The CHINESE LADY
Timeline Theatre has once again brought a spectacular production to the stage. Following the masterpiece production of Relentless, Lloyd Suh's The CHINESE LADY is poignantly arresting, and the performance by Mi Kang and Glenn Obrero will have you painfully oppugning the historical methodology of how America treated immigrants coming to the land of the free.
Mi Kang is exhilarating as she draws in the audience by playing the adorable 14-year-old Afong Moy, brought to the United States from China in 1834 by American merchants. Sold to them by her family as a servant for two years, Mi Kang is so captivating and charming as Afong Moy that you fail to realize she is sitting in an exhibit like a caged animal. As the American public gets their first view of an authentic Chinese Lady with Chinese relics surrounding her, the owners galvanized Afong Moy around America for profit.
Listed as the first Chinese woman to enter the states, white Americans flocked to glimpse Afong Moy, wondering if their culture was as civilized as white American culture or if they were barbaric, needing American tutelage. You can only imagine how appalled they must have felt when learning of the footbinding Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Assisting her is translator Atung, who speaks fluent English. Together they perform the same ritual of eating, walking, and translating to Americans about her life as a Chinese woman for seven decades.
Making her Timeline Theatre debut, Mi Kang does an exceptional job as the chronological aging of Afong Moy. Based out of Chicago and finishing her MFA degree in Acting at Northwestern University, this multitalented actor honors (荣誉) the Chinese communities worldwide by displaying charm, grace, and integrity. I can't wait to see what's next for the talented Mi Kang.
The role of Atung is played by Glenn Obrero, who is also making his debut at Timeline Theatre. However, there is nothing irrelevant about his performance as Atung, who plays the role to perfection. He nails the unassuming sidekick who is there to translate and protect Afong Moy.
Director Helen Young masterfully reels us in like a fish on a hook that is slowly losing its will as we see the young Afong Moy's childlike manner and excitement fade as she discovers how people coming to the exhibit view her. The joy of coming to another country and representing her heritage and Afong Moy's dreams of seeing and visiting American cities is dampened; when she realizes that their curiosity about her and her fictional habitat is seen as nothing more than a carnival sideshow.
The fish hook is set even before the show begins. Without even noticing, you're being reeled into this masterful performance when Mi Kang stares at the crowd, pondering yet dissecting how they would perceive her. With most people being oblivious, casually glancing at her, but mostly looking at their phones or conversing with others, the hook has already been cast, illustrating how we discard people we do not know or care not to know.
It's a shame that most people who come to theatrical events never thoroughly read the historical information listed in the booklets provided. Still, Timeline's "A Message from Artistic Director PJ Powers," "A Note from Director Helen Young," and the section where they provide a chronological timeframe of Afong Moy are comprehensively illuminating and essential to helping the audience fully understand the plot, plight, and direction of the play.
“We need to remember her singular life as one on a colorful quilt of diverse American stories, each worthy of inspection. If we do, it can illumine how we got here and help us “see where we may want to go next.”
Readers can learn that on October 17, 1834, Nathaniel and Francis Carne's stock-in-trade cargo ship brought in a young Chinese lady, calling her Julia Foochee, ching-chang king, daughter of Hong wang-tzang tzee king. They changed it to a simpler name, Afong Moy, and she was placed on exhibit in a room with paintings, lanterns, and teapots for twenty-five cents so Americans could witness how they lived. Or learning about the mass lynching in 1871 of Chinese Americans killed through the fueling of propaganda that they were barbarians, taking the jobs away from whites.
THE CHINESE LADY is a heartbreaking reminder of how our radical views of others, simply because of our differences, can dramatically change a child's wonderful and curious innocence and the soul of that child as they reflect on our history.
“ With THE CHINESE LADY, I’m trying to excavate Afong Moy’s story in a way, trying to conjure and honor her, because she was lost to history. She was unknowable.”
Although the real Afong Moy is lost in history, The CHINESE LADY is a powerful portrait of life and horrific tragedies the Chinese faced coming to America and the tragic life of bigotry and hatred they still encounter today. At the end of the play, Mi Kang makes one request (We are not divulging the contents of the request) which, unfortunately, and sadly, most felt uncomfortable doing. But, hopefully, you will participate.
Let's Play Theatrical Review Highly Recommends Timeline Theatre Company's, The CHINESE LADY at The Wit Theatre.
Timeline Theatre Company
The Chinese Lady
By Lloyd Suh
Directed by Helen Young
May 8 - June 18, 2022
