Date of Interview: 17 July 2025
Interviewer: Johan Amatsakio
Interviewee: Jessica Henwick
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
Hello, Jessica. Welcome to the New Earth oral history programme. Please introduce yourself.
JESSICA HENWICK
My name is Jessica Henwick. I’m an actor, writer, wannabe director who started working with New Earth probably about 15 years ago, back when it was Yellow Earth.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
What was your first project with them?
JESSICA HENWICK
I think the first project I did with New Earth or Yellow Earth at the time was Dim Sum Nights, which was an evening where five writers would come together with five very short plays, and we would just rehearse for the day and perform that evening while everyone ate dim sum.
It was really amazing. It was wonderful. I think I did it two years in a row.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
How did you hear about them in the first place?
JESSICA HENWICK
I must have heard about New Earth via Benny Wong. It must have been. I had very luckily, my first television show that I did was a huge thing for the Asian community.
It was almost entirely an Asian cast and created by Jo Ho, a British born Chinese. And Benny Wong played my father. Spoiler alert she only found that out in the last episode. Ha ha. But, I grew really close with him, and he kind of became a mentor, and I think he told me. Or maybe it was Tom Wu as well, because I think Tom actually was part of the founding of Yellow Earth, and he played Benny’s right hand man in the show.
It was called Spirit Warriors.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
And what was your first impression of the company when you first encountered them, and then started working with them?
JESSICA HENWICK
I remember thinking, gosh, I wish I had known about them earlier coming from the countryside. And just that there was no East Asian community where I grew up. And so I felt very deprived of that.
And I wish I had known about Yellow Earth, not that I think my parents would have let me, you know, go off and wander around London to try and see their shows, but just to know that there was a community there and that it would be waiting for me, to welcome me like that. If I had known that, I think I would have felt a little more confident that there was a career path for an Asian actor at that time.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
So do you think New Earth has really contributed or shaped your personal and professional growth?
JESSICA HENWICK
Oh, I’ve made lifelong friends from specifically Dim Sum Nights. I was literally just talking to Vicky Shepherd, who wrote the piece, The Clean Up that I was in. And Ollie Biles. It was a two-hander between myself and him. Ollie is actually a professional poker player now, but we were, just we’re in a group chat and we were just talking the other day and we were laughing about how Ollie and I are now the same age that Vicky was when she wrote the piece.
It was such a beautiful moment that never would have happened without Yellow Earth, New Earth. Sorry.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
Following Dim Sum Nights, were there any other memorable experiences that you had as part of the company or. Yeah, outside of that, because of the connections that you’ve made?
JESSICA HENWICK
Following Dim Sum Nights, I think the next big thing I did with the company was the Academy.
I think that the year I signed on was the first year they had writers. So yeah,I was one of the first people at the Writing Academy, which was, because I didn’t go to drama school. I never had that safe space where you can go to learn and fail and try again. And that’s kind of what the company gave me, was a place to just practice with no pressure.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
And what would you say, make New Earth the perfect place to do all of that practicing and allow for new artists to really be able to tell their stories authentically and really gain that representation.
JESSICA HENWICK
I mean, I think they’re probably the only company doing this level of outreach for youth, for Asian youth, specifically East Asian youth. So I’ll say that as someone from a British Singaporean background, I felt at home.
I felt really welcome. And that does start from the top down. Kumiko was so warm and kind to me, and yeah, it really felt like I was part of the community.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
And do you think because of that warmth and that community, it’s impacted the wider BESEA theatre and performance landscape?
JESSICA HENWICK
In this, I mean, I don’t know how much you know about this, but we’re talking about 2009 and it was a very fractured community. There was another company and there were some divisions in the community. And I think that what was great about New Earth or Yellow Earth at the time was that it felt like a, yeah, a safe space to go and sort of put the battle axes down and everyone could just, you know, we would meet up once a year for the Dim Sum Nights.
Or there would be Christmas mixers, those kinds of things, Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year parties. And it was just really nice to see other people who knew exactly what you were going through. Those were really hard times to be East Asian or Southeast Asian in the entertainment industry. There was just no work, and it could have divided us further, but we really made an effort to sort of come together and support one another.
And, when someone else got a role over you, it was like, I’m so happy for you. And that sentiment really started in the evenings.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
I guess it seems that new us really responded to the changes of the times. What does it mean to you then, to be part of the New Earth legacy?
JESSICA HENWICK
On the one hand, I feel silly being included because I think I was involved to such a small degree, but what I did get to see, even when I was there at the Academy, seeing the actors who came in that year, was so wonderful. Because there are several who I still see out and about working, like the transition from student to working actor is there, and it started at New Earth at the Academy, and that’s really heartwarming and beautiful.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
And what are your hopes for the next generation of BESEA artists and for the New Earth’s future?
JESSICA HENWICK
There are more of us than ever before, which is wonderful. But I feel sad sometimes that we don’t know each other. I mean, I for a period of time worked on this community called WEXSE with Lourdes Faberes. And so I feel like I know everyone in the industry because I had to keep tabs on them and make the effort to sort of uplift and support them.
But I would love for us to see each other and hang out, and I would love to get more of the mentorship. Like Benny was a real mentor to me early on in my career. So it was like, Pik Sen Lim and Junix, I would love, but we’ve sadly lost both Pik Sen and Junix, but I would love that relationship to appear more.
I’m really excited. I think more of us are working than ever and what’s exciting to me is how many East Asian creatives we have now in sort of writing and directing and producing and crew like cinematographers, we’re really making huge strides there, and all of it makes such a big difference to art.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
If you could leave a message for someone discovering New Earth for the first time, what would you say?
JESSICA HENWICK
Jump in, get involved. It’s so much fun. It’s such a safe space. Yeah. Have fun.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
And then what does it mean maybe to be part of all of that still today?
JESSICA HENWICK
I think I’m just most excited to see where New Earth goes. I’d love to see some new, fresh writing. The next wave of talent. I’d love to see some full productions getting up and running alongside the educational outreach, which I think is so important and wonderful.
JOHAN AMATSAKIO
What impact do you think the educational outreach has had on communities? I know you’ve mentioned a bit about your experience, but what else does it have in terms of potential?
JESSICA HENWICK
I think the impact of the outreach is that people who have never been exposed to the creative arts suddenly see that it is feasible. It is reachable. You know, historically, our cultures haven’t been that supportive of us pursuing careers in the arts because of lack of exposure.
And I think that the work that New Earth does, going out into the community and spreading awareness of those avenues, I think has hugely impacted the industry as a whole.