31 Asian American Plays in 31 Days
10. CHING CHONG CHINAMAN by Lauren Yee
The Wongs are American as apple pie. Desdemona dreams of Princeton but could use some help with her calculus. Her brother Upton wants to be a World of Warcraft champion but needs more free time to train. Upton solves both their problems by bringing an indentured servant home one day, but they soon discover that “Ching Chong” has American dreams of his own! An irreverent new comedy by Lauren Yee is skewering every cliché about Asian American identity.
2008, Impact Theatre, Directed by Desdemona Chiang, Cast of Dennis Yen, Arthur Keng, Aidan Park, Cindy Im, and Lisa Kang
DHH proclaimed Lauren part of the fourth wave of Asian American theatre, and I can’t say I disagree (though I’m a little fuzzy on all the waves crashing through). This show is a delightful and twisted update to the traditional Asian American identity play, perfect for the 21st Century. And the best of this show was being able to meet Lauren, who’s one of the friendliest, most personable people I’ve ever met (and, as it turns out, someone I’ve corresponded with off and on for several years. Though…doing the math…it was startling how young she was when we first exchanged emails…DHH young!
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