Community Corner: San Francisco Comedy Show Celebrates Adoptees
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - A Bay Area-based nonprofit is partnering with Punch Line Comedy Club in San Francisco for a Benefit Comedy Show where all the performers have one thing in common: they are all adopted.
In celebration of its one-year anniversary, Mixed Roots Foundation is presenting its first Adoptee Comedy Show on Monday, May 21st.
Holly Choon Hyang Bachman, founder and President of Mixed Roots Foundation, said the mission of her organization is to create more awareness of the adoption experience, and inspire the next generation of adoptees to become leaders in the community.
KCBS' Connie C. Kim talks to Holly Choon Hyang Bachman, founder and President of Mixed Roots Foundation:
This is a personal mission for Bachman who was adopted at the age of three from South Korea and raised in Minnesota. After an eye-opening trip back to Korea as a teenager, she became more committed to celebrating her background and providing support for other adoptees.
One of the comedians is Amy Anderson who was also adopted from Korea, raised in Minnesota and currently lives in Los Angeles. She said a lot of the adoption resources out there seem to focus on the adoptive parents but not really the adoptee. She hopes this event and the organization will help raise awareness and provide support to adoptees who are now adults.
Anderson is also mother and manager to her four-year-old daughter who plays 'Lily,' an adopted child from Vietnam, on the television sitcom 'Modern Family.'
Joe Klocek, a domestic adoptee and one of the other comedians who will be performing, said, "I think people forget that adopted kids grow up and you have these holes in your life that you want answers."
"Especially in the Bay Area where we're all very much aware of racial identity, sexual identity, all kinds of identity, and if you're adopted there's just a little piece of your personal history that's missing," Klocek spoke about his involvement with Mixed Roots, "so it's cool that there's a place that recognizes that and will be able to help adopted people."
"A friend of mine said, 'I thought about you the other day when I saw a sign that said adopt a highway,'" Klocek commented on the funny responses he's received when sharing that he was adopted.
He hopes people coming to the show will walk away with a sense of understanding so when they do come across someone who is adopted they won't freak out.
"Most superheros were adopted," Klocek added.
For tickets to the show and to learn more go to www.mixedrootsfoundation.org. The comedy show on May 21st will also be streaming live online.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
