"Poor Yella Rednecks at ACT

 

ACT production photo by Kevin Berne

Here's a play that we were supposed to see in Ashland a few years ago, but it was canceled by COVID. Having enjoyed its predecessor, Vietgone, both in Ashland and at ACT, we were looking forward to seeing this, eventually. The original play was really powerful, and as I noted at the end of my Ashland post on it,

It made me think about things I thought I understood in a different way, from a different perspective, and that's what theater is for.

Pretty heady stuff, and a pretty high bar. So let's see what comes next!

The Play

Following our characters from the previous play, now seven years later, somewhat settled in Arkansas, this play has a more narrow focus that the original. This is the story of a family trying to come to grips with what it means to be Vietnamese in America, when the Vietnam they came from really doesn't exist, and how do we pass along a story like that when maybe we're not so proud of it all.

So this is a much smaller show in scope than its precursor. This is playwright Qui Nguyen trying to get to the heart of the story of his parents (and grandmother) after the fact, uncovering details he was unaware of as a child. Interestingly, his childhood avatar, "Little Man", is represented by a puppet. Taken at face value, I guess that tells us a lot of what Nguyen thinks of his role in the family, but I suppose it's also a way to keep from having an actual child in the cast, when the rest of the characters are pretty foul-mouthed and amorous.

The other sort of interesting feature is the way various characters just burst out into rap. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. Rap was not a terribly common feature of Arkansas, circa 1981, so I'm still not quite sure what I'm supposed to take away from this.

The Performance

On the whole I thought the production was well done. The acting is a bit uneven, but nothing terrible. The set design is pretty simple, with a raised box representing the family's apartment and a rotating portion that serves numerous functions. The turntable is a bit of a distraction, but otherwise Tanya Orellana's set works well.

Jomar Tagatac (Playwright, many other roles) is seemingly omnipresent in Bay Area theater these days. He's good and versatile, and that stands him in good stead here, as he has to switch between numerous small roles, as well as being the playwright's adult avatar. The other actor who particularly stands out is Will Dao, in part because he manages to bring the wooden puppet of Little Man to a remarkable degree of life. I'm not a fan of puppets in plays, but Dao manages to infuse the jointed puppet with nuanced gestures and apparent feelings, backed up by nice vocal work. Since I'm told he actually has no real training in puppetry, this is a notable achievement!

I will note that although I didn't find much meaning in the rap numbers that kept appearing in the show, they did seem to rev up a portion of the audience, who reacted quite favorably, hooting and cheering to some of them. So maybe it's just me.

I'll add one other note, which is that for a newly-renovated theater, the Strand is really quite awkward to navigate, and the seats are not comfortable. I used to really look forward to going to this stage, as it was convenient to my work and shiny and new. But the narrow corridor, hard seats, and strangely-located restrooms make the whole experience rather less pleasant that it ought to be. That's disappointing.

The Bottom Line

Given that I'd had several years to look forward to this show, I had built up fairly high expectations. Overall, I don't think the play itself is nearly as strong (or as much fun) as the original Vietgone, though that was a pretty high bar. I read in the program that there is a third installment of this saga in the works, so maybe this is just the traditional let-down in the second volume of a trilogy. I hope that's the case. Nguyen has a clever voice, and I hope he'll find a strong ending to this series.

I can't say I'd go out of my way to see it again, but on the whole I guess it was worthwhile. The show runs through May 7 at ACT's Strand Theater, so there are still chances to catch it.