Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography

Alison Yueming Qu (she/they) is a Chinese American Theatre Creative Producer, Dramaturg, Director, and Community Organizer. Originally from Jilin City, China, Alison immigrated to Tennessee at 14 and aspired to be a country music singer-songwriter. She later pivoted to theatre, where her passion for storytelling and activism merged to create spaces for marginalized voices and make change through the arts. Today, Alison curates joyful, transformative, and radical spaces for Asian American artists, using arts and culture to drive community activism and translingual expression. Recognized as a 2023 ARTery Maker by WBUR (Boston’s NPR station), Alison is celebrated as one of the emerging artists of color shaping Greater Boston’s cultural landscape.

As the Executive Director of CHUANG Stage, Boston’s Asian American theatre company, Alison leads with a unique combination of artistic vision and strategic insight. She is recognized for the ability to foster cross-sector artistic partnerships, including Boston Chinatown Musical: Stories on Our Streets (Mellon Foundation Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument: Transforming Boston grantee) and Found in Translation series (NEFA Public Art for Spatial Justice grantee), which have transformed Boston’s Chinatown into a hub of multilingual and intercultural storytelling. Her advocacy for radical access to the arts through initiatives like CHUANG Stage's Pay-As-You-Are ticketing model has made theatre more accessible for working-class immigrant communities, ensuring that financial barriers do not prevent Asian American diaspora’s participation in the arts.

Theater producer, director and dramaturg Alison Qu is executive director of CHUANG Stage in Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

CHUANG Stage is the LaunchPad Resident Theater at the Boston Center for the Arts, providing a platform for developing bold new works that challenge and inspire Boston’s diverse audiences. Alison and the producing team at CHUANG Stage curate dynamic two-show seasons during CHUANG Stage’s residency, centering pan-Asian narratives and creative community engagement.

As an arts entrepreneur driving change in Boston’s arts sector, Alison’s fundraising expertise secured institutional support from organizations such as the Barr Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation of the Arts, and The Boston Foundation in sustaining CHUANG Stage’s year-round programming. This commitment to arts equity extends to educational program development with CHUANG Lab@Emerson, a pipeline program designed to mentor and uplift the next generation of Asian American theatre artists, addressing both language and cultural gaps that international students often face.

In addition to CHUANG Stage, Alison serves as Associate Producer at HowlRound Theatre Commons, where she oversees national and international projects like the Mellon Foundation National Playwright Residency Program and the International Presenter Commons, amplifying global theatremaker conversation and physical convening spaces. Her past role as the Connectivity Producer at Company One Theatre helped produce the Better Future Series and Branch Out with C1 series in partnership with the Boston Public Library.

Alison’s extensive directing and production dramaturgy credits include I Love XXX at Emerson Stage (Jinghui Meng, translated by Claire Conceison), The Fortune Teller (a collaboration with TC Squared Theatre Company), and The Chinese Lady (Central Square Theater). As a speaker and conversation facilitator, Alison has worked with institutions such as the Pao Arts Center, Huntington Theatre Company, ArtsEmerson, UConn’s Asian American Cultural Center (AsACC), Guerilla Opera, Asian American Women's Political Initiative, Asian American Playwrights Collective, and Central Square Theater, initiating important conversations around Asian American representation in the arts.

Alison serves on the board of the Boston Cultural Council (Mayor Michelle Wu’s Office of Arts and Culture), and the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA). Alison is a proud alumna of the Harvard University/American Repertory Theater’s Arts & Cultural Organizational Management (ACOM) program, a 23 - 24 MassCreative Arts Advocacy Fellow, a National Arts Strategy Creative Community Fellow, and a current cohort member of The Institute for Nonprofit Practice’s Core Certificate Program. Alison holds a BFA in Theatre (Directing and Dramaturgy) from Emerson College.

Alison resides in Boston, MA (the unceded land of the Wampanoag and Nipmuc people) and spends time in Long Island City, NY (Lenape and Canarsie land). In her personal time, she enjoys playing guitar, film photography, and is an unapologetic Swiftie, with Midnights being her favorite album.

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