The Joy Luck Club was formed by four women in San Francisco: Lindo Jong, Ying-Ying St. Clair, An-Mei Hsu, and Suyuan Woo. The members have mainly played mahjong and told each other stories over the years. They emigrated from China, their native country, remarried, and gave birth to children in America. READ MORE…
M. Butterfly, written by Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang and directed by Jeffrey Mason and Susan Mason, received the Tony Award for Best Play in 1988. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989. Based loosely on the real-life romance between a French diplomat and a Chinese opera diva in the 1960s-1980s, M. Butterfly is a tale of love, deceit, and espionage. READ MORE…
Set in an island paradise during World War II, two parallel love stories are threatened by the dangers of prejudice and war. Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a mature French planter, Emile. Nellie learns that the mother of his children was an island native and, unable to turn her back on the prejudices with which she was raised, refuses Emile’s proposal of marriage. READ MORE…
The White Snake is an ancient Chinese fable about a gentle serpent spirit and her feisty companion Green Snake, who transform themselves into beautiful women and travel down to the world of humans. She falls in love and decides to stay human until a wicked monk suspects her true identity and vows to destroy her. SEE MORE…
Chinglish is about an American businessman who is desperately looking to score a lucrative contract for his family’s firm. He travels to China only to learn how much he doesn’t understand: his translators are unreliable, his consultant may be a fraud, and he is captivated by Xi, the beautiful, seemingly supportive government official who talks the talk – but what is she saying, anyway? SEE MORE…
Memory and longing bridge Henry Lee’s 1940s boyhood in Seattle’s Chinatown and, decades later, his second chance at love after a miraculous discovery in the basement of the Panama Hotel. Historic events and places mesh in this story of faithful hope. On the New York Times’ Best Seller’s list in 2009. SEE MORE…
From the creators of Les Misérables, by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr., Miss Saigon is based on Giacomo Puccini’s classic opera, Madame Butterfly. In the turmoil of the Vietnam War in the 1970’s, an American soldier and a Vietnamese girl fall in love, only to be separated during the fall of Saigon. Their struggles to find each other over the ensuing years end in tragedy for her and a fighting chance for the child he never knew he had. SEE MORE…
Journey to the West is a wonderful adventure story about a quest for something very important. It is very funny and ultimately very moving. Tripitaka, the Monk journeys from China to India in search of sacred Buddhist scriptures. He travels with three companions–the mischievous, boastful Monkey King; Bajie, the Pig, a babyish incarnation of appetite & lust; and Wujing, the River Spirit, who brings courage & strength to the Monk’s aid. SEE MORE…
Teahouse concerns the clash of cultures that resulted from the American Occupation of Okinawa from 1945 to 1952 following World War II. In the play, Captain Fisby, is assigned to carry out “Plan B”. In a tiny Okinawan village, he is to begin the process of Americanization. SEE MORE
East versus West makes for a dramatic, richly textured and ultimately uplifting tale of enormous fascination. It is 1862 in Siam when an English widow, Anna Leonowens, and her young son arrive at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, having been summoned by the King to serve as tutor to his many children and wives. READ MORE…
GOLDEN CHILD is the winner of the 1996-1997 Obie Award for Playwriting and the 1998 Tony Award nominee for Best Play. This story, based on the playwright’s own family saga, is about his traditional Chinese family at the turn of the 20th century and its journey into change and modernization. SEE MORE…
A recollection and fantasies of young Peter Sis on the adventures of his father in Tibet, a land of enchantment with its culture, music and rituals.Shades of a fairy tale, with serious moments in which the long separation between father and son is explored. READ MORE…
Turandot incorporates Chinese acting styles, Italian comedy & elements from Puccini’s opera. The story of Turandot takes place in 18th century Peking, China, and centers on the suitors of the beautiful Chinese Princess Turandot who must part with their heads unless they find the answers to three impossible riddles. READ MORE…
THE WOMAN WARRIOR is a tale of Maxine Hong Kingston’s teen years in 1953 in Stockton, California, with flashbacks to China and New York. Journey into the life of one Chinese family — incorporating myth and reality and the story of the fabled Fa Mu Lan, the Woman Warrior. Actors play animals, warriors, swing dancers, railway workers, and more – in this sprawling, poetic work. SEE MORE…
Tea was historical fiction based on facts experienced by the playwright who is of Japanese, African-American, and Native-American ancestry. The story is about the lives and struggle of five Japanese war brides, the women married to American servicemen during World War II, the years beyond. A story about how they all found eventual peace in a world of adversity. SEE MORE…
