This website uses cookies. If you continue to use the site, your agreement will result in cookies being set.

The Chinese Lady
The Chinese Lady Tickets

The Chinese Lady Tickets

New York
23 Feb 2022 - 10 Apr 2022
82
Great
41 Reviews on Show-Score

The Chinese Lady Information

The Barrington Stage Company and Ma-Yi Theater Company have partnered with The Public Theater to produce The Chinese Lady. The Chinese Lady tickets are available on New York Theatre Guide now.

The Chinese Lady is a play by Lloyd Suh about Afong Moy, widely considered the first Chinese woman to come to America. However, she was brought over in 1834 against her will. After being traded in a deal between her family and American importers, she quickly became a public spectacle under the titular name, put on display for audiences fascinated by her appearance.

Surrounded by Chinese trinkets, she was made to perform an exoticized version of the Chinese identity. She gained fame, even meeting then-President Andrew Jackson, but had her words skewed by translation and her culture reduced to a show. The Chinese Lady is a reclamation of Afong's story and culture, which challenges the way global cultures are seen under the white American gaze and lets Afong, or at least the actress playing her, share her story and true culture for herself.

The Chinese Lady had its world premiere in 2018 at Barrington Stage Company, which was followed by its Off-Broadway premiere with Ma-Yi Theatre Company. The play has now become one of the most produced plays of the 2021-2022 theatre season nationwide. Productions have gone up in Portland, Philadelphia, Ithaca, Rochester, and most recently, New Haven. Now, the Public is the latest company to present The Chinese Lady Off-Broadway. Much of the original Off-Broadway creative team is returning, including director Ralph B. Peña, set designer Junghyun Georgia Lee, and sound designer Fabian Obispo. They are joined by lighting designers Jiyoun Chang and Elizabeth Mak and costume designer Linda Cho.

Tickets to The Chinese Lady are available now. Book The Chinese Lady tickets on New York Theatre Guide today.

Inspired by the true story of the first Chinese woman to step foot in America, Lloyd Suh’s critically-acclaimed play, THE CHINESE LADY, is a tale of dark poetic whimsy and a unique portrait of the United States as seen through the eyes of a young Chinese girl. In 1834, 16-year-old Afong Moy sailed into New York Harbor and was immediately put on display for a paying public who were mesmerized by her exotic ways and horrified by her tiny bound feet. As audiences follow Moy’s travels through America as a living exhibit for decades, THE CHINESE LADY shares her impressions of a young country struggling with how to define itself.

Run time

75m (No intermission)

Opening date

February 23rd, 2022

Closing date

April 10th, 2022

Categories

Plays

Venue

Public Theater

Our review

Photo credit: Shannon Tyo in Ma-Yi Theater Company’s production of The Chinese Lady. (Photo by Joan Marcus)

The caged bird in Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady carries the full weight of history on her shoulders. Afong Moy, the first-known woman to arrive in the U.S. from China, was presented as a novelty attraction for Americans who paid 25 cents admission. Here, she speaks from behind a gilded frame and through time, exploring her role as an object of cultural exchange while asserting her obvious humanity.It's a double act of history and drama that urgently addresses the present moment, amid an alarming...

Latest The Chinese Lady News & Features