A New Play Battling Against Stereotypes

By BinYun Zheng for AIA, November 2007

We all know that 'Asian Americans are good in math and science' is just a stereotype, but what if our parents think that it is the norm? So, what happens when one is an Asian American who is not good in math and science? Jeremy Lum and Simmone Yu's Always Family offers an answer.

For those who grew up in a household with heavy burden of academic pressure, the mother-son opening scene of the play Always Family does not look unfamiliar. The son reports to his mother about his grade on a biology test in the living room and the mother unable to digest the news that her son has received a C on his science test. In the Tsang family, this happens almost everyday, except that the son is replaced by the daughter, LeAnna Tsang.

LeAnna (Simmone Yu) dreads report card day because it is the day when her grade-obsessive mother, Mrs. Tsang would argue with her father over her grades again. Every mother and daughter moment that she can remember is filled with her mother's complains about her not-good-enough grades and her "inability" to try hard enough. Knowing that she can never satisfy her mother's appetite for A's with her B's and C's, she turns to her dog puppet, the only one who she feels can truly understands her. Saddened but not discouraged, when she finds out that her parents are having a divorce, LeAnna decides to take action, that is to get an A on her math test, believing that her parents are breaking up because of her poor grades. In the process, LeAnna bonds with Samford and discovers that her perfect-4.0 brother is not perfect at all.

Samford Tsang (Christopher Larkin)'s perspective on the prospect of his parents' divorce isn't as optimistic as that of his sister. He knows that the problems underlying his parents' divorce, and by extension the whole family, is not LeAnna's "poor" grades but their inability to understand and communicate with one another. Samford receives straight A's in school, and like LeAnna, he doesn't think that his parents understand him. He is never excited about his perfect grades, his set future - that is go to college, receive more A's, become a doctor and work hard- or his life. Desperate to find out what would his parents do if he weren't as perfect as they think he was, he would come home disappointed, pretending that he has received a C on a test and then recant his words to reassure his parents that he is their Samford, the Samford who only gets straight A's. Depressed and frustrated that his parents would never change, Samford wants to leave the family and attend college on the east coast. However, when that this is no longer an option, he decides to end his suffering once and for all.

To Mrs. Tsang (Jennifer Boehm), report card day is the day when she finds out whether she has succeed as a mother for her children. She knows she doesn't need to look out for her son because Samford gets good grades and by implication, will have a bright future. It is LeAnna, her not-so-bright daughter with a "learning disability whom she has to worry about because LeAnna talks back. LeAnna talks back because she gets bad grades and listens to Justin Timberlake, and will end up stealing cars in the future. To prevent that from happening, Mrs. Tsang is determined to be there for LeAnna. She is willing to do anything to make sure that LeAnna succeeds, bringing the whole family almost on the edge of breaking up.

The funniest parts of the show are when LeAnna and Samford indulge in their imaginations. LeAnna imagines herself dancing and singing Justin Timberlake's music with her dog Bubble (Jeanie Tse), her father, mother and brother. Samford imagines himself as the lactose-intolerant man ready to save the world, LeAnna the sabotage, Mr. Tsang the unemotional man because he never cares, and most hilarious of all, Mrs. Tsang the evil dragon lady who smokes from a opium pipe attached to the back of her body. The lactose-intolerant man, though powerful enough to save the world, still cannot escape the evil dragon lady's influence. As the dragon lady has insisted, he can save the world but he has to finish his homework first. Interchanged with reality, these are also moments when LeAnna and Samford feel the happiest, when they can truly be themselves.

Directed by Glory Sims Bowen, and written by Simmone Yu and Jeremy Lum, the issues explored by this show- generational gap, family, marriage, depression, etc - are by no means limited to the Asian American community. Some of Bowen's credits include North of Providence (Altered Stages), Serenading Louie (Stella Adler Black Box), and Anomal (ATA-Off Broadway). Lum and Yu are both graduates of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Lum's past works include The Sentencing (2003), Higher Calling (2004) and Elise (2005), of which he was also the director and producer. Yu is also an actress, whose credits include The Well of Horniness (Playwrights Horizon), Sabotage (Small Pond Entertainment), and The Vagina Monologues (The Stiletto Project). The show now plays at The Kirk @ Theatre Row on 410 West 42nd Street from 12-8pm daily.