Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Lloyd Suh's play "The Chinese Lady," now in its Chicago premiere from the TimeLine Theatre, is, in essence, a fervent and self-assured deconstruction of the long, Western objectification and fetishization of China and, especially, its women. It is a plea for Americans to look honestly at a Chinese face and truly see all its myriad contours and complexities, as buffeted by history."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Practically nothing is known about the actual woman who was billed as “The Chinese Lady,” including her given name, her family of origin, or what became of her once the paying crowds waned. The project of Suh’s multilayered two-hander, then, is to grant her an imagined inner life."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...The Chinese Lady is a testament to important swaths of history that have previously been swept under the rug-including the Opium Wars, and the debt we owe to Chinese Americans for building the railroads with their sweat and blood. Playwright Suh brilliantly anticipates that we will indeed be educated about the "other" and additionally challenges us, "So what?" What good is our education, what good is learning about other cultures, what good is passively observing from a safe distance if we do not see? Have we truly been educated if nothing changes? In bearing witness to the legacy of The Chinese Lady, we are challenged to bear witness to our own actions-or lack thereof."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Maintaining the illusion of distance over a chronicle spanning more than two centuries in a space where actors and audience are separated by barely a foot of fourth wall is no easy task, but director Helen Young and her team of artists have used the delay in their production schedule to contemplate the significance of their story's mission. Playgoers anticipating the 2022 version of the familiar singsing-along travelogue will instead encounter a grim history of xenophobic misunderstanding and injustice, and perhaps also emerge a little wiser for the experience. Afong Moy would be very pleased."
Chicago On the Aisle - Somewhat Recommended
"...The setup of this historically based tale is the arrival of the first Chinese female ever to set foot on U.S. soil, in the 1830s. The girl, Afong Moy, was purchased (or long-leased) from her father at age 14 and put on display in cities in the East and South, available for public gawking at a very cheap admission price. Mi Kang portrays this exotic object of curiosity, with Glenn Obrero as her assistant Atung. The two interact very little; Afong Moy makes it clear that Atung is an unimportant adjunct and he grins or grimaces and withdraws — repeatedly."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Director Helen Young masterfully reels us in like a fish on a hook that is slowly losing its will as we see the young Afong Moy's childlike manner and excitement fade as she discovers how people coming to the exhibit view her. The joy of coming to another country and representing her heritage and Afong Moy's dreams of seeing and visiting American cities is dampened; when she realizes that their curiosity about her and her fictional habitat is seen as nothing more than a carnival sideshow."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Mia Kang excels in the role of Afong Moy in Lloyd Suh's acclaimed play "The Chinese Lady." Based on a true account, the story has to do with a woman from China who was once part of a traveling exhibit which toured major cities in the United States. Originally "hired" by the Carne brothers in 1834 at the age of 14, Afong Moy would sit in a small room in a museum among Chinese artifacts (like vases, tea chests, and Chinese lanterns) and tell stories about her heritage, accompanied by her interpreter and faithful servant Atung (Glenn Obrero). She initially engages the audience by calling Atung "irrelevant", because he is of a much lower social status than she is."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This is a must-see production, a fine finale to TimeLine Theatre Company's impressive 25th season. Staged with sensitivity, wit and empathy by Director Helen Young, Lloyd Suh's drama is elegant and eye-opening. The story plays beautifully upon Arnel Sancianco's exquisite scenic design, filled with artifacts and adorned by simple, Asian-inspired furniture. It's lit with brilliance by John Culbert and costumed with glorious splendor and delicate, accurate detail by Izumi Inaba, In all, this is a jewel of an experience, a moment in history that resonates today, and an event not to be missed."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Lifeline Theatre's 'The Chinese Lady' is a powerful show - poignant, learned, sophisticated - and illuminating. Ninety minutes of engaging drama (no intermission) that left me somewhere between laughing, crying, and standing on my feet to cheer."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...Under the masterful direction of Helen Young, we observe Mi Kang (Afong Moy) age fifty years before our eyes. A superb Kang chronicles her life as 'The Chinese Lady'. Initially, she is a bright-eyed teenager with romantic notions. She delights in people coming to observe her in an exhibit decorated with faux Chinese elements. She walks for them. She uses chopsticks. Kang dreamily describes herself as an educator and ambassador as she faithfully introduces the Chinese culture."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...The Chinese Lady takes place over five decades. Afong Moy was eventually purchased by PT Barnum to be a part of his traveling show of freaks and oddities when she was in her 30s. Kang’s portrayal becomes more intense and tinged with bitterness as Afong Moy speaks of the gold rush and how Chinese men looking for gold were turned into laborers to build the transcontinental railroad. Kang’s performance is brilliant as the character unravels and understands what is happening to non-ornamental Chinese people."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, about the life of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to come to America, is a remarkable triumph for Timeline Theatre, director Helen Young, and-especially-Mi Kang, the young actress charged with bringing this little-known historical figure to life."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...Directed at a steady pace by Helen Young, The Chinese Woman uses a simple format for a complex commentary on multiculturalism in all its limitations, superficialities and hypocrisies. This viewer wished for earlier signs of cracks in Afong and Atung's psychological armor and more evidence of what must have been difficult offstage lives. But the cracks do finally emerge. For those in search of hidden angles, this production reveals an invisible woman who is right there in plain sight."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Helen Young, TimeLine Theatre Company's Chicago premiere of Lloyd Suh's THE CHINESE LADY is a poignant and well-crafted play centered on Afong Moy, who was supposedly the first Chinese woman to come to America."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...Lloyd Suh's "The Chinese Lady" features two actors, but nearly the whole show belongs to the title character. We never learn her real name. She is called Afong Moy by the white men who presented her in a "museum" beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. Afong Moy existed, but there's no record of her actual name or family and there are no Chinese characters that correspond naturally to Afong Moy in her native Cantonese."
