NWAAT presents Geomancer

Seattle - A Chinese-born scientist is accused of consorting with and passing nuclear secrets to the communists. He is detained, interrogated and harassed. As a result of this, a pallor of suspicion is cast on all scientists of Asian origin. Los Alamos 1999? How about Los Angeles circa 1950?

McCarthy hysteria serves as the backdrop for local writer Leslie Lum’s play Geomancer to be read at the Northwest Asian American Theatre. It traces all the events leading up to the INS internment of a Chinese-born post-doctoral physicist accused of being a communist.

Although the play’s characters are fictional, about two hundred scientists returned to China in the early 1950’s right after the Communist takeover. For many, funding had been cut off. Faced with restrictive immigration laws, they were unable to stay in America even though some wanted to. A few were harassed and questioned about their loyalty to the point of suicide, others to the point where they returned to China. It is claimed that about eighty of these scientists formed the core of the atomic bomb effort which allowed China, despite huge economic disadvantages, to be the fifth nation to develop the atomic bomb.

History aside, Lum says the play is more about the relationship between the Chinese physicist and his Jewish-Hungarian-American mentor. This character drew its inspiration from a group of brilliant Hungarian Jewish scientists who fled Nazi persecution in Europe to eventually assist in America’s atomic bomb effort.

Identity is a recurring theme in the play. Most people know that McCarthyism was about someone pointing a finger at you and saying you are a Communist and therefore unAmerican. The play explores this and other perceptions of identity: What makes you a Communist? What makes you Jewish? What makes you Christian? What makes you Chinese?

The reading, (actors reading the script without costumes or set), is directed by Cyndie Mastel-Rokicki, a veteran director of many readings and productions for NWAAT and other theatre groups. Admission is free and audience members will have the opportunity to give feedback.

Entering its 27th year, NWAAT continues to fulfill its mission: to discover, create, develop and promote exceptional Asian Pacific Islander and International works, emphasizing the original and innovative. As the region’s only API American theatre, NWAAT serves to promote the visions and voices of the API American community. NWAAT Acting Artistic Director is Rosa Joshi.

What: Reading of Geomancer, a play by Leslie Lum and directed by Cyndie Mastel-Rokicki

Date: September 1st and 2nd, 1999 (Wednesday and Thursday)

Time: 7:00 p.m

Where: Theatre Off Jackson, 409 7th Ave. S (7th and Jackson) in Seattle

Free Admission

(206) 340-1445