In 1834, Afong Moy came to the United States and is understood to be the first-ever Chinese woman to set foot on U.S. soil. The traders who escorted her to America put her on display in an exhibit as “The Chinese Lady.”
Afong Moy’s rarely-told story unfolds in playwright Lloyd Suh’s “The Chinese Lady,” on stage at the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage Sept. 18 through Oct. 13, directed by Jess McLeod. “Gilmore Girls” star Keiko Agena plays the lead as Afong Moy, and she recently joined Lois Reitzes on “City Lights” with Lloyd Suh to share a deeper look into “The Chinese Lady.”
When asked about the relevance of Moy’s story today, Suh explained that there are a myriad of similarities between the world that Moy moved through, and that of current Asian American performers, telling Lois that he feels like they both “are constantly navigating that really weird conflict between knowing how we’re perceived, how we present to the world, and how that might differ from who we actually are.”
Although the play is presented over 150 years after Moy first stepped onto the American continent, stereotypes linger and standards that immigrants are held to constantly fluctuate. Despite this, Suh’s play is rippling with joy and humor, says Agena.
“It tells the truth in a way where there’s absurdity, joy, interest, curiosity and all of that bubbles up in the performers and then also in the audience,” she said. “We’re reflections of each other. That is one of the most wonderful things I love about this play … it’s a journey we take together.”
