Read Trying to Find Chinatown: The Selected Plays of David Henry Hwang Online
Authors: David Henry Hwang
Trying to Find Chinatown: The Selected Plays of David Henry Hwang (12 page)
MA: Congratulations? Look, Lone, I’m sick of you making fun of the Chinamen.
LONE: Ma, I’m not. For the first time. I was wrong. We got eight dollars.
MA: We wanted fourteen.
LONE: But we got eight hours.
MA: We’ll go back on strike.
LONE: Why?
MA: We could hold out for months.
LONE: And lose all that work?
MA: But we just gave in.
LONE: You’re being ridiculous. We got eight hours. Besides, it’s already been decided.
MA: I didn’t decide. I wasn’t there. You made me stay up here.
LONE: The heads of the gangs decide.
MA: And that’s it?
LONE: It’s done.
MA: Back to work? That’s what they decided? Lone, I don’t want to go back to work.
LONE: Who does?
MA: I forgot what it’s like.
LONE: You’ll pick up the technique again soon enough.
MA: I mean, what it’s like to have them telling you what to do all the time. Using up your strength.
LONE: I thought you said even after work, you still feel good.
MA: Some days. But others . . .
(Pause)
I get so frustrated sometimes. At the rock. The rock doesn’t give in. It’s not human. I wanna claw it with my fingers, but that would just rip them up. I wanna throw myself headfirst onto it, but it’d just knock my skull open. The rock would knock my skull open, then just sit there, still, like nothing had happened, like a faceless Buddha.
(Pause)
Lone, when do I get out of here?
(Pause)
I get so frustrated sometimes. At the rock. The rock doesn’t give in. It’s not human. I wanna claw it with my fingers, but that would just rip them up. I wanna throw myself headfirst onto it, but it’d just knock my skull open. The rock would knock my skull open, then just sit there, still, like nothing had happened, like a faceless Buddha.
(Pause)
Lone, when do I get out of here?
LONE: Well, the railroad may get finished—
MA: It’ll never get finished.
LONE:—or you may get rich.
MA: Rich. Right. This is the Gold Mountain.
(Pause)
Lone, has anyone ever gone home rich from here?
(Pause)
Lone, has anyone ever gone home rich from here?
LONE: Yes. Some.
MA: But most?
LONE: Most . . . do go home.
MA: Do you still have the fear?
LONE: The fear?
MA: That you’ll become like them—dead men?
LONE: Maybe I was wrong about them.
MA: Well, I do. You wanted me to say it before. I can say it now: “They are dead men.” Their greatest accomplishment was to win a strike that’s gotten us nothing.
LONE: They’re sending money home.
MA: No.
LONE: It’s not much. I know, but it’s something.
MA: Lone, I’m not even doing that. If I don’t get rich here, I might as well die here. Let my brothers laugh in peace.
LONE: Ma, you’re too soft to get rich here, naive—you believed the snow was warm.
MA: I’ve got to change myself. Toughen up. Take no shit. Count my change. Learn to gamble. Learn to win. Learn to stare. Learn to deny. Learn to look at men with opaque eyes.
LONE: You want to do that?
MA: I will. ’Cause I’ve got the fear. You’ve given it to me.
(Pause.)
LONE: Will I see you here tonight?
MA: Tonight?
LONE: I just thought I’d ask.
MA: I’m sorry, Lone. I haven’t got time to be the Second Clown.
LONE: I thought you might not.
MA: Sorry.
LONE: You could have been a . . . fair actor.
MA: You coming down? I gotta get ready for work. This is gonna be a terrible day. My legs are sore and my arms are outa practice.
LONE: You go first. I’m going to practice some before work. There’s still time.
MA: Practice? But you said you lost your fear. And you said that’s what brings you up here.
LONE: I guess I was wrong about that, too. Today, I am dancing for no reason at all.
MA: Do whatever you want. See you down at camp.
LONE: Could you do me a favor?
MA: A favor?
LONE: Could you take this down so I don’t have to take it all?
(He points to a pile of props)
(He points to a pile of props)
MA: Well, okay.
(Pause)
But this is the last time.
(Pause)
But this is the last time.
LONE: Of course, Ma.
(Ma exits.)See you soon. The last time. I suppose so.(Lone resumes practicing. He twirls his hair around as in the beginning of the play. The sun begins to rise. It continues rising until Lone, moving, is seen only in shadow.)END OF PLAY
FAMILY DEVOTIONS
(1981)
For my Ama and Ankong, and Sam Shepard
Production History
Family Devotions
opened at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (Joseph Papp, Producer), in New York City on October 18, 1981. It was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman; the set design was by David Gropman; the costume design was by Willa Kim and the lighting design was by Tom Skelton. The cast was as follows:
opened at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (Joseph Papp, Producer), in New York City on October 18, 1981. It was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman; the set design was by David Gropman; the costume design was by Willa Kim and the lighting design was by Tom Skelton. The cast was as follows:
| JOANNE | Jodi Long |
| WILBUR | Jim Ishida |
| JENNY | Lauren Tom |
| AMA | Tina Chen |
| POPO | June Kim |
| HANNAH | Helen Funai |
| ROBERT | Michael Paul Chan |
| DI-GOU | Victor Wong |
| CHESTER | Marc Hayashi |
Characters
WILBUR, Joanne’s husband, Japanese-American,
nisei
(second generation), late thirties.
nisei
(second generation), late thirties.
JENNY, Joanne and Wilbur’s daughter, seventeen.
AMA, Joanne’s mother, born in China, emigrated to the Philippines, then to America.
POPO, Ama’s younger sister.
HANNAH, Popo’s daughter and Joanne’s cousin, five years older than Joanne.
ROBERT, Hannah’s husband, Chinese-American, first generation.
DI-GOU, Ama and Popo’s younger brother, born and raised in China, still a resident of the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.).
CHESTER, Hannah and Robert’s son, early twenties.
Place
The lanai/sunroom and tennis court of a home in Bel Air, California.
Time
1980.
Act I: late afternoon.
Act II: same scene, immediately following.
Definitions
bao
is a steamed meat bun.
gao sai
is dog dung.
guo-tieh
is a fried meat dumpling.
jok
is a Chinese rice porridge.
ACT Iis a steamed meat bun.
gao sai
is dog dung.
guo-tieh
is a fried meat dumpling.
jok
is a Chinese rice porridge.
As the curtain rises, we see a single spotlight on an old Chinese face and hear Chinese music or chanting. Suddenly, the music becomes modern-day funk or rock ’n’ roll, and the lights come up to reveal the set: the lanai/sunroom and backyard of a home in Bel Air. The sunroom has a glass roof and glass walls. Upstage of the lanai/sunroom is a patio with a barbecue and a tennis court. The tennis court leads offstage.
The face is that of Di-gou, an older Chinese man wearing a blue suit and carrying an old suitcase. He is standing on the tennis court and peering into the sunroom through the glass walls. Behind him, a stream of black smoke is coming from the barbecue.
JOANNE
(Offstage)
: Wilbur! Wilbur!
(Offstage)
: Wilbur! Wilbur!
(Di-gou exits off the tennis court. Joanne enters from the house. She is a Chinese-American woman, attractive, in her late thirties. She sees the smoke coming from the barbecue.)Aiii-ya!
(She heads for the barbecue; on her way, she notices that the sunroom is a mess)
Jenny!(She runs out to the barbecue, opens it up. Billows of black smoke continue to pour out.)Oh, gosh. Oh, golly.
(To offstage)
Wilbur!
(She begins pulling burnt objects out of the barbecue)
Sheee!
(She pulls out a chicken, dumps it onto the ground)
Wilbur!
(She pulls out another chicken, does the same)
Wilbur, the heat was too high on the barbecue!
(She begins pulling out burnt objects and tossing them all over the tennis court)
You should have been watching it! It could have exploded! We could all have been blown up!
(She picks up another chicken , examines it)
You think we can save some of this
? (She pauses, tosses it onto the court)
We’ll get some more chickens. We’ll put barbecue sauce on them and stick them into the microwave
. (She exits into the house holding a chicken on the end of a fork)
Is this okay, do you think?(Wilbur appears on the tennis court. He is a Japanese-American man,
nisei
[second generation], in his late thirties. His hair is permed. He wears tennis clothes.)
WILBUR: Hon?
(He looks around)
What’s up?
(He picks a burnt chicken off the tennis court)
Hon?
(He walks over to the barbecue)
Who—? Why’s the heat off?
(He walks around the tennis court picking up chickens)
Jesus!
(He smears grease on his white tennis shirt, then notices it)
Aw, shit!
(He dumps all the chickens except one, which he has forgotten to pick up, back into the barbecue. He walks into the sunroom, gets some ice and tries to dab at the stain)
Hon? Will you come here a sec
? (He exits into the house)
(He looks around)
What’s up?
(He picks a burnt chicken off the tennis court)
Hon?
(He walks over to the barbecue)
Who—? Why’s the heat off?
(He walks around the tennis court picking up chickens)
Jesus!
(He smears grease on his white tennis shirt, then notices it)
Aw, shit!
(He dumps all the chickens except one, which he has forgotten to pick up, back into the barbecue. He walks into the sunroom, gets some ice and tries to dab at the stain)
Hon? Will you come here a sec
? (He exits into the house)
(Jenny appears on the tennis court. She is seventeen, Wilbur and Joanne’s daughter. She carries a large wire-mesh box.)
JENNY: Chickie!
(Looking around)
Chickie? Chickie, where the hell did you go? You know, it’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing being this old and still having to chase a chicken all over the house.
(She sees the lone burnt chicken on the court. She creeps over slowly, then picks it up)
Blaagh! Who cooked this? See, Chickie, this is what happens—what happens when you’re a bad chickie.
(Looking around)
Chickie? Chickie, where the hell did you go? You know, it’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing being this old and still having to chase a chicken all over the house.
(She sees the lone burnt chicken on the court. She creeps over slowly, then picks it up)
Blaagh! Who cooked this? See, Chickie, this is what happens—what happens when you’re a bad chickie.
(Chester, a young Chinese-American male in his early twenties, appears on the tennis court. He tries to sneak up on Jenny.)(To chicken)
Look, if you bother Popo and Ama, I’m gonna catch shit, and you know what that means for you—chicken soccer. You’ll be sorry.(Chester is right behind Jenny.)You’ll be sorry if you mess with me.(Jenny turns around, catching Chester.)Oh, good. You have to be here, too.
CHESTER: No, I don’t. I’ve gotta pack.
JENNY: They’ll expect you to be here when that Chinese guy gets here. What’s his name? Dar-gwo?
CHESTER: I dunno. Dah-gim?
JENNY: Doo-goo? Something.
CHESTER: Yeah. I’m not staying.
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