There is no doubt that Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth.
Well, that is what Luna believes, anyway, as she describes to take in the glorious jewel of the Crown of Southern California in 1973, the year he ordered in the United States.
But some of the most complacent comforts that are sacrificed here are not accessible when you are an immigrant for whom the admission price of $ 4.50 proves to be too steep, letting you look at without merely what is on the side of Eather of the prohibited fence. “We can almost see everything,” Luna exclaims with a tortured smile, that word “almost” is the dagger that drills the soul.
This anecdote is a beautiful and overwhelming metaphor for the experience of immigrants, isn’t it? Being new in this country means learning that now reside in a nation where generosity and excess supreme reign. But in this case, wishing that a star costs money that Luna does not do, which leads to a more moderate night in his apartment with Lancer wine, a frozen turkey and a new friend.
“The Heart Sellers” by Lloyd Suh, which is executed in Theaterworks Silicon Valley as a series of undulating regional premieres, is a narrative loaded with the heart, from an excellent playwright that carries an premiere talent for the declines of explanations and the explanations and the experiment of excelle experience they have faced. The title plays in the Real Legislet, the Hart-Celler Law of 1965, which dismissed the racist nature of the country’s quota system that favored the north and western nations of Europe.
It is Thanksgiving in 1973 and Luna (Nicole Javier) finds Jane (Narea Kang) in a groceries, exchanging looks that only with the community to share some inheritance. Both carry Asian blood, the origins of the Moon of the Philippines and Jane de Korea. His two medical husbands are working on weekend shifts at the hospital, and the perpetually vertiginous moon seems delighted to have a company.
Loneliness in both women is palpable, and the good fortune of sharing space in this strange and specific American vacation is adopted by both, although Jane is much more committed to Luna, which has lovely laughs for days.
There is much to laugh at this dance, the strange couple vibrates all cylinders. The hilarity of the script is n is of belly laughs, or that there are many, but also elaborated with the fear that comes from the identity of one. Director Jennifer Chang understands clear and clean what moments they need specific tones and moods.
Conflicts that come from a new duality bathe with honesty. How can Luna transmit in an American if his accent shouts Filipino? How will Luna demonstrate to his future children who belong within two cultures? Will they understand what it means to be a Filipino?
Javier is an excellent actor, and is part of his best work within this particular enigma, pure gatera grass for any audience member who has a pinch of empathy. It is also a feet fleet, which comes out through the stage with an endless joy that is informed by hope and anguish.
Kang is in the entire duck with Javier, imboucing Jane with mystery and research, immediately loyal and cheerful as the apartment and her own spirit begin to heat up.
For a work that does not exceed the execution time of the theater very modern or 90 consecutive minutes, the ties are organically. The wine flows as the strains of Karen Carpenter’s interpretation of “Superstar” provide the necessary texture, offering a backdrop within a terribly dramatized scenic design by Arnel Sancanco, just to the thin yellow house.
When Luna acknowledges that the price of admission to the United States is the heart of one, it is the dialogue that exemplifies the strength of SUH’s interrogation in the immigrant psyche. It is one of the most acute and shocking monologues sacrificed. Pay for acceptance in a new world that is not in a hurry to welcome the newer and brown immigrant is at risk. That payment where a heart is the currency costs much more than the price of a desired Disneyland ticket.
However, for these two souls looking for a company and some not frozen turkey in these strange vacations, both aware of how much they share, make it a very satisfactory small world after all.
David John Chávez is president of the American Association of Critics/Theater Journalists and a jury twice for the Pulitzer Award for Drama (’22 -’23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social
‘The Heart Sellers’
By Lloyd Suh, presented by Theaterworks Silicon Valley
Through: May 11
Where: Mountain View Center for The Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View
Execution time: 1 hour, 30 minutes, without intermediate
Tickets: $ 44- $ 99; www.theatreworks.org