CPAC vs CCP: CPAC Last year: Kennedy Center Bomb Scare—CPAC This year: New Film Tells Story (Other Guests in Film Also Available Remotely)
It’s CPAC Time—with Executive Producer of a new Documentary Film about Shen Yun, Steve Lance on site—and there’s a chilling reminder of just how real the stakes are. Last year during CPAC in Washington, D.C., the Kennedy Center was evacuated after a bomb threat targeting Shen Yun forced performers out into freezing temperatures for nearly three hours. Performers just like the sons of Falun Dafa Executive Director Levi Browde—turned what might sound like geopolitics into something deeply personal. That moment now anchors a much larger and urgent story: a campaign of intimidation that spans continents and raises serious questions about foreign influence on American soil. Browde’s sons were targets of a similar bomb threat when they performed in Taiwan.
Steve Lance, investigative journalist, Vice President of NTD Television, and executive producer of the new documentary UNBroken, is available on site in Dallas to discuss alarming accounts of harassment, surveillance, and favorable CCP Propaganda disguised as journalism from America’s most historically trusted outlets. Alternate speakers who also appear in the film include Levi Browde, Executive Director of Falun Dafa, with two sons who are Shen Yun dancers; Leeshai Lemish, a Shen Yun Emcee, and Ying Chen, a Shen Yun Orchestra Conductor.
- BOMBS & BALLET: During last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C., a bomb threat struck Shen Yun Performing Arts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
- FROZEN OUT: Performers—including sons of Levi Browde—forced into freezing temps for hours during that CPAC-week evacuation.
- ONE YEAR LATER: Unbroken debuts at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference—one year after the Kennedy Center bomb scare.
- EXPORTED THREATS: Shen Yun points to the Chinese Communist Party in a broader intimidation campaign.
- FROM STAGE TO STANDOFF: A cultural performance becomes a national security flashpoint—then and now.
A recent New York Post report details an alarming pattern—bomb threats, death threats, and sabotage targeting Shen Yun performances across the U.S., Canada, and beyond, with the group alleging ties to the Chinese Communist Party. These threats are not isolated incidents; they are part of what Shen Yun leaders describe as a coordinated effort to silence a performance that exposes human rights abuses and preserves “China before communism.” The intimidation has escalated to the point of evacuations, slashed tires, and even threats against world leaders, including an incident that forced the evacuation of Australia’s prime minister.
This is where Unbroken comes in at CPAC. As Executive Producer, Steve Lance can speak to how the documentary pulls back the curtain on this global pressure campaign—connecting the dots between cultural expression, political repression, and the personal toll on performers. Levi Browde offers a powerful father’s perspective, having watched his own sons endure these threats firsthand. Meanwhile, Shen Yun MC Leeshai Lemish—who was present during the Kennedy Center evacuation during CPAC last year—can vividly recount the moment performers were rushed out under threat, unsure of what came next.
Together, they can bring your audience inside a story that is equal parts human drama and national security concern. At a moment when CPAC is focused on threats to freedom and sovereignty, this story delivers a real-world example unfolding in real time—on American stages, targeting American citizens.
Relevant Article(s):
Shen Yun blames Chinese Communist Party for bomb threats
FILMMAKERS – UNBROKEN: A Shen Yun Story
UNBROKEN: The Untold Story of Shen Yun | Documentary Trailer
OPTIONAL Q&A:
- What went through your mind during the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts evacuation when you realized this wasn’t just a scare, but a targeted threat that coincided with CPAC?
- How did it feel, as a father, watching your sons—Shen Yun performers—stand in freezing conditions for hours under a bomb threat?
- Your documentary Unbroken suggests this isn’t isolated—what evidence points to a coordinated campaign tied to the Chinese Communist Party?
- Why would a dance company like Shen Yun Performing Arts become the target of such aggressive intimidation tactics?
- What does this say about the reach of the Chinese Communist Party beyond China’s borders and into the United States?
- Can you walk us through other incidents—bomb threats, sabotage—that suggest this is part of a broader pattern?
- How are performers coping psychologically, knowing they could be targeted simply for taking the stage?
- At a time when national security and foreign influence are front and center at Conservative Political Action Conference, why should Americans see this story as more than just an arts issue?
ABOUT STEVE LANCE…
Steve Lance is Executive Producer of the film. He focuses on investigative documentaries and cinematic storytelling rooted in real-world events. In UNBROKEN: The Untold Story of Shen Yun, Lance leads the film’s investigative narrative, examining threats, sabotage attempts, and the broader campaign targeting the performing arts company. Lance is also an investigative journalist and Vice President of NTD Television.
ABOUT LEVI BROWDE…
Browde serves as the Executive Director with the New York-based Falun Dafa Information Center – an organization dedicated to ending the human rights abuses against people who practice Falun Gong in China.
Over the past 20 years, Browde has been interviewed and quoted by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, the Associated Press, TIME Magazine, BBC, AFP, and other media outlets. He has spoken about Falun Gong and human rights in China at briefings on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, at the United Nations human rights sessions in Geneva, Switzerland.
Browde studied East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University and is an avid supporter of traditional Chinese culture. He founded several software start-ups, and lives in New York with his wife and two sons.
ABOUT LEESHAI LEMISH…
Leeshai Lemish has been with Shen Yun since 2006. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Chinese history and language from Pomona College, California, and his master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics. He has spent extended periods studying, working, and conducting research throughout East Asia, and has authored articles on Chinese current affairs in both English and Chinese. He joined Shen Yun Performing Arts as an MC when the company was founded in 2006 and has since emceed close to two thousand performances with the company, taking the stage with Shen Yun at prestigious theaters such as Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, the London Coliseum, Tokyo Opera City, and many others worldwide. In addition to his performance role, he has tracked and documented on his website over 100 cases of the Chinese Communist Party and its agents trying to sabotage Shen Yun internationally. He has testified on transnational repression in front of Congress, has been a featured guest on television and radio shows around the world, and is the host of the podcast Shen Yun Voices.
ABOUT YING CHEN…
Ying Chen is an orchestra conductor who has been with Shen Yun from the very beginning. She can offer insights and personal stories about how Shen Yun started as an all-volunteer group of first- generation immigrants, and through hard work, faith, and a relentless dedication to a grand vision to revive a culture almost destroyed in communist China, created the fastest growing performing arts company in American history.
Ying can also tell the horrific story of her family’s detention and torture in China, an experience that helped drive her and the entire community at Shen Yun to create a production that would shed light on the tyranny of the Chinese communist regime, while also inspiring people around the world with hope and a renewed sense of our common humanity.
The story of Ying, her family, and community at Shen Yun is a quintessential tale of facing the evils of the world with resilience and faith, and never letting others, even the largest totalitarian regime on earth, take away one’s hope.
TO SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW, CALL OR TEXT 512-966-0983 OR EMAIL BOOKINGS@SPECIALGUESTS.COM
