As part of AGMA’s AAPI Heritage Month campaign, AGMA Communications Coordinator interviewed Irene Lo about her journey from Taiwan to the United States and how embracing her heritage helped shape her career in musical theater and dance. Through performance, teaching, and community engagement in Chicago’s Chinatown, she has used her artistry to foster representation, celebrate cultural identity, and inspire younger generations to feel proud of their heritage.
Though she was born and raised in Taiwan, Irene Lo spent her childhood immersed in American culture, whether by attending an all-English-speaking kindergarten or tuning in to popular Disney Channel shows. By fifteen, she was determined to move to the United States and pursue musical theater, a form of performance that barely existed in Taiwan at the time, but she knew well, thanks to the High School Musical franchise. She had her sights set on the West and planned to be one of the best in the performing arts industry.
After graduating with a BFA in music in Taiwan, she moved to New York to study Musical Theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. To Irene’s surprise, her own culture, which she had taken for granted while she was fascinated by American culture, would open doors for her. Her moment of realization came during her final callback for the role of Liat in the musical South Pacific. Standing in a room with roughly 40 Asian women who shared her appearance, height, and dance background, she asked herself: how do you stand out when everyone around you looks just like you?
“I instinctively burst into a Chinese folk dance during the improvisation section. It only made sense to me if this role were ever dancing, it should be in an Eastern style,” Irene says. “Chinese (and Taiwanese) folk dance is something I’ve been doing since I was 7 and have never stopped. I guess it was that essence in me that captured the director’s eyes and landed me the role.”
Since then, Irene has embraced her culture as what sets her apart. She has performed as a classical Chinese art dancer with the Yin He Dance Company, including a solo at the 2025 Dance/USA National Conference at the Chicago Cultural Center, and was featured on ABC 7’s morning news in celebration of the 2025 Lunar New Year. She also teaches Chinese dance classes, passing what she knows to the next generation. Many of her students are children growing up in Chinatown who are still figuring out what their heritage means to them.
“Through my singing and dancing, I realized I can contribute to my community by bringing a sense of home to them, and connecting the children in Chinatown with their own culture. I’m especially touched by the shining, smiling eyes of the little boys and girls in the audience when I perform on stage or visit their schools. I get to be a source of representation—a role model who helps them feel proud of their own culture.”
Irene’s connection to the Chicago Chinese community runs deeper still. As 2024-2025 Miss Chinatown Chicago’s second runner-up, she has performed at nearly every major Chinatown event in the city, from the Chinatown Parade to AAPI Heritage Month celebrations attended by government officials. Her work has even allowed her to sing the national anthem, accompanied by an Erhu (a traditional Chinese violin), at the New York Mets Taiwan Day Game in 2022; and originated a lead role in Unfinished Island Songs, a theatrical work exploring the complex experiences of Taiwanese immigrants, for which she also wrote the Amis-language lyrics for the show’s theme song.
“AAPI Heritage Month is a time for me to reflect on my journey, to value and to take pride in my own heritage just as much as everyone else’s, and to recognize that simply being who you are is more than enough,” she shares. “Who would have thought that I would only come to understand the significance of my culture after coming to the States? Now, I’ve learned to cherish it, because that’s what makes me unique and interesting, and what makes the America I idealized when I was younger truly diverse and colorful.”
Now a seasonal artist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Irene Lo has learned to balance her fascination with and admiration for American culture with her great pride in her roots. Her love for the arts began with immersion in American culture, but her ties to her Taiwanese heritage helped her solidify her place on stage.