The Chinese Lady
by Lloyd Suh
The Public Theater (Shiva), February 23-April 10 2022
Director: Ralph B. Peña. Set Designer: Junghyun Georgia Lee.
Co-Lighting Designers: Jiyoun Chang, Elizabeth Mak.
Sound Designer: Fabian Obispo. Projection Designer: Shawn Duan.
“Jiyoun Chang and Elizabeth Mak‘s gorgeous, co-lighting design does more than illuminate; it dances and communicates. When met with Shawn Duan’s compelling screen projections, the combination helps bridge the audience from today to the Chinese experience in America.”
Inspired by the true story of the first Chinese woman to step foot in America, Lloyd Suh’s critically-acclaimed play, THE CHINESE LADY, is a tale of dark poetic whimsy and a unique portrait of the United States as seen through the eyes of a young Chinese girl. In 1834, 16-year-old Afong Moy sailed into New York Harbor and was immediately put on display for a paying public who were mesmerized by her exotic ways and horrified by her tiny bound feet. As audiences follow Moy’s travels through America as a living exhibit for decades, THE CHINESE LADY shares her impressions of a young country struggling with how to define itself.
