The celebrated Asian American dance production adds a space pioneer to its growing roster of heroes
J Chen Project brings its dance theater production AAPI Heroes to the Madison Theatre at Molloy University in Rockville Centre, New York, on April 16, 2025, for two performances at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM. The company’s first national tour of the show adds retired NASA astronaut Sunita Williams as a new figure in its roster of AAPI heroes — the most recent addition to a production that has expanded steadily since its premiere at the Museum of Chinese in America.
The production is choreographed and directed by Jessica Chen, founder and artistic director of J Chen Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit contemporary dance company based in New York City that she established in 2008. Chen was a 2023 Bessie Award nominee for Outstanding Choreographer/Creator and a Broadway World Regional Productions Best Choreography nominee in 2024. Her stage credits include choreography for productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at Geva Theater and Syracuse Stage, Spring Awakening at Montclair State University, and Cabaret at CenterREP. She was the 2025 SDCF Director Fellow working on Sumo at The Public Theater. Chen teaches jazz as an adjunct professor at Montclair State University and is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. China Underground conducted an extended interview with Chen on her creative process and the politics of the body in performance, published in March 2026 and also featured in Planet China No. 18.
The touring cast includes Carl Ponce Cubero, Hayoung Roh, Grace Blackmar, and Ria Yamdagni, with live cello performed by Malachi Brown.
The updated production introduces new costumes by Lui Konno and a new score composed by Salvador “Suavecito” Zamora.
The show’s new hero, Sunita Williams, was selected by NASA in 1998 and completed three missions aboard the International Space Station across Expeditions 14/15, 32/33, and 71/72. She logged 608 days in space over her three flights and completed 62 hours and 6 minutes of total spacewalk time — the most of any female astronaut and fourth on NASA’s all-time list. Born on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, Williams entered the US Naval Academy in 1983 and was designated a naval aviator in 1989. Most recently, she and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024, for its first crewed flight; following NASA’s decision to return Starliner uncrewed, the two remained aboard the ISS for more than nine months, returning to Earth in March 2025 aboard SpaceX Crew-9. Williams retired from NASA effective December 27, 2025, after a 27-year career.
AAPI Heroes has been running in an open-ended format at Arts On Site in New York City since June 2024, with performances scheduled on the last Sunday of each month. The Molloy University dates are part of the production’s first expansion to a national touring format. The Madison Theatre is a 550-seat proscenium stage on the Molloy University main campus in Rockville Centre, New York.
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