A New Musical — And Its Audience — Grapple With Asian Identity, Through K-Pop

It's my first interactive theater experience. I'm standing in a dark, large room with a stage in the middle. Other audience members are huddled around. We're not really sure what we've gotten ourselves into.

Here's the premise: We've been asked to be part of a focus group run by a K-pop label. Its leaders have invited us to tour a Korean pop "factory," where the stars hone their dancing and singing in Korean and English. We, the audience, are supposed to help figure out just why Korean megastars haven't been able to break into the American market.

It's a real question, and it's the driving force of KPOP, a new, interactive musical in New York City with a nearly all-Asian cast.

"These are questions that I've been wrestling with my whole life," says 32-year-old , writer who.