Quick Take Review: The Chinese Lady at ArtsWest (with Yun Theatre)

Sebastian Wang and Zoe Ding in The Chinese Lady (photo by John McLellan)

The Chinese Lady
ArtsWestwith Yun Theatre
Through October 11, 2026
 
Afong Moy came to the States from China when she was 14 years old in 1834. Believed to be the first Chinese female to come to our shores, she was sent by her parents for what was to be a roughly three-year period to be “exhibited” so that sightseers could experience the “real” Chinese lifestyle. She was displayed in a confined box-space. However, she and her translator Atung never left.
 
Lloyd Suh created a heart-breaking two-hander, here performed by Zoe Ding as Afong Moy, and Sebastian Wang as Atung. Both characters address the audience primarily, and only occasionally each other. These actors did a masterful job managing both talking directly to the audience and breaking out of “performance mode,” to develop their private relationship.
 
Afong shows how she eats, what she wears, and how she can walk with bound feet. The play demonstrates many aspects contemporaneously that Moy’s experience embodied two hundred years ago: the attempt to understand “the other” by putting her on display, her helplessness to get out of the situation, her maturation into a woman with her own desires and aspirations. Atung, too, is caught in his own trap, as he takes care of her and also can’t leave.
 
The production was beautifully put together physically, with a museum-like look from set designer Adair MacCormack, delicate lighting from Yichen Zhou, quietly augmenting sound from M.L. Dogg, and well-developed costuming from Tianxing Yan. Directors Zenaida Rose Smith and Christie Zhao kept their eye on every detail.
 
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