Asian American + Theater + Sex: Two Reviews

I saw two excellent plays recently. Both involved Asian Americans and sex. Well, they were actually about love and relationships, but both had sexual themes and elements that (racial stereotype alert) perhaps stood out more for me, because the characters are Asian and so am I (end racial stereotype alert).

ReAct Theatre is putting on "A Language of Their Own", a four-character gay relationship drama that premiered in 1995 - quite a different era despite being only 17 years ago. Meanwhile SIS Productions is wrapping up "Sex in Seattle", an ensemble romantic comedy centered around Asian American women, after an epic 12-year, 20-episode run. It's the end of an era in itself.

Aside from Asian American characters and themes of love/sex, the two plays appear to be very different. "A Language of Their Own" is serious and confronting, a long stretch of dialogues and monologues that kept on flowing and shifting on a sparse and elegant set. "Sex in Seattle" is bright and colorful, with fast-paced scene changes, quirky video projections, sitcom-style story arcs, and hilarious schticks interwoven with thoughtful conversations. "Language" is about gay men; "Sex" resolves around straight women. However, both plays succeed in terms of both sub-culture relevance and universal appeal; and both plays demonstrate the unique and irreplaceable power of live theater.

In "A Language of Their Own", four gay men (three Asian American, one white) navigate issues including break-ups, hook-ups, AIDS, open relationship, and IKEA. While some situations around AIDS might happen differently today, most other plot points are still very much applicable, once again showing that love is a timeless topic. Even a couple of references to Madonna ended up working just as well 17 years later, thanks to her unique staying power in the music business. Needless to say, a "gay Asian play" is doubly prone to stereotypical portrayal and cultural insensitivity. Kudos to director Victor Pappas and the well-balanced cast for treating the story with sincerity and constraint without shying away from the difficult themes. David Hsieh, ReAct Theatre's founding artistic director and frequent director, steps on stage this time as Ming - perhaps the most conflicted and challenging character in the play - and proves himself to be a fine actor just as he is a director. While this may not be a play that screams "come see me" on paper, ReAct's version is a fluent and memorable production that succeeds on multiple levels.

In "Sex in Seattle", four Asian American women and their various friends/suitors are on a seemingly never-ending quest for true love. They dream, discuss, question, panic, play relationship musical chair, and even have sex on stage (with clothes on, you dirty mind). It's like a cross between "Sex and the City" and "Friends", but on stage and with Asian American characters. For over a decade, this episodic play has entertained audience with its unique brand of humor and endearing collection of characters, and kept us guessing in the long stretches of time (half year or one year) between episodes. This being the final episode, the obvious question is: Where does each main character end up? Especially Elizabeth, Kenneth and George, the quintessential Asian woman - Asian man - white man triangle that had fans rooting for all three (but not all three together)? Curiously titled "Happily Ever After...", this episode strikes a great balance between fairy tale endings and realistic disappointments. As show creator/writer/star Kathy Ksieh stated in the program, while she had certain endings in mind from the very beginning of the show, life doesn't always end up the way one expects. Personally, I was very impressed by how the ending played out, and how it managed to make some excellent points about love and life. Granted, some characters didn't end up where *I* wanted them to. But that's inevitable - I'm sure every fan of the show had their own version of the "perfect ending". "Happily Ever After..." was funny, emotional, poignant, a wonderful yet bittersweet ending to a 12-year theatrical courtship.

Theater is hard. Asian American theater is probably even harder. But between the long-running success of "Sex in Seattle" and the revisit of "A Language of Their Own", they show us a lot of hope - as long as we have passionate artists (such as the Hsieh siblings) doing great work that comes from the heart.

"A Language of Their Own" plays its final weekend this Friday & Saturday evenings at Richard Hugo House on Capitol Hill. "Sex in Seattle Episode 20: Happily Ever After..." plays Thu/Fri/Sat evenings through May 26 at West of Lenin in Fremont.