Trying to Find Chinatown: The Selected Plays of David Henry Hwang Page 8
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)
MA: Well, okay. (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:
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
JOANNE, Chinese-American raised in the Philippines, late thirties.
WILBUR, Joanne’s husband, Japanese-American, 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 I
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!
(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)
(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.
(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.
JENNY: So what else is new?
CHESTER: I don’t have time.
JENNY: You luck out ’cause you don’t live here. Me—there’s no way I can get away. When you leaving?
CHESTER: Tomorrow.
JENNY: Tomorrow? And you’re not packed?
CHESTER: Don’t rub it in. Listen, you still have my green suitcase?
JENNY: Yeah. I wish I had an excuse not to be here. All I need is to meet another old relative. Another goon.
CHESTER: Yeah. Where’s my suitcase?
JENNY: First you have to help me find Chickie.
CHESTER: Jesus!
AMA (Offstage): Joanne!
CHESTER (To Jenny): All right. I don’t want them to know I’m here.
(Chester and Jenny exit. Popo, Joanne’s aunt, and Ama, Joanne’s mother, enter.)
AMA: Joanne! Joanne! Jenny! Where is Joanne?
POPO: Probably busy.
AMA: Where is Jenny? Joanne?
POPO: Perhaps you can find, ah, Wilbur.
AMA: Joanne!
POPO: Ah, you never wish to see Wilbur.
AMA: I see him at wedding. That is enough. He was not at church again today.
POPO: Ah?
AMA: He will be bad influence when Di-gou arrive. Wilbur—holy spirit is not in him.
POPO: Not matter. He can perhaps eat in kitchen.
AMA: Out
side!
POPO: This is his house.
AMA: All heart must join as one—
POPO: He may eat inside!
AMA:—only then, miracles can take place.
POPO: But in kitchen
AMA: Wilbur—he never like family devotions.
POPO: Wilbur does not come from Christian family.
AMA: He come from Japanese family.
POPO: I mean to say, we—ah—very fortunate. Mama teach us all Christianity. Not like Wilbur family.
AMA: When Di-gou arrive, we will remind him. What Mama tells us.
POPO: Di-gou can remember himself.
AMA: No.
POPO: But we remember.
AMA: You forget—Di-gou, he lives in China.
POPO: So?
AMA: Torture. Communists. Make him work in rice fields.
POPO: I no longer think so.
AMA: In rice field, all the people wear wires in their heads—yes! Wires force them work all day and sing Communist song. Like this! (She mimes harvesting rice and singing)
POPO: No such thing!
AMA: Yes! You remember Twa-Ling? Before we leave China, before Communist come, she say, “I will send you a picture. If Communists are good, I will stand—if bad, I will sit.”
POPO: That does not mean anything!
AMA: In picture she sent, she was lying down!
POPO: Picture was not sent for ten years. Probably she forget.
AMA: You wait ’til Di-gou arrive. You will see.
POPO: See what?
AMA: Brainwash! You watch for little bit of wires in his hair.
(Popo notices the lone burnt chicken on the tennis court.)
POPO: What’s there?
AMA: Where?
POPO: There—on cement.
AMA: Cannot see well.
POPO: There. Black.
AMA: Oh. I see.
POPO: Looks like gao sai.
AMA: They sometimes have problem with the dog.
POPO: Ha!
AMA: Very bad dog.
POPO: At home, dog do that?—we shoot him.
AMA: Should be punish.
POPO: Shot! (Pause) That no gao sai.
AMA: No? What then?
POPO: I don’t know.
AMA: Oh, I know.
POPO: What?
AMA: That is Chickie.
POPO. No. That no chickie.
AMA: They have a chicken—“Chickie.”
(They get up, head toward the chicken .)
POPO: No. That one, does not move.
AMA: Maybe sick.
(They reach the chicken .)
D Aiii-ya! What happen to Chickie!
POPO (Picking it up): This chicken very sick! (She laughs)
AMA: Wilbur.
POPO: Huh?
AMA: Wilbur—his temper is very bad.
POPO: No!
AMA: Yes. Perhaps Chickie bother him too much.
POPO: No—this is only a chicken.
AMA: “Chickie” is chicken!
POPO: No—this—another chicken.
AMA: How you know?
POPO: No matter now. Like this, all chicken look same. Here. Throw away. No good.
AMA: Very bad temper. Japanese man.
(Ama sees Popo looking for a trash can.)
Wait.
POPO: Huh?
AMA: Jenny—might want to keep it.
POPO: This?
AMA: Leave here until we know. (She takes the chicken from Popo)
POPO: No, throw away. (She takes it back) Stink up whole place soon.
AMA: Don’t want to anger Wilbur!
POPO: You pig-head!
AMA: He do this to Chickie—think what he will do to us?
POPO: Zin gao tza! [Always so much trouble!]
AMA: You don’t know Japanese man!
(Ama knocks the chicken from Popo’s hands; they circle around it like boxers sparring.)
POPO: Pah-di! [Spank you!]
AMA: Remember? During war? Pictures they show us? Always—Japanese man kill Chinese!
POPO: Go away, pig-head!
AMA: In picture—Japanese always kill and laugh, kill and laugh.
POPO: If dirty, should throw away!
AMA: Sometimes—torture and laugh, too.
POPO: Wilbur not like that! Hardly even laugh!
AMA: When he kill Chickie, then he laugh!
(They both grab the chicken; Joanne enters, sees them.)
JOANNE: Hi, Mom, Auntie. Who cleaned up the chicken?
AMA: Huh? This is not Chickie?
POPO (To Ama): Tell you things, you never listen. Gong-gong-ah! [Idiot!]
JOANNE: When’s Hannah getting here?
POPO: Hannah—she is at airport.
JOANNE: We had a little accident and I need help programming the microwave. Last time, I put a roast inside and it disintegrated. She should be here already.
AMA: Joanne, you prepare for family devotions?
JOANNE: Of course, Mom. I had the maid set up everything just like you said. (She exits)
AMA: Good. Praise to God will bring Di-gou back to family. Make him rid of Communist demon.
POPO: He will speak in tongue of fire. Like he does when he is a little boy with See-goh-poh.
(Wilbur enters the tennis court with an empty laundry basket. He heads for the barbecue. Joanne follows him.)
JOANNE (To Wilbur): Hon, what are you going to do with those?
WILBUR (Referring to the burnt chicken): I’m just going to give them to Grizzly. (He piles the chickens into the basket)
JOANNE: All right. (She notices that the mess in the lanai has not been touched) Jenny! (To Wilbur) But be careful not to give Grizzly any bones! (She exits)
WILBUR (To Ama and Popo): How you doin’, Mom, Auntie?
AMA (To Popo, sotto voce): Kill and laugh.
WILBUR: Joanne tells me you’re pretty excited about your brother’s arrival—pretty understandable, after all these years—what’s his name again? Di-ger, Di-gow, something...
AMA: Di-gou!
WILBUR: Yeah, right. Gotta remember that. Be pretty embarrassing if I said the wrong name. Di-gou.
POPO: Di-gou is not his name.
WILBUR: What? Not his—? What is it again? Di-gow? De—?
AMA: Di-gou!
POPO: That is not his name.
WILBUR: Oh. It’s the tones in Chinese, isn’t it? I’m saying the wrong tone: Di-gou? Or Di-gou? Or—
POPO: Di-gou meaning is “second brother.”
WILBUR: Oh, I see. It’s not his name. Boy, do I feel ignorant in these situations. If only there were some way I could make sure I don’t embarrass myself tonight.
AMA: Eat outside.
WILBUR: Outside?
POPO: Or in kitchen.
WILBUR: In the kitchen? That’s great! You two are real jokers, you know?
AMA: No. We are not.
WILBUR: C’mon. I should bring you down to the club someday. The guys never believe it when I tell them how much I love you two.
AMA (To Popo): Gao sai.
(Jenny enters the sunroom.)
WILBUR: Right. “Gao sai” to you, too. (He starts to leave, sees Jenny) Wash your hands before you play with your grandmother.
JENNY (To Wilbur): Okay, Dad. (To Ama) Do I have to, Ama?
AMA: No. Of course not.
JENNY: Can I ask you something personal?
AMA: Of course.
JENNY: Did Daddy just call you “dog shit”?
AMA: Jenny!
POPO: Yes. Very good!
JENNY: Doesn’t that bother you?
POPO (To Ama): Her Chinese is improving!
JENNY: We learned it in Chinese school.
AMA: Jenny, you should not use this American word.
JENNY: Sorry. It just slipped out.
AMA: You do not use such word at school, no?
JENNY: Oh, no. Of course not.
AMA: You should not use anyplace.
JENNY: Right.
POPO: Otherwise—no good man wants marry you.
JENNY: You mean, no rich man.
AMA: No—money is not important.
POPO: As long as he is good man.
(Pause.)
AMA: Christian.
POPO: Chinese.
AMA: Good education.
POPO: Good school.
AMA: Princeton.
POPO: Harvard.
AMA: Doctor.
POPO: Surgeon.
AMA: Brain surgeon.
POPO: Surgeon general.
AMA: Otherwise—you marry anyone that you like.
JENNY: Ama, Popo—look, I’m only seventeen.
POPO: True. But you can develop the good habits now.
JENNY: I don’t want to get married till I’m at least thirty or something.
POPO: Thirty! By that time we are dead!
AMA: Gone to see God!
POPO: Lie in ground, arms cross!
JENNY: Look at it this way: how can I be a good mother if I have to follow my career around?
AMA: Your career will not require this.
JENNY: Yeah, it will. What if I have to go on tour?
AMA: Dental technicians do not tour.
JENNY: Ama!
POPO: Only tour—one mouth to next mouth: “Hello. Clean your teeth?”
JENNY: Look, I’m telling you, I’m going to be a dancer.
AMA: We say—you can do both. Combine skills.
JENNY: That’s ridiculous.
POPO: Be first dancing dental technician.
JENNY: I don’t wanna be a dental technician!
POPO: Dancing dental technician very rare. You will be very popular.