Played Charlie Chan in the NAATCO (National Asian American Theater Company) Off-Broadway World Premiere of Lloyd Suh’s play CHARLES FRANCIS CHAN JR’S EXOTIC ORIENTAL MURDER MYSTERY. Â Directed by Ed Iskandar.
NY Times Critic Pick
“trying to explore ‘our entire cultural identity politic through a grotesque carnival of murder’ gets pretty complicated. Well, he shrugs, maybe that’s just ‘the price of revolution.’ For a play this antic and impassioned, pay it.”
Alexis Soloski, The New York Times
Most Impactful Shows of 2015 - Playbill.comÂ
The latest by Lloyd Suh absolutely took my breath away, and I suspect it to be among the most important plays of our era- boldly tackling a number of vital and controversial subjects. At the very core, it is an exploration and indictment of the absurd manner in which Asian-Americans have historically been (grotesquely) portrayed and (un)represented in American culture. With rapid-fire dialogue evocative of Angels in America and fearless use of racist cartoon imagery and Asian minstrel show, the piece manages to be simultaneously devastating, angry, provocative and hilarious. It”™s taken until 2015 to see any sort of positive Asian-American representation in TV and film, and Suh”™s work makes it abundantly clear that there is so much work to do. At a certain point, the audience is asked to name the most memorable Asian-American character in USA popular culture… ever. After much silence, someone finally came up with Harold and Kumar. Good movie. But if that’s really the pinnacle of our representation in media over the last 100 years, it’s a sad statement. This powerful work connected me to the gross reality of the past, and gave me hope for the progress awaiting in 2016.
Matt Blank – Playbill.com
Cast: Jeff Biehl, Jennifer Ikeda, Peter Kim, Orville Mendoza, KK Moggie, Jeffrey Omura
Creative Team: Jason Sherwood (Sets), Seth Reiser (Lights), Loren Shaw (Costumes), Jeremy S. Bloom (Sound), Olivia Sebesky (Projections), Alan Schmuckler (Composer and Musical Director), Kimber Lee (Dramaturg), Qui Nguyen (Fight Choreographer), Andrea Jess Berkey (Stage Manager)