Asian Stories, Artists Finding Home on Stages of Greater Boston

(First Read-Through for Company One’s Vietgone)

By Linda Chin

Lunar New Year 2019 brings good fortune to Greater Boston theatergoers hungry for stories about Asian culture, and the growing pool of talented and experienced theater artists of Asian heritage. To those producers/artistic directors creating these opportunities on professional stages, a simple xie xie (thank you, e.g. when someone passes you the salt at dinner) isn’t a big enough expression of gratitude.

Company One’s Vietgone, by playwright Qui Nguyen (direction by Michelle Aguillon and musical direction by Kadahj Bennett) started rehearsals on February 19 with a read-through at the Pao Arts Center on 2/19, and the casting process for Lyric Stage’s Pacific Overtures, directed by Spiro Veloudos, is almost complete. These shows open in April and May, respectively, and true to authentic storytelling, will both feature large casts of Asian American actors. Vietgone’s cast includes Christina Mei Chen, Rob Chen, Kim Klasner, Quentin Nguyen-duy, and Jude Torres. Pacific Overtures is one of the least revived productions in the Sondheim canon, given its musical complexity, demanding production elements, and casting challenges. Asian American casts were featured in the original 1976 Broadway mounting as well as the 2004 revival, but productions in the London, US, and the Greater Boston area within the last five years have been criticized for “yellowface” casting. In the month of March, Endlings, by Celine Song, will premiere at the American Repertory Theatre and The Joy Luck Club, by Susan Kim, adapted from the 1989 novel by Amy Tan, will be presented by Umbrella Community Arts Center.

I had the chance to attend an exclusive sneak-peek of Endlings and see playwright Celine Song and director Sammi Cannold, members of the production team, and the all-star cast at work. In part semi-autobiographical, actor Jiehae Park (who wrote the play Peerless, produced by Company One in 2017) plays a Korean-Canadian playwright. Primarily the story of three elderly haenyeos – sea women – who dive into the ocean and harvest seafood, Endlings is significant in ART’s repertoire, and the Asian-American theater canon in several respects, including a major producer taking a chance on a work by an unknown playwright. This play was deemed unproducible by the playwright herself, given concerns about audience receptivity to the content, production and casting challenges. ART Executive producer Diane Borger and Cannold went to Jeju Island last fall, and in meeting haenyeos and doing research, their excitement about telling this story grew. Cannold, known for her bold directing vision and exciting staging (Ragtime on Ellis Island, Violet (ART) on a moving bus, Forbes’ 30 under 30 list for Hollywood and Entertainment 2019), continues to develop “immersive” theater by incorporating a pool filled with hundreds of cubic meters of water on the Loeb stage.

Joy Luck Club rehearsal with Vivian Liu-Somers as Lindo Jong and Karla Lang as Waverly Jong (photo credit: Kai Chao) 

Finding actors of the type and talent to play the three principals – age-appropriate Asian women willing and able to swim on stage was also a priority. Casting the play with Asian actors was non-negotiable. Song’s script clearly states: “Most ideally, elderly Korean women will play the haenyeos. Ideally, elderly Asian women of any ethnicity will play the haenyeos…Under no circumstances will any of these four roles be played by someone who is not Asian. No exceptions.” ART has the reputation, resources and reach to cast a wide net in the talent pool, and recruited actors of national and international-renown:  Wai Ching Ho (Marvel TV universe’s “Madame Gao”), Emily Kuroda (“Gilmore Girls” and Huntington’s Tiger Style) and Jo Yang (“The Affair”). See ART’s website www.americanrepertorytheater.org  for clips of these inspirational actors and director Cannold rehearsing in the pool and Sampan editor Ling-Mei Wong’s interview with actor Wai Ching Ho on www.sampan.org.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary year of the novel’s publication, Umbrella’s The Joy Luck Club, directed by Michelle Aguillon, opens at the Umbrella Annex on March 15, 2019. Aguillon was recently seen in Umbrella’s A View from the Bridge and recent directing credits include Proof at Central Square, To Kill A Mockingbird at Umbrella, and Terra Nova for Quannapowitt Players. Up next after Joy Luck Club and Vietgone is Theatre Uncorked’s Sylvia. The film version of The Joy Luck Club at the 2018 Boston Asian American Film Festival. The film received renewed interest last year in connection with Crazy Rich Asians, as the last time a major Hollywood studio released a film with all-Asian stars was 25 years before. Produced by Brian Boruta, Umbrella’s Joy Club includes a cast of 12 local actors, non-Equity for reasons of budget not talent, 11 of whom identify as Asian-American. The four older Chinese-American women are played by Christina Chan, Liza Granada, Vivian Liu-Somers, and Lea Oppedisano, and their American-born daughters are played by Karla Lang, Kara Nelson, Karina Wen, and Audrey Wong-Centauro. Kai Chao, Eric Cheung, Linda Chin, and Nicholas Miller each play a multitude of roles in the ensemble. Nicholas Miller, the lone non-Asian in the cast, plays the Caucasian fiancé Waverly (Lang) brings to her parents’ (Liu-Somers and Chao) house for dinner. Despite careful coaching, Miller’s character makes several social gaffes, including not showing sufficient appreciation for his future mother-in-law’s labors in making dinner (not even a xie xie!) but dousing her already-seasoned signature dish with soy sauce.

The Joy Luck Club rehearsals have included animated and poignant discussions about what the story (and all the stories within the story) means to the storytellers and are informed by cast and creative team’s recollections of their childhoods and adult lives. Diverse in age, family origin, and spoken Chinese skills (Mandarin sentences are interspersed throughout the script), the cast is supported by Kendra Cui is the dramaturg and dialect coach. All agree that the opportunity to tell this story is a meaningful experience and that there are many, many more stories, including those not yet written or produced, to tell.

Of note, when I was leaving the rehearsal of Endlings, actors Ho, Kuroda and Yang told me they had each played one of the mothers in The Joy Luck Club in earlier stages of their careers – at the play’s premiere at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre in 1997, and productions at East West Players in Berkeley and Pan Asian Rep in New York City. With the work of young new playwrights like Celine Song being presented on professional stages, and more producers/artistic directors willing to “take risks” we have reason for optimism. We can hope that the Asian actors of The Joy Club, so talented and so committed to artistic excellence, access and inclusion and representation, just might end up getting roles in future productions of Endlings.

(A shorter version of this article first appeared in Sampan, the only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *