The New York premiere of Qui Nguyen’s award-winning Vietgone, helmed by May Adrales and starring Raymond Lee, Paco Tolson, Samantha Quan, Jon Hoche and Jennifer Ikeda has been extended at MTC at New York City Center – Stage I (131 West 55th Street), through December 4, 2016. Click here for tickets.
Raymond Lee, Paco Tolson, Samantha Quan, Jon Hoche and Jennifer Ikeda. Photo by Lia Chang
Qui Nguyen
Nguyen is the co-founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company of NYC and is often credited as a pioneer of “geek theatre”.
Vietgone is produced in association with South Coast Repertory and was originally commissioned and developed by South Coast Repertory as part of SCRCrossRoads, with funding from the Time Warner Foundation. It is a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award and the winner of the 2015 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award recognizing playwrights for scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2014.
Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone” wins $25,000 Steinberg/ATCA Award for 2015
Jon Hoche, Raymond Lee, Paco Tolson, Jennifer Ikeda and Samantha Quan. Photo: Carol Rosegg
Innovative, fresh and visually appealing, Nguyen’s singular voice and vision is on display with Vietgone, a modern twist on the All-American love story, borrowing elements from the world of up-to-the-minute popular culture to recreate the playwright’s own parents’ meeting, ranging from hilarity to heart-wrenching drama. It’s the classic story of boy meets girl – except this boy and girl are refugees from the Vietnam War newly settled in a relocation camp inside Middle America.
Raymond Lee, Paco Tolson and Jennifer Ikeda. Photo: Carol Rosegg
The creative team for Vietgone features Tim Mackabee (scenic design), Anthony Tran (costume design), Justin Townsend (lighting design), Shane Rettig (original music and sound design), and Jared Mezzocchi (projection design).
wsj.com: Creating the Chaos of War With Light, Sound and Projection
Jennifer Ikeda and Raymond Lee. Photo: Carol Rosegg
What the critics are saying:
“This gleefully salacious quasi-musical could be seen as a fascinating companion piece to the novel “The Sympathizer,” by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which won this year’s Pulitzer Prize. Each begins with the fall of Saigon and follows its Vietnamese protagonists to refugee limbo in America, and each feels like a decades-overdue corrective of American obliviousness to Vietnamese people in particular and a purge of American horseshit about Asian people in general. But only this play boasts an eye-popping comic-book aesthetic, a physics-defying five-way fistfight, and several foulmouthed rap ballads. The playwright Qui Nguyen based his delightfully gonzo script on the true story of his parents’ escape from Vietnam, and it’s hard to think of an instance where a writer has tackled his parents’ courtship more vividly, outrageously, and hilariously. The whole Manhattan Theatre Club production, from its outstanding ensemble to its resourceful director, May Adrales, is in perfect synch with Nguyen’s deranged yet heartfelt vision.” The New Yorker
Raymond Lee and Jon Hoche. Photo: Carol Rosegg
“Go see MTC’s sexy, sassy and exuberantly youthful #VIETGONE!”
David Cote, Time Out New York CRITICS’ PICK
Timeout New York: Theater review: Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone is sexy, sassy, two-fisted fun
Jennifer Ikeda, Samantha Quan and Raymond Lee. Photo: Carol Rosegg
“A wildly fun, imaginative production, wonderfully staged and hilarious!”
Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Jon Hoche, Samantha Quan, Paco Tolson and Raymond Lee. Photo: Carol Rosegg
“A Raucous, immensely moving comedy.”
Charles Isherwood, New York Times
Samantha Quan and Jennifer Ikeda. Photo: Carol Rosegg
Jon Hoche, Raymond Lee and Jennifer Ikeda. Photo: Carol Rosegg
Raymond Lee. Photo: Carol Rosegg
The full company of Vietgone: Jon Hoche, Raymond Lee, Paco Tolson, Jennifer Ikeda and Samantha Quan. Photo: Carol Rosegg
Paco Tolson and Jennifer Ikeda. Photo: Carol Rosegg
Hangin’ with VIETGONE Stars Raymond Lee, Paco Tolson, Samantha Quan, Jon Hoche and Jennifer Ikeda
Lia Chang_photo by Garth Kravits
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
