lines.
On the day of the event, hosts showed up early to help set up the event and recite their lines together a couple more times, then left to engage in their own interests as Shawn polished more fine work in the gala rehearsals.
The evening ended in a success as the Nelson Auditorium was flooded with an attendance of over 1,000 people, including Pearland’s Mayor Kevin Cole and Congressman Al Green.
