Studio 180 Theatre with fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company today announced that acclaimed stage and screen actors Rosie Simon (Star Trek: Discovery) and John Ng 伍健琪 (CBC’s Kim’s Convenience) will star in the Canadian premiere of The Chinese Lady by American playwright Lloyd Suh. Produced in association with Crow’s Theatre, The Chinese Lady will run from May 2 to May 21, 2023 at Streetcar Crowsnest, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, ON. Opening night is May 5. For tickets and more details visit studio180theatre.com.

“It is a beautiful thing to look at something long enough to really understand it. But it is so much more beautiful to be looked at long enough to be understood.”

The Chinese Lady tells the story of Afong Moy, purportedly the first Chinese woman to set foot in the United States. Brought to the U.S. from Guangzhou Province in 1834 at the age of 14, Afong Moy is put on display for the American public as “The Chinese Lady.” As the decades wear on, her celebrated sideshow comes to define and challenge her very sense of identity. Alternatingly dark, poetic, and whimsical, the play is a searing portrait of Western culture seen through the eyes of a young Chinese woman.

As playwright Suh recently told The New York Times, his aim is to prove “the way in which memory becomes hereditary because of the way it lives in the body…There’s poignancy there, but power too.”

“There’s something magical about this play that can reach across the years of history,” says director Marjorie Chan 陳以珏. “It’s both an intimate portrait of an historical figure as well as rooted in contemporary commentary: Suh’s writing adeptly places us in the past while speaking to our present moment. Rosie and John are remarkable in bringing this story to life in all its painful, outrageous reality. Although set in America, this moving story of displacement will be sure to resonate with audiences in this Canadian premiere.”

Suh’s work includes The Far Country, Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, American Hwangap, The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go! and Jesus in India. He was a 2020 recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and a 2022 recipient of the Steinberg Playwright Award.

Tickets for The Chinese Lady are on sale now and range from $45 to $65 with pricing options throughout the run for students, artsworkers, under-30, seniors, and limited Pay-What-You-Can tickets on Sunday matinees. For information or to purchase tickets, visit studio180theatre.com or www.crowstheatre.com.

The Chinese Lady

Studio 180 Theatre and fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company in association with Crow’s Theatre

Written by Lloyd Suh. Directed by Marjorie Chan 陳以珏

Cast: Rosie Simon and John Ng 伍健琪

Lighting Designer: Kimberly Purtell

Set Designer: Echo Zhou 周芷會

Costume Designer: Jung-Hye Kim

Sound Designer: Gloria Mok 莫嘉詠

Stage Manager: Kai Yueh Chen

Production Manager: Charissa Wilcox

Assistant Director: 郝邦宇 Steven Hao*

*Generously supported by RBC Foundation through Studio 180 Theatre's RBC Emerging Artists program.

May 2 - 21, 2023

Previews: May 2 to May 4, 2023

Opening Night: Friday, May 5 at 8 p.m.

Run until May 21: Tuesday- Saturday at 8:00 p.m.; Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

Group, student, senior, artsworker, and under-30 ticket prices available. Please inquire with the Crow’s Theatre Box Office at boxoffice@crowstheatre.com.

Run time: 90 minutes, no intermission.