Download Chinglish - Portland Center Stage

Portland Center Stage
presents
Chinglish
by David Henry Hwang
Artistic Director | Chris Coleman
(January 11 – February 9, 2014)
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PORTLANDCENTERSTAGE
Presents
Chinglish
by David Henry Hwang
Directed by
May Adrales
Scenic and Projection Designer
Timothy R. Mackabee
Costume Designer
Jeff Cone
Lighting Designer
Seth Reiser
Sound Designer
Casi Pacilio
Composer
Jana Crenshaw
Stage Manager
Mark Tynan
Production Assistant
Stephen Kriz Gardner
Casting
Harriet Bass
Cultural Consultant
Jane Chen
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CAST
Tina Chilip*................................... Xi Yan
Lily Tung Crystal*....................Hotel Manager/Prosecutor Li
Jeff Locker*..................................... Peter Timms
Rachel Lu*................................... Miss Qian/Zhao
Peter O'Connor*...................................... Daniel Cavanaugh
Yuekun Wu*...................................... Bing/Judge Xu Geming
Jian Xin*.................................. Cai Guoliang
Chinglish is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists
Play Service, Inc., New York.
Chinglish opened at The Longacre on Broadway on October 27,
2011 and was produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jay
& Cindy Gutterman/Cathy Chernoff, Heni Koenigsberg/Lily
Fan, Joseph & Matthew Deitch, Dasha Epstein, Ronald & Marc
Frankel, Barry & Carole Kaye, Mary Lu Roffe, The Broadway
Consortium, Ken Davenport, Filerman Bensinger, Herbert
Goldsmith, Jam Theatricals, Olympus Theatricals, Playful
Productions, David & Barbara Stoller, Roy Gottlieb, and
Hunter Arnold.
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Chinglish was first premiered by the Goodman Theatre in
Chicago, IL (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schuffer,
Executive Director) on June 18, 2011.
Chinglish was first developed at the Lark Play Development
Center, New York City in cooperation with the Public Theatre
(Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director).
Mandarin Chinese translations by Candace Chong.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of
Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
There was the time I stood on a train riding from Pécs, Hungary
back to Budapest and couldn’t understand why the woman at the
snack station wasn’t providing what I wanted. I was convinced I
was saying, “I’d like a Snickers and a bottled water, please.”
After repeating it about five times, I had to revert to charades to
get satisfaction. Only when I returned to my seat and referred to
the dictionary did I realize I had actually been saying, “I’d like a
snickers and GOODBYE.”
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Then there was the time I was sitting in a temple in northern
Japan in November. I’d been invited as part of a delegation
planning a sister city exchange with Atlanta. We were watching
a famous Noh drama that was stretching well past hour three,
seated on cushions on a concrete floor, with no heat in the
building. I had a wicked sinus infection, but had been afraid to
take medication as I couldn’t figure out the contents on the box.
I was terrified of blowing my nose in public for fear of
offending our guests. So I just suffered.
Or the time, on a street in Moscow, when a gentleman dropped a
big wad of cash (oddly wrapped in plastic) and the man next to
me picked it up and said, “We split, 50/50, yes?” I said, “No –
we need to take it to the man who dropped it.” He repeated, “We
split 50/50, yes?” I repeated myself, as did he. Then he tried to
take my arm and pull me into a nearby alley. Smelling trouble, I
started saying loudly, “NYET, NYET, NYET,” and hurried back
to my hotel.
Translation: It starts with language, but extends well beyond the
literal language barrier into tradition, customs, habits. What is
considered respectful in one country (or state for that matter),
seems like you’re being a doormat in another. If I arrived at a
friend’s home in Atlanta bearing gifts (the way one is expected
to in Japan), they might be delighted, but they would also
wonder what the special occasion was. The discrete reserve of
the Swede feels remote, even rude, to the Latin American.
Trying to navigate our differences is challenging enough in one
language. Add in the complexity of a business deal, and the
customs that come along with it, and you have a recipe for
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disaster. Or comedy. It’s this material that David Henry Hwang
is mining so deliciously in Chinglish. It seems that we are all
constantly re-learning how little we understand about the
cultures, spoken and unspoken, around the globe. In Chinglish,
those differences are brought to the fore with great subtlety and
humor.
Enjoy the journey.
Chris
Tina Chilip
Xi Yan
Tina Chilip is thrilled to make her Portland Center Stage debut
with her fourth David Henry Hwang play. She has previously
been in M. Butterfly (Guthrie Theater), Yellow Face
(TheatreWorks in California) and twice in Golden Child
(Signature Theatre in New York - dir. Leigh Silverman; and the
Cultural Center of the Philippines). Other New York credits: A
Dream Play (National Asian American Theater Company),
Flipzoids (Ma-Yi Theater Company), Joy Luck Club (Pan Asian
Repertory Theatre), Sweet Karma (Queens Theatre in the Park),
Twelfth Night (Leviathan Lab). Other regional credits: Trinity
Repertory Company, Marin Shakespeare Company and others.
TV: Royal Pains. Upcoming: The Intelligent Homosexual’s
Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures
at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the feature film Air
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Disturbance. Training: M.F.A., Brown/Trinity.
www.tinachilip.com
Lily Tung Crystal
Hotel Manager/Prosecutor Li
Lily is thrilled and grateful to be making her Portland Center
Stage debut. She is a native Californian who has performed with
theatre companies in San Francisco, New York and Shanghai,
including Magic Theatre, Crowded Fire Theatre, San Francisco
Playhouse, Playwrights Foundation, The New Group and
Women’s Project Theater. Favorite shows include: Private Lives
(Amanda), Grease (Rizzo), Cabaret (Lulu), Tough Titty (Rachel
Li/Rashida) and Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven
(Korean #2), for which she was nominated for a Bay Theatre
Critics Circle Award. Lily also created the role of Mrs. Park in
Jay Kuo’s new musical Worlds Apart and Tye Leung Schulze in
Tye, her solo show about the first Chinese-American woman to
vote. Lily is the founding co-artistic director of Ferocious Lotus
Theatre Company in San Francisco. Love and thanks to Mom,
Eric and Cole for making dreams possible.
www.lilytungcrystal.com
Jeff Locker
Peter Timms
Jeff is thrilled to be making his PCS debut, especially in a show
that hits so close to home! He was an actor and award-winning
TV/radio personality in Taiwan and China for 15 years, best
known for his portrayal of Bush in Golden Bell-winning
political satire show Mimics, Brindsley in Black Comedy
(National Theater Taiwan) and Paul in The Musical Story of
Teresa Teng (Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall). Hosting duties
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included the Golden Horse Awards (Chinese Oscars), AsiaPacific Film Festival, Fear Challenge (Chinese Fear Factor)
and Love Radio (EastRadio Shanghai). Jeff was also a bestselling author of eight Mandarin books, lecturing throughout
Chinese Asia. He is a proud graduate of The Second City and iO
West. US credits include Second City Hollywood’s America:
Chin Up, Fly Down! and Dirty, Sexy, Funny, Jimmy Kimmel
Live!, Saving Face and vocal group Top Shelf. He can be found
mumbling to himself in actual Chinglish as he fights LA traffic.
www.jefflocker.com
Rachel Lu
Miss Qian/Zhao
Hailing from Taiwan, Rachel started playing the piano at the age
of five and dreamed of becoming a street musician in Paris.
Since graduating from Columbia University with an Acting
M.F.A., she has appeared on stage, films and commercials. She
is known for her role as the ambitious Tiger Mom on ABC’s
What Would You Do?, and she has recently played a
conspicuous fashionista in the feature film Yellow Fever. An
avid martial artist, Rachel co-wrote and co-produced the Kung
Fu parody Savage Lotus on YouTube. She is thrilled to be a part
of Chinglish! Rachel lives happily in New York City with her
dashing husband, Brendan, and their rescued pit bill, Penny LuWalsh. Rachel strives for beauty and truth in everything she
does. Connect with her at www.RachelLu.com.
Peter O’Connor
Daniel Cavanaugh
Peter is thrilled to be working in beautiful Portland at PCS.
Theatre: Annie Baker’s The Aliens (West Coast premiere at San
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Francisco Playhouse; The Studio Theatre, D.C., dir. Lila
Neughbauer), Jailbait (Obie Award, The Cherry Lane, The
Cherry Pit), And Miles to Go (dir. Hal Brooks), so go the ghost
of mexico (Ellen Stewart Award, La MaMa, dir. Meiyin Wang),
Robert O’Hara’s Fuckmate, Laura Mark’s 50 Shades, Jon
Caren’s YES (Partial Comfort), O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon
(Center Stage), Sexual Healing (The Mint), Balaton (Urban
Stages), Sexual Neuroses of our Parents (Wild Project), A Bitter
Taste, Echo Echo and Behind the Blind (Ensemble Studio
Theatre), Kidstuff, Letters to the End of the World (Theatre
Row), Shape of Things (New York Innovative Theatre Award
Nomination), Richard II, All’s Well That Ends Well, Ionesco’s
Killing Game. Film/TV: Viola (Golden Palm Award, Mexico
International Film Festival), P.S. I Love You, Alpha-beta, Sweet
Lorraine, As the World Turns (three year recurring), Mercy
(NBC), Ed (NBC), Book of Daniel with Aidan Quinn (NBC),
Law & Order with Jeffrey Tambor, Guiding Light (recurring)
and St. Michael in Grand Theft Auto IV. Education: University
of Norte Dame. Thank you May.
www.vimeo.com/peteroconnor.com
Yuekun Wu
Bing/Judge Xu Geming
Portland Center Stage debut. Off Broadway: The Dance and the
Railroad (Signature Theatre/Wuzhen Theatre Festival, China),
Clocked Out (Roy Arias Theaters). Selected New York credits:
Women: The War Within (Baryshnikov Arts Center), Love in
Tear and Laughter, Luo Shen: Legend of the Luo River (Theater
for the New City), Swoony Planet, The marriage of Figaro,
Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, The Good Person of
Szechwan. The Subtle Body (Shanghai International
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Contemporary Theatre Festival). Film/Television: American
Dreams in China, Beijing, New York, The Flying Swordsman.
Training: A.R.T/MXAT at Harvard University, B.A. Fordham
University. Big thanks to May Adrales, our wonderful crew and
my family.
Jian Xin
Cai Guoliang
Jian worked as an actor for over fifteen years at the Tianjin
People’s Art Theater in Tianjin, China. Upon relocating to the
United States, he spent two years performing with Dongfang
Performing Arts Association in Chicago before settling in
Houston. Jian is an alumnus of the renowned Shanhai Theatre
Academy and currently teaches drama at the Oriental Art
Education Center in Houston.
“I like your smile, but unlike you put your shoes on my face,”
reads a sign situated near a lawn in China. “The little grass is
sleeping. Please don’t disturb it,” reads another similarly placed
sign. “Your careful step keeps tiny grass invariably green,”
reads a third. All three are attempting to communicate the same
message, which in America is crisply rendered as “Keep off the
grass.”
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Signs like these are a common sight in China, where tourists
puzzle and giggle over the mistranslations commonly known as
“Chinglish.” English-speakers are directed to “slip carefully”
(“don’t slip”) and to use the “deformed man’s toilet”
(“handicapped restroom”). They are informed that “the civilized
and tidy circumstance is a kind of enjoyment” (“don’t litter”).
Any native speaker of English can snicker at these
malapropisms, but most don’t know enough about Chinese
language or culture to understand the factors that result in
Chinglish signage.
In fact, as the character Daniel points out in Chinglish, “If you
are American, it is safe to assume that you do not speak a single
*&%^ing foreign language.” Though most Americans are
exposed to foreign languages during their school years, few
attain proficiency. And many monolinguals, who acquired their
native language in infancy and haven’t had a good reason to
think about language since, operate under what linguists call the
naïve lexical hypothesis: that is, they assume that differences
between languages lie solely in their vocabulary, and that each
word in a given language has an equivalent word in all other
languages. Both Chinglish (the linguistic phenomenon) and
Chinglish (David Henry Hwang’s play) are humorous but potent
reminders that there’s no such thing as a direct translation and
that language is usually more slippery than we expect.
Translators would do well to heed the Chinglish warning:
“slip carefully.”
An English speaker learning Mandarin Chinese will rapidly
discover that it differs from English not only in its sound system,
but also in its structure. Those who learned a Germanic or
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Romance language in high school will recall the arduous task of
conjugating verbs in past, present and future tenses. Mandarin
learners need not study up on verb tenses because Mandarin
doesn’t use them; it relies instead on other cues within a
sentence to indicate if something has already happened, is
happening presently, is expected to happen in the future or if the
speaker is using the verb as a command. Adding an ending to a
verb (such as -d or -ed to indicate past tense in English) would
be an unfamiliar concept for a Mandarin speaker. This
illuminates, for the English speaker, how someone might create
a sign that reads, “Be sloppily dressed excuse me for not
receiving,” when a more apt translation might be, “Entrance
may be denied to underdressed customers.” While “be sloppily
dressed” sounds like a command to English speakers, a native
Mandarin speaking translator could easily misunderstand the
relative subtleties involved in using verbs in English.
Another significant structural difference between the two
languages concerns plurals. In Mandarin, it is rare to combine
morphemes—units of meaning—to create more complex words.
The English word dogs contains two morphemes—dog, which
means furry quadruped, usually friendly, and -s, which means
that there are two or more of them. While English denotes
plurality by adding -s, Mandarin often goes without denoting it
at all—the listener must either infer it from contextual clues, or
proceed without knowing whether her neighbor is talking about
his single dog or his 50 dogs. If a speaker needs to make this
distinction clear, he or she can use words like some or many, or
can indicate a specific number, but this is often unnecessary.
This explains why a person might create a sign that says, “Don’t
forget to carry your thing,” when he is attempting to prevent
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foreigners from leaving their personal belongings behind: in
English, we draw a (key) distinction between “your thing” and
“your things,” but a Mandarin speaker could be hard-pressed to
see the difference.
Of course, good translation between the two languages is
possible, and the real causes of Chinglish signage are
carelessness and poor knowledge of English. Some companies
assign translation duties to the employee whose knowledge of
English is best—but the “best” English speaker in a company
may possess only partial proficiency. Unwilling to defy or
disappoint her superiors by revealing her lack of ability, this
employee will attempt the translation—with mixed results. In
some cases, companies rely on online translators, which tend to
create literal, dictionary-based translations that don’t take into
account connotations or multiple definitions of words. Nor do
such translators consider how each language uses metaphors and
idioms differently. It may make sense, to the Chinese mind, to
say that undisturbed grass is “sleeping,” but English doesn’t
normally utilize that metaphor, and an adept human translator
would find a more familiar phrase. (The opposite scenario—
English idioms sounding odd or unintelligible in Chinese—can
also be true. A literal translation of phrases like “bad egg” or
“nest egg” would surely prove either disastrous or amusing.)
In David Henry Hwang’s play, as in real life, many Chinese
people are ashamed of Chinglish and aim to eradicate it.
Certainly tourists would benefit from clearer signage, but would
also miss out on windows into the Chinese language—which,
though often comical, are thought-provoking insights into a
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culture that so often remains elusive and mysterious to
westerners.
This piece originally appeared in the playbill for the world
premiere of Chinglish at the Goodman Theatre in 2011.
David Henry Hwang
Playwright
David Henry Hwang’s plays include M. Butterfly (1988 Tony
Award, 1989 Pulitzer Finalist), Golden Child (1998 Tony
nomination, 1997 OBIE Award), Yellow Face (2008 OBIE
Award, 2008 Pulitzer Finalist), FOB (1981 OBIE Award), The
Dance and the Railroad (1982 Drama Desk nomination), Family
Devotions (1982 Drama Desk Nomination) and Bondage. He
wrote the books for the Broadway musicals Elton John and Tim
Rice’s Aida (coauthor), the revival of Flower Drum Song (2002
Tony nomination) and Disney’s Tarzan. In opera, his libretti
include Philip Glass’ The Voyage (Metropolitan Opera),
Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar (two 2007 Grammy Awards),
Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (Opernwelt 2007 “World
Premiere of the Year”) and Howard Shore’s The Fly. Hwang
also penned the feature films M. Butterfly, Golden Gate and
Possession (coauthor). He serves on the Council of the
Dramatists Guild and was appointed by President Clinton to the
President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
May Adrales
Director
May Adrales is thrilled to direct Chinglish at Portland Center
Stage. A freelance theater director based in New York City, May
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has helmed several world premieres including JC Lee’s Luce
(LCT3); Katori Hall’s Whaddabloodclot!!! (Williamstown
Theater Festival); In This House at Two River Theater
Company; A. Rey Pamatmat’s Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit
Them (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Thomas Bradshaw’s Mary
(The Goodman Theatre); Tommy Smith’s The Wife (Access
Theater) and The Bereaved (Partial Comfort Productions). She
recently directed David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and the
Railroad at Signature Theatre and the Wuzhen International
Theater Festival in China, and Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop at
Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Upcoming Projects: Breath and
Imagination (Cleveland Playhouse) and Deathtrap (Pioneer
Theater). She is a Drama League Directing Fellow, Women's
Project Lab Director, SoHo Rep Writers/Directors Lab and
NYTW directing fellow, and a recipient of the TCG New
Generations Grant, Denham Fellowship and Paul Green
Directing Award. She proudly serves as an Associate Artist at
Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She is a former Director of On
Site Programs at the Lark Play Development Center and Artistic
Associate at The Public Theater. M.F.A., Yale School of Drama.
She is currently on faculty at the Yale School of Drama. Thank
you David, PCS and this amazing cast. www.mayadrales.net
Timothy R. Mackabee
Scenic and Projection Designer
Broadway: Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (dir. Spike Lee). OffBroadway: Luce (Lincoln Center Theatre), Much Ado About
Nothing (Public Theater), Our New Girl (Atlantic Theatre
Company). Opera: Paul’s Case (UrbanArias), Tosca (Mill City
Opera). Regional: Dallas Theatre Center, Syracuse Stage, Yale
Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theater Company, Asolo
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Repertory Theatre, Triad Stage, Studio Theatre, Virginia Stage,
Syracuse Stage, Paper Mill Playhouse. Williamstown Theatre
Festival: 8 Seasons. Dance: Doug Varone & Dancers, Cedar
Lake Dance. Film/TV: Smash, The Today Show, Mike Tyson:
Undisputed Truth (HBO), Margot at the Wedding. Upcoming:
The Band’s Visit (dir. Hal Prince), Heathers: The Musical (New
World Stages). Education: North Carolina School of the Arts,
Yale School of Drama. timothymackabeedesign.com
Jeff Cone
Costume Designer
This is Jeff’s 16th season at PCS. In that time he has designed
costumes for over 75 productions. Of those shows, 49 have been
in the last eight seasons at the Armory. Favorite productions
include West Side Story, Cabaret, Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39
Steps, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Sometimes a Great
Notion, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Imaginary Invalid, Black
Pearl Sings!, Venus in Fur and Clybourne Park. Jeff received
Drammy Awards for his costume designs for Dirty Blonde, Act
A Lady and Shakespeare’s Amazing Cymbeline. In addition to
his resident costume designer duties, Jeff is happy to manage the
costume shop here at Portland Center Stage.
Seth Reiser
Lighting Designer
Seth designs for theatre, dance, music and installations across
the United States. Recent Portland credits include, Eyes for
Consuela at Profile Theatre. Recent NYC credits include Come
and Back Again with David Dorfman Dance at BAM and now
touring; The Bad Guys at Second Stage; The Agony and the
Ecstasy of Steve Jobs at The Public Theatre; the Obie Award16
winning production of The Lily’s Revenge at HERE Arts; Dutch
A/V at La Mama; Reggie Watts and Tommy Smith’s RADIO
PLAY at PS 122. Regionally his work has been seen at Trinty
Repertory Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Denver
Center Theatre Company, On the Boards, The Eugene O’Neill
Theatre Center, Woolly Mammoth, American Repertory Theatre
and PlayMakers Repertory Company. Seth received his M.F.A.
from New York University/Tisch. He lives in Rochester, NY
with his wife Mary and daughter Marion.
www.sethreiserdesign.com
Casi Pacilio
Sound Designer
Casi keeps busy with a variety of work and play in Portland and
around the country. PCS credits include The Mountaintop,
Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma!, The North Plan, Shakespeare’s
Amazing Cymbeline, Black Pearl Sings!, Opus, futura (with
composer Jana Losey), Ragtime (PAMTA Award 2010), The
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Alfred Hitchcock’s
The 39 Steps, Snow Falling on Cedars, Crazy Enough, The Little
Dog Laughed, Sometimes a Great Notion, Cabaret, The
Pillowman, I Am My Own Wife, West Side Story, Celebrity Row
and eight seasons of JAW. National shows: Holcombe Waller
Surfacing and Wayfinders; Hand2Mouth Theatre credits: Left
Hand of Darkness, My Mind is Like an Open Meadow (Drammy
Award 2011), Something’s Got Ahold Of My Heart and PEP
TALK. Other theatrical credits include Squonk Opera’s
Bigsmorgasbord-WunderWerk (Broadway, PS122, national and
international touring); I Am My Own Wife, I Think I Like Girls
(La Jolla Playhouse); Playland, 10 Fingers and Lips Together,
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Teeth Apart (City Theatre, PA). Film credits include Creation of
Destiny, Out of Our Time and A Powerful Thang. Recordings:
Glitterfruit’s fruit snacks.
Jana Crenshaw
Composer
Jana Losey Crenshaw is a singer-songwriter originally from
rural Pennsylvania, and currently planning her takeover of
Portland, Oregon. After losing her janallosey.com url to vicious
internet hunters from a galaxy far, far away, and suffering years
of the mispronunciation of her birth name, she is born again as
CHINA LUCY! With a history that includes Broadway,
international touring, a solo career, and a reality TV show,
China Lucy has recently resurfaced in the Portland music scene
with The Tuesday Project, a revolving band of local musicians
and artists of many flavors. Recent theater projects include:
composing the score for Hand2Mouth Theatre's production of
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guinn; composing and
arranging for Liminal's recent production of Our Town at The
Headwaters Theatre; and transitional music and cues for
Portland Center Stage's futura. See more at China-Lucy.com.
Mark Tynan
Stage Manager
Imagine being in a room full of artists, watching the birth of an
idea, a movement given purpose, a sentence, phrase, scene, act
given life. Then imagine that room translating to the stage with
lighting, sound, costumes, scenery and props, then you can
imagine what Mark’s job is like. Special thanks to the
phenomenal PCS production assistants, Karen Hill and Stephen
Gardner, who help keep the vision attainable. Prior to PCS,
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Mark toured nationally and internationally with musicals
including Dreamgirls, The King and I with Rudolf Nureyev,
How to Succeed…, Grand Hotel, The Phantom of the Opera and
Rent. Other Portland credits include several summers with The
Broadway Rose Theatre Company in Tigard. Regional credits
include The Alley Theatre (Houston, TX), La Jolla Playhouse
(La Jolla, CA) and Casa Mañana Theatre (Fort Worth, TX).
Stephen Kriz Gardner
Production Assistant
Stephen is excited to be spending his first full season with
Portland Center Stage. Most recently, he was the production
assistant for PCS's Twist Your Dickens, The Mountaintop and
Somewhere in Time. In Portland, Stephen has worked as a stage
manager for Oregon Children's Theatre on Pinkalicious
(remount), The Magic School Bus: Climate Challenge and
Locomotion, as well as assistant stage managed Pinkalicious and
Duck for President. Stephen also stage managed Spring
Awakening with Live On Stage Theatre Company. His credits
outside of Portland include stage managing Black Comedy for
No Rules Theatre Company in Washington DC and assisting on
Camp Wanatachi at La Mama Experimental Theatre in New
York. He has been a production assistant on One Singular
Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch, Sondheim! The
Birthday Concert and Company at Lincoln Center. His
internship credits include the Goodman Theatre on Candide and
A Christmas Carol, and Broadway's Wicked.
Jane Chen
Cultural Consultant
Jane Chen is originally from Nanjing City, China. The city has
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been known as a historical capital for six dynasties. Jane went to
Japan in 1996 to pursue her education. She obtained her B.A. in
Law & Policy from Tezukayama University in Nara, Japan.
After graduation, she worked for the Osaka City government to
promote international business in the city. In 2005 Jane moved
to Portland, Oregon for career advancement. She has worked for
local international business companies, such as KAI USA Ltd.
(Kershaw, SHUN Knives) and Leupold & Stevens. Specializing
in the fields of global procurement, sourcing, and supply chain
management, she has refined her in-depth understanding of
Asia-West economic and cultural exchange. This professional
background as well as her fluency in three languages (Chinese,
Japanese and English) has contributed to the successful ventures
of several American companies in Asian nations. Jane likes
running on the Wildwood trail in Portland – an activity she
considers the best means of meditation and escape from the
stresses of everyday life. Jane is also in the process of catching
up on American culture. She loves classic film noir and the films
of Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch.
Chris Coleman
Artistic Director
Chris joined Portland Center Stage as artistic director in May
2000. Before coming to Portland, he was artistic director at
Actor’s Express in Atlanta, a company he co-founded in the
basement of an old church in 1988. Favorite PCS directing
assignments include Fiddler on the Roof, Clybourne Park,
Sweeney Todd, Shakespeare’s Amazing Cymbeline (which he
also adapted), Anna Karenina, Oklahoma!, Snow Falling on
Cedars, Ragtime, Crazy Enough, Beard of Avon, Cabaret, King
Lear, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Man and Superman, Outrage,
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Flesh and Blood and The Devils. Chris has directed at theaters
across the country, including Actor’s Theater of Louisville,
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT-Seattle, The Alliance, Dallas
Theatre Center, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre
Workshop and Center Stage in Baltimore. A native Atlantan,
Chris holds a B.F.A. from Baylor University and an M.F.A.
from Carnegie Mellon. He currently chairs the Creative
Advocacy Network board, and serves on boards for the Cultural
Advocacy Coalition and the Institute for Metropolitan Studies.
Chris’ favorite things about Portland: farmers markets, Timbers
games, Salt & Straw ice cream, dog parks, food carts and cars
that stop for pedestrians.
A few weeks before Chinglish had its world premiere at
Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2011, David Henry Hwang
spoke with the Goodman’s Associate Dramaturg, Neena Arndt,
about his writing process and the timeliness of the play.
Neena Arndt: In Chinglish, there’s a bilingual character, Peter,
who’s been in China for 20 years and knows the country very
well. Peter is from England, but says he feels more at home in
China—unfortunately, his Chinese colleagues don’t always
accept him as one of their own. In writing that character, what
issues about cultural identity were you aiming to explore?
David Henry Hwang: I’ve spent a good portion of my career
writing about the dilemma of identity as it relates to Asian
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Americans. I’m a Chinese American, and when I’m in China,
they certainly don’t consider me Chinese. And in America, there
are some questions about Asians and to what extent we are
either perpetual foreigners or “regular” Americans. The more
I’ve gotten a chance to travel and meet people in different parts
of the world, the more I realize that this is not a dilemma that is
unique to Asian Americans. Especially as the world grows
smaller and there’s more transnationalism and more people
relocating across borders, this sense of dislocation and insecurity
about identity applies to a lot of people. And I think Peter was
an opportunity for me to explore these sorts of feelings of
identity confusion but with the shoe on the other foot. Having
spent some time with the ex-pat community in China, I would
say it is more difficult for someone like Peter to be accepted as a
Chinese person in China than it is for a Chinese American to be
accepted as an American.
NA: One of the other major themes of the play is the difference
between the American ideal of marriage, which dictates that
marriage should be based on romantic love and open
communication, and the Chinese ideal of marriage, which relies
on different values altogether. Can you speak about that cultural
difference?
DHH: In a way I would say it’s not even an America versus
China difference, as much as it is a new-world versus old-world
difference. If you talk to people from Europe, they have a much
more practical notion of what marriage is supposed to be—that
it’s essentially an institution. It’s a partnership; the romance is
going to fade and you don’t necessarily go from one marriage to
another trying to chase romance. I think that’s something that
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older cultures, like China’s, tend to realize more. The emphasis
on romance as an integral part of marriage is a relatively new
idea in China. Whereas in America, I feel that romance is sort of
our secular religion. Like, “All you need is love.” As our
attachment to traditional religion has diminished, I feel as if
what’s taken its place is this humanistic religion of romantic
love, which is what all our songs and movies are about. In the
Middle Ages all art was to glorify God, and now, all our art—at
least all our popular art—is to glorify romantic love.
NA: One problem the characters face with the cultural center is
making sure that all the signs are translated into English
properly—which is often not the case in China.
DHH: Yes. And those mistranslations have been very much in
the news—particularly in China. As they were gearing up for the
Olympics there was a desire to get rid of all the Chinglish. And
then there started to be a certain number of counterarticles
written about how Chinglish is actually very interesting and we
should preserve it. So that was in the air during a lot of the time
that I’d been going over. And then as I started to think about
writing a play about doing business in China, I went to a brandnew cultural center. It was made out of beautiful Italian woods
and had a Japanese sound system—but all I noticed were the
mistranslated signs and how ridiculous they were. It seemed like
it would be fun to use that as the jumping-off point for a play
about doing business in China.
This piece originally appeared in the playbill for the Goodman
Theatre’s 2011 production of Chinglish.
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Berry Wealth Strategies:
It is our founder’s 16-year-old daughter who is responsible for
Berry Wealth Strategies’ sponsorship in Portland Center Stage
and this performance of Chinglish. Her passion for theatre,
especially musicals, blossomed into a love affair with the
performing arts that is now shared by the entire family. So when
Berry Wealth Strategies began looking for a venue to express
our appreciation for the trust our clients place in us, the decision
was an easy one. Enjoy the performance.
NW Natural:
What a season!
This year, Portland Center Stage transports us to a tiny village in
the Ukraine; to Memphis in 1968; to 16th Century Venice; to
Massachusetts in 1892 – and to the original New York Macy’s
at Christmas time.
In this production, we see colliding cultural changes in Asia
through the eyes of a modern businessman.
Theater brings the world to us – and with it, the full spectrum of
human experience. PCS, thanks for expanding our horizons and
strengthening our emotional connections to people around the
globe.
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- Gregg Kantor, President and CEO, NW Natural
Marcy & Richard Schwartz
As a person who did business in Japan for many years, I am
keenly interested in the interactions and insights of Chinglish.
Despite lots of excellent coaching from my Japanese clients, I
was never comfortable about how to curb my American instincts
and act appropriately during my Asian trips. To this day, I am
sympathetic to our protagonist’s situation.
Richard and I are delighted to support the production of
this terrific play at PCS, both as an opportunity to strengthen
connections among cultures in our community and share lots of
laughs with you at the same time.
Jan and John Swanson:
Anyone who has traveled and tried to communicate while
possessing minimal knowledge of another language will love
this play. The foibles of the interpreters are hysterical. We
laughed out loud while reading the script. Hope everyone enjoys
the performance as much as we have enjoyed sponsoring it.
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