The Chinese Lady

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On the Cripe Stage… 

In 1834, 14-year-old Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America, sailed into New York Harbor to be featured in a museum. She sees herself as a representative of China, here to educate and entertain. Or, in the eyes of the paying public, is she merely a mesmerizing display? Moving and sharply funny, this play follows the idealistic Moy as she travels through America as a living exhibit for decades. Over the course of her travels, Moy shares her impressions of a young country struggling to define itself. Inspired by a true story, Lloyd Suh’s critically acclaimed play is a poetic, whimsical tale that paints a unique portrait of the United States as seen through the eyes of this remarkable young Chinese woman.

“This isn’t a history play. It plays like Brechtian estrangement inverted. We don’t grow distant from the drama to observe it critically. Instead, the drama refuses to let us leave. What remains after the audience stops clapping, and the lights refuse to come up. I thought I came to observe. But I was part of the exhibit the entire time.”
Stage and Cinema

“It’s powerful stuff as Suh has written it and even more so as directed with imagination and nuance at the Chance by Shinshin Yuder Tsai and performed to superb perfection by its two magnetic stars.”
Stage Scene LA

“This production of The Chinese Lady doesn’t just revisit history, it reflects it. Through Afong’s eloquence and Atung’s quiet resilience, it becomes clear that the past is never far away. In a time when conversations about representation, visibility, and who gets to tell which stories continue to resonate, Chance Theater‘s staging couldn’t feel more urgent”
Fanboy Nation

“The show is a sometimes humorous, sometimes disturbing, and ultimately poignant re-telling of Afong Moy’s journey.”
Stage Raw

“the final scene where Krusiec questions us, and calls on each of us to really listen and understand one another, allows Afong Moy’s story to mesh with our own lived experience in a powerful way.”
LA Theatrix

“Moving & Sharply Funny!… piercing and intimate… this quiet play steadily deepens in complexity as we trail the idealistic Afong and the more knowing Atung through the decades… by the end of Mr. Suh’s extraordinary play, we look at Afong and see whole centuries of American history”The New York Times

“It takes only minutes of The Chinese Lady to see that…playwright Lloyd Suh [has] constructed the dramatic equivalent of a perfect cabinet. Every hinge moves smoothly; the herringbone joins are a low-key marvel. You can almost see yourself in its hard-won polish…Suh’s version of Afong Moy is wonderful.”Time Out New York

The Chinese Lady deals with mature themes. For more info, visit this page.

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Show artwork designed by KC Wilkerson, kcwdigital.com.