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2010 Works in Progress |
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English Only |
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The 2010 Works in Progress series continues with this South Bay premier by playwright Annette Lee. Q & A will follow.
“In Monterey Park, the definition of what is considered American has not always been as easy as pie. The struggle to define American culture roiled the community in the 1980s when an influx of Chinese immigrants spurred a group of residents to band together to make English the official language of the city. They felt the Chinese immigrants, who opened up businesses and put up signs in their native languages, had changed Monterey Park into a different place. A different country, even.
“This period in Monterey Park history is the subject of English Only. This comedic dramatization of the events is told from the viewpoint of Scarlett Wong, a fictional 16-year old, Chinese-American girl. As a second generation immigrant, she starts out looking down on recent Chinese immigrants who do not speak English. But she comes to examine her own prejudices as she figures out where she stands on the movement to make English the official language in her city.
“Scarlett’s journey has her listening in on the high drama of the city council meetings and examining her own assumptions through fantasy meetings with iconic figures like Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong and potato chip queen and a product of Monterey Park, Laura Scudder.
“Scarlett follows the antics of former Monterey Park council members like Barry Hatch and Patricia Reichenberger, as well as Frank Arcuri, a local leader of the Official English movement, and Taiwanese real estate developer Frederic Hsieh who envisioned Monterey Park as a Beverly Hills for Chinese immigrants.
“The play draws on what Lee learned through book research about the actual events and is based off of transcripts of council meetings. She brings to life the unique local characters who drove the debate during that contentious and emotional period.” – Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP News
Annette Lee began as a struggling actor in New York who blossomed into a playwright in her native Los Angeles. She has written site-specific works and historical plays on commission, as well as a number of radio plays for the Wells Fargo Radio Theater. Her social comedy, A DIRTY SECRET BETWEEN THE TOES, produced in Los Angeles, was a finalist in the East West Players Y2K Playwriting Competition and her comedic fantasy, HAPPY TALK, was the winner at the 2008 LAST PLAY STANDING Competition at Another Chicago Theater Company. HIGHER UP, a satirical one-act about the doggishness of corporate life premiered in Aspen, Colorado and toured to New York. In 2009, her one-act play, HACIENDA HEIGHTS, an exercise in family dysfunction and Grand Guignol, premiered as part of Lodestone Theatre’s TEN TO LIFE. She recently graduated from UCLA's with an MFA in Playwriting and has taught Dramatic writing at UCLA's Department of Theater and at East West Players. Her plays have been performed in Los Angeles, Portland, Aspen and New York.
Works in Progress is a program of the Cultural Services Division of the Torrance Community Services Department. Presented in association with APC Gallery, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Chinese American Museum, Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, El Camino College Community Education, Organization of Chinese Americans/Greater Los Angeles, Palos Verdes Arts Center, South Bay Chinese American Chamber of Commerce, Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, Torrance CitiCABLE, Torrance Historical Society & Museum, Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Torrance Public Library, Torrance Symphony Association, UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, University Art Gallery CSU Dominguez Hills, Visual Artists Guild, Visual Communications |
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