‘Playfest 4’ Review: Eight Endearing Short Plays on AAPI Experiences

Behind the Cambridge H-Mart, a small outdoor theatre named Starlight Square set up purple banners and a small central stage. Here, The Asian American Playwright Collective presented Playfest 4: three programs of eight 10-minute plays on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18. Boston-based Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander playwrights, actors, and directors gathered to portray a variety of AAPI experiences. The brevity of each play was limiting in some contexts and endearing in others — while some plays attempted to span years, others used the short timeframe to highlight an enlightening conversation with broader subtexts — but all eight plays worked collectively to illuminate a rich discussion of AAPI experiences across generations in America.

A play that did this particularly well was “This Not Noboru” (dir. Hortense Gerardo). In the play, a retired physicist speaks with Dor (Karla G. Yang), a psychiatrist who pretends to be a robotics data analyst. The physicist, Ino (Lisa Fermin-Granada), called her son at 4:30 a.m. before the scene of the play and asked him what loneliness is. Dor asks Ino questions about Noboru Wataya (Jeomil Tovar), a robotic cat she made and converses with throughout the play, and it is implied that Dor is asking these questions to assess Ino’s mental health. The play asks where the line between real and imaginary lies after children grow up.

The play uses the small stage to its advantage to meditate on motherhood, loss, and aging through humorous interjections by Noburu and moving dialogue. At one point, Ino explains, “For me, Noburu is both dead and alive. You know, he reminds me of the things that have made up the days of my life. In that sense, he’s more real to me than my dead friends, or even my son, who answers my question about loneliness by calling a robotics firm to check in on me.” Fermin-Granada performs beautifully, balancing the line between confusion — at times the watcher is unsure if Ino is actually mentally impaired — and pride.

Another play that explores intergenerational family dynamics through a single conversation was “Door” (dir. Nico Pang). Andi (Jupiter Le) and Jamie (Jeomil Tovar), a gay couple, ruminate on their experiences with loss, family, ancestors, and love. Andi is troubled by the feeling of disappointing his ancestors, as his mother struggles to accept his sexuality. Jamie tells Andi of his experience with coming out, disclosing that he wished his mother died so that he could be free. The two describe their thoughts, and though the play never reaches a resolution and Andi never reconciles his feelings, the conversation sheds light on second-generation AAPI youth and their relationships with their parents’ expectations.

“Two Sides Same Coin” (dir. Michelle M. Aguillon) took another approach, presenting a narrative over a longer period of time. The play follows Gabby Torno (Karla G. Lang) and Mike Dodge (Jeff Lee), who are of similar age and are connected by the Vietnam War. Gabby’s father was a pilot who died bringing refugee orphaned children from the Vietnam War, while Mike was one of the children who was brought over by his father’s crew. The format of the play has Gabby and Mike standing at a distance from each other in the middle of the stage. Gabby and Mike tell the story linearly and with prose-like dialogue. Each speaks on their own, and when they interact, they act out their meeting and eventual friendship. Though the story attempts to explore themes of sacrifice and connection, the narrative pace is ultimately too ambitious. Instead of dwelling on the development of their relationship through their evolving subjective traumas, the majority of the play has the two characters narrating their stories apart.

The last play of the event, “Like Candy from a Baby” (dir. Michael Lin), showcases innovative live sound production. The foley artist (Tori Queeno) performs sounds that follow the narrative of two babies attempting to steal butter cookies from their exasperated mothers. From dropping bags of sand, to pouring water into glasses, to opening a creaky door contraption, to munching on a handful of Pocky sticks in front of the microphone, the foley artist’s compelling sonic performance on one side of the stage is full of small acts of creativity that bring the play to life. Humorous and intriguing, the play gives voice to the two babies and their mission to get into a locked cabinet of cookies. The mothers, one of whom is going to a baby shower to reconcile with her sister after their own mother’s death, have dialogue that interplays with the babies’ actions, and the stage — though small — holds these three worlds (foley, baby, mother) successfully.

These innovative short plays brought the small place to life. At times, fire alarms played in the background, and the integration of these plays with their outdoor environment enhanced the performances. Though some plays more successfully explored intergenerational relationships and the range of AAPI experiences than others, the event as a whole invited the audience to reckon with the nuance and recollection of immigrant experiences.

—Staff Writer Carrie Hsu can be reached at carrie.hsu@thecrimson.com.