I’m grateful to my wife, Anna, and my sons, Noah and Miles, for supporting me as I followed my dreams of performing this wonderful play across Canada on main stages of theatres I never thought I’d ever get the chance of playing on because of the colour of my skin. And while Kim’s Convenience took their husband and dad away for weeks at a time, I’m grateful that on special occasions my family was able to join me and now they can say they’ve seen much of Canada from coast to coast.

I’m grateful my parents are still alive to see me perform what is essentially their story, and mine, in front of thousands of people across our adopted country.

I’m grateful my agent, Colleen, didn’t blink an eye when I told her I needed to do Kim’s Convenience for the Fringe, even though it meant not auditioning for paying gigs over a busy summer.

I’m grateful for my fellow cast mates over the life of Kim’s Convenience: the Janets: Esther, Grace, and Chantelle; the Alexes: Clé and André; the Ummas: Jean and Jane; the Jungs: Ins, Dale, and Patrick; and to my new TV family: Andrea, Simu, Andrew, Nicole, and John. All professionals, all at the top of their game, and all beautiful, generous, and lovely human beings.

We are family. Now and forever.

I’m grateful for my touring family: Kat, Neha, A. J., Nancy, Weyni, Mike, Andrew, Lorenzo, and Ken.

I’m grateful for my Soulpepper family: Albert, Leslie, Claire, Laura, Fiona, Lisa, Molly, Farwah, Katie, and everyone upstairs and down.

I’m grateful to my new Thunderbird family: Ivan, Alex, Sandra, Robin, Nicola, Tim, et al.

I’m grateful to the CBC for picking up the show and for their wonderful support.

I’m grateful to Ins Choi for creating a world that is so authentic, so real, so recognizable that it echoes my own life in a way that I never, ever thought would be told on stage or on screen, and for letting me play a character so rich in life and love and allowing me to make his voice my own.

Gratitude.

And love.

So much love.

I hope you loved reading this play as much as I have loved performing it over the years. Many thanks.

Okseeyou.

Ins Choi
Co-Creator, Executive Producer, Writer of Kim’s Convenience, the TV Series

I had never written for TV. I didn’t even have screenwriting software. So, the first step was to find me a co-creator. Thunderbird and Soulpepper made a shortlist of names and I met with them all. One of them was Kevin White. I remember saying to my wife after that interview, “I dunno, he’s so white. His name is even White.” Be that as it may, he was a funny, smart, regular kinda guy, with a lot of writing and creating experience. He was a leader. He was a good listener. He was perceptive. He spoke French. So began the process of Kevin and I expanding the world of the play to fit and fuel a TV series. The key was to maintain what worked in the play. The phrase “comedy with heart” came up a lot. Once we explored and primed the world of the show, we challenged ourselves to write two scripts. We agreed on the stories, broke them down together, and individually wrote different episodes. Then we exchanged scripts and began to edit each other’s words. This proved to be the most important part of our working relationship. This built trust and a common language. Writing is such a personal, private process. So intimate it’s lonely at times. There were a few initial bumps, but we kept exchanging drafts until we forgot who wrote what. Thunderbird and Soulpepper read the scripts, gave their notes, and then, along with a document known as a “bible,” which describes the world of the show, we submitted them to the CBC and eventually they said yes. They ordered two seasons, thirteen episodes a piece.