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Casting requirements: 3 F, 2 M
Late 2019 and early 2020, before the pandemic shut down the entertainment industry and we could gather together in restaurants and theaters, but when things were just about to feel a new kind of wrong.
Setting: NYC; Susan and David’s apartment, Shun Lee Restaurant, on the set of “Empress Mei Li Lotus Blossom”
In the Prologue (“You Speak English Real Good”), 6th generation Asian American actress Susan Lee relays her frustrations to her husband David of being stuck in a cycle of stereotypical and perpetual foreigner roles invariably named “Mei Li”. They cook up a scheme for her to take the industry’s expectations head on by creating a persona of an exotic Hong Kong movie star to see if she might be able to get farther by playing the game and projecting the image of who they assume she is anyway.
In Part 1, “Introducing Lo-An Li”, in which Susan (now “Lo-An”) meets Ashley Sanders, 3-time Tony award winning and 8-time BroadwayWorld award nominated producer, who pitches the Chinese film star the “play that America needs to see,” hoping that they will both hit pay dirt and take Broadway by storm. When Roberta Liu, playwright Billy Ellis’s “assistant”, enters the picture, Lo-An and Roberta discover that they are both playing with their identities with more than their MFAs from Yale in common. With a shared penchant to change the game, Susan busts Roberta for being the person who wrote the play Lo-An has just been enticed to do – they make a bait and switch plan that might be the ticket to the Broadway they’ve both always dreamed of seeing.
In Part 2, “Battle of the Mei Lis”, the stars and creative team of “Empress Mei Li Lotus Blossom’’ gather for a last-minute rehearsal as Roberta (still undercover) makes some final tweaks before press night on Broadway, eager to tell the story of democracy and inclusion that she’d been dreaming of all along.
In part 3, “Bingeing Broadway”, Ashley is in for a big surprise when the new ending of the play she’s produced turns out to be far different from what she expected, and the jig is (eventually) up.
Boston Globe:
“Online and outdoors, 10 picks for theater lovers”
Chatham Life and Style:
“One of 3 plays cited in the "Best of Fest"/"Writing" category.”
“Incredibly poignant…portrayal of how BIPOC women have worked tirelessly through the decades for equality, and hopefully will help ignite a passion for change among our generation that will lead to a world where our daughters laugh at the patriarchy of the past.”
SUSAN LEE - mid 30's, an all-American Asian American actress from Teaneck, New Jersey. Also plays LO-AN LI, Hong Kong movie star. In the dialogue, she is often identified as "Lo-An".
DAVID MORROW - mid 30's, her husband. White male. A publicist. Also plays BILLY ELLIS, Young White American playwright. In the dialogue, he is often identified as "Billy".
ASHLEY SANDERS - mid 30s, White female, a multi-Tony-award winning producer.
ROBERTA LIU - early 30's, Asian American female. Writer's assistant to Billy Ellis, wunderkind playwright.
EVAN HANSEL SMITH - late 20s, White male. The prototype for every angst-ridden high tenor leading man character on Broadway. Roberta's best friend.
Suggested Prop list:
1. 2 High end restaurant menus
2. 5 cell phones
3. Pile of scripts
4. Bottle of champagne and several champagne flutes
5. A green smoothie
6. Script pages
The original cast of the Abingdon Theatre Company’s production of the one-act version, directed by Christine Toy Johnson, was (in order of appearance):
Ashley – RIN ALLEN
Lo-An – DEBORAH LEW
Roberta – REBECCA HIROTA
The original cast of the Greater Boston Stage Company’s production of the expanded version, directed by Christine Toy Johnson, was (in order of appearance):
Susan/Lo-An – MICHELLE LIU COUGHLIN
David/Billy – DAVID DARROW
Ashley – LILY KAUFMAN
Roberta – E.J. ZIMMERMAN
Evan – JORDAN AHNQUIST
History of the play: Commission (one-act version) - Gorilla Rep (2012), Excerpt Reading - Classical Theatre of Harlem Playwrights Playground (2012), One-act version included in the National Women’s Theatre Festival online Fringe Festival (2020), Winner, Abingdon Theatre Company’s One-Act festival (2020), Commission for full-length-version - Greater Boston Stage Company (2020), Workshop - Moongate Productions (2020), Short Film version produced by Moongate Productions (2023)
Christine Toy Johnson is a Tony and Obie honored, Rosetta LeNoire, JACL, Actors’ Equity Foundation, and Asian American Arts Alliance award winning writer, actor, director, and advocate for inclusion. Her written work has been produced and/or developed by the Roundabout, Village Theatre, O’Neill Center, the Abingdon, Greater Boston Stage Company, Florida Studio Theatre, Ars Nova, Barrow Group, Prospect Theatre, Weston Playhouse, Musical Theatre West, Goodspeed Opera House, and more, and is included in the Library of Congress’s Asian Pacific American Playwrights Collection. Published by NoPassport Press, Smith & Kraus, Rowman & Littlefield, Applause Books. Treasurer of the Dramatists Guild and host of the Guild’s podcast "Talkback" on Broadway Podcast Network. BMI, Writers Lab, Sarah Lawrence College alum, co-founder of AAPAC (Asian American Performers Action Coalition), founder of the Asian American Theatre Artists Collective, Inaugural Catalyst for Change fellowship through the Dramatists Guild Foundation. As an actor, Christine has appeared extensively on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in regional theatres across the country and on television and film. Insta/Threads: @CToyJ Details: www.christinetoyjohnson.com
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