Shannon Tyo Shares Backstage Memories and Secrets From YELLOW FACE

We all know how much hard work goes into the performances that audiences see eight times a week on Broadway. When they're not giving it their all onstage, most performers are backstage doing what it takes to stay happy, healthy, and ready to go between scenes. In Words From The Wings, BroadwayWorld is taking fans behind the curtain to shine a spotlight on the everyday routines that keep Broadway stars moving. 

In this edition, we catch up with Shannon Tyo, who is appearing in Yellow Face. Below, she takes us backstage at Roundabout's Todd Haimes Theatre (with photos by BroadwayWorld's Jennifer Broski) to share some of her favorite backstage moments, must-haves, and more.

What’s the first thing you do when you arrive at the theater?

First things first, I sign in on the callboard (shout out our ASM Janet Takami, I’M HERE JANET) but then I head to my dressing room and take off my shoes and put on slippers. Yes it's very Asian of me, but I’ve just arrived through Times Square and almost certainly walked over things I can’t unsee, so it feels better to try to keep the streets in the streets.

What’s the last thing you do before you go on stage?

I warm up my ankles, knees, hip flexors, and neck. I feel like the one time those things aren’t warm is the time I'll look left while stepping off a platform and somehow throw out my back.

Pre-show ritual that others may think is weird?

Hopefully folx are appreciative rather than thinking it’s weird, but before I go onstage I have to brush my teeth at least once, probably twice, maybe three times if I’ve eaten onions.

What’s your must-have backstage snack?

Trader Joe’s dried mango- the kind that’s basically a fruit roll up.

What are five must-haves in your dressing room?

The only thing I feel really superstitious about is my lucky robot. He’s a squat little tin wind-up toy I got at a thrift store years ago when I was working out of town. He's presided over all my dressing room stations ever since. Other than that, this is my first Broadway gig, and I’m lucky enough to have my own dressing room, so the only other must-have I must have is…I dunno, my paycheck? I’m just happy to be here.

What’s your favorite moment from the show to watch from the wings?

Okay this is DEEP insider knowledge so gather round, my children. Daniel Dae Kim does something that the audience does NOT find funny but we as a company think is HILARIOUS and so it has STAYED IN THE SHOW…in the scene with Jane Krakowski, when talking about the character of Marcus being overwhelmed by his good fortune of being cast in “Face Value", the character of DHH is being slightly condescending towards him and on the line, “Bet he never dreamed he be cast in a Broadway play when he was playing a Japanese American solider at the Marin Community Center”, Dan does this little finger puppet gesture that I watch on the monitor every time, and laugh at, every. time.

What has been your favorite backstage moment in your time with this show so far?

The cast circles up right before places to chat. It’s really nice, especially on days we just have one show, to have a second to just say hey; our dressing rooms are scattered about so we wouldn’t see each until we were onstage in a scene otherwise. It sounds corny as hell, but I do feel very lucky to genuinely enjoy the people I work with.

About Shannon Tyo

New York: The Comeuppance (Signature; Obie, Special Citation- Ensemble), Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights), The Far Country (Atlantic), peerless (Primary Stages), The Chinese Lady (Ma-Yi at The Public; Lortel Award, Theater World Award, Drama Desk nom), Kentucky (EST), Bikeman (Tribeca PAC). Select regional: Berkeley Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Barrington Stage, The Old Globe, MT Wichita, Pioneer Theatre. Obie, Sustained Achievement. 

About Yellow Face

Daniel Dae Kim heads the cast of Tony Award® winner David Henry Hwang’s hilarious is-he-or-isn’t-he comedy of identity, show business, and (perhaps) autobiography, directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman.

Kim stars as an Asian American playwright who protests yellowface casting in the blockbuster musical Miss Saigon, only to mistakenly cast a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play. The repercussions resonate wildly in this laugh-out-loud farce about the complexities of race.