Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Golden Child at Chinese Pirate Productions

David Henry Hwang knocked Broadway for a loop with M Butterfly (1988). The play explained itself: a male French diplomat, disguised as an opera diva, had a 20-year relationship with a man.

For Golden Child (1998), Hwang did a 180: he wrote a play about clashing cultures with no guideposts, no easily chosen side. And within each culture - even each character - positives and negatives flip-flop like Rubik's Cubes.

Andrew Eng's wife is about to deliver their first child. And he's not ready. So the spirit of his mother appears. She's a Chinese-Christian, she says, which gives her "the best of the East, best of the West." She tells the story of his grandfather, Eng Tien-Bin, who lived, as the saying goes, in interesting times.

Tien-Bin's a patriarch-businessmen. In 1918, after three years in the Philippines, he returns to a small town in China a changed man. Depending on who says it, the West has either enlightened or corrupted him. Reverend Baines has convinced Tien-Bin that he should become a Christian, and that having three wives is a sin.

In his traditional culture, Tien's ancestors inspect his every move. In effect, his social network extends back through time, and he is but a link in a 5000-year-old chain.

Reverend Barnes introduces a brand new idea: "individual." The word opens up heretofore unimagined possibilities and has tragic consequences. "When change come," a character says, "it come like fire."

The play and the Chinese Pirate production are slow to percolate, in part because Hwang does an amazing thing: he trusts his audience to find its way without easy handles or facile explanations. Watching the play is like watching a photograph slowly develop - and revealing the intricacies embedded in any change.

Albert Park bounces between torment and assertion in a precise performance as Tien-Bin (who, to embrace the new religion, must "kill the dead" - i.e. his ancestors).

Interest in the play grows when the three wives peek from behind servile facades and reveal the inner politics of polygamy. Wife #1 (Kimberly Miller) self-destructs from the pressure; Jyl Kaneshiro, as Wife #2, usurps the throne with sly, Iago-like eyes. Janny Li (the Golden Child), Karen Li (Wife #3), and especially Michael Nieto as the well-intentioned Reverend, also contribute.

Golden Child inaugurates an intimate new space on the fourth floor of Tenth Avenue Theatre. The uneven design work (mobile screens, soft lighting, but almost inaudible music, and backstage intrusions of noise) showed some of the room's potential, once it's broken in.


Tenth Avenue Theatre, fourth floor cabaret, 930 Tenth Avenue, downtown. Playing through February 18; Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Matinee Sunday at 2:00 p.m. 619-237-4510.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Conservatives cry, “Turnabout is fair gay!”

Will Three See Eight’s Fate?

David Henry Hwang knocked Broadway for a loop with M Butterfly (1988). The play explained itself: a male French diplomat, disguised as an opera diva, had a 20-year relationship with a man.

For Golden Child (1998), Hwang did a 180: he wrote a play about clashing cultures with no guideposts, no easily chosen side. And within each culture - even each character - positives and negatives flip-flop like Rubik's Cubes.

Andrew Eng's wife is about to deliver their first child. And he's not ready. So the spirit of his mother appears. She's a Chinese-Christian, she says, which gives her "the best of the East, best of the West." She tells the story of his grandfather, Eng Tien-Bin, who lived, as the saying goes, in interesting times.

Tien-Bin's a patriarch-businessmen. In 1918, after three years in the Philippines, he returns to a small town in China a changed man. Depending on who says it, the West has either enlightened or corrupted him. Reverend Baines has convinced Tien-Bin that he should become a Christian, and that having three wives is a sin.

In his traditional culture, Tien's ancestors inspect his every move. In effect, his social network extends back through time, and he is but a link in a 5000-year-old chain.

Reverend Barnes introduces a brand new idea: "individual." The word opens up heretofore unimagined possibilities and has tragic consequences. "When change come," a character says, "it come like fire."

The play and the Chinese Pirate production are slow to percolate, in part because Hwang does an amazing thing: he trusts his audience to find its way without easy handles or facile explanations. Watching the play is like watching a photograph slowly develop - and revealing the intricacies embedded in any change.

Albert Park bounces between torment and assertion in a precise performance as Tien-Bin (who, to embrace the new religion, must "kill the dead" - i.e. his ancestors).

Interest in the play grows when the three wives peek from behind servile facades and reveal the inner politics of polygamy. Wife #1 (Kimberly Miller) self-destructs from the pressure; Jyl Kaneshiro, as Wife #2, usurps the throne with sly, Iago-like eyes. Janny Li (the Golden Child), Karen Li (Wife #3), and especially Michael Nieto as the well-intentioned Reverend, also contribute.

Golden Child inaugurates an intimate new space on the fourth floor of Tenth Avenue Theatre. The uneven design work (mobile screens, soft lighting, but almost inaudible music, and backstage intrusions of noise) showed some of the room's potential, once it's broken in.


Tenth Avenue Theatre, fourth floor cabaret, 930 Tenth Avenue, downtown. Playing through February 18; Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Matinee Sunday at 2:00 p.m. 619-237-4510.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

China and Christmas

Next Article

How I Got That Story at Mo`olelo Performing Arts

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader