Review: THE HEART SELLERS at Capital Stage is a Poignant Look at Friendship and Courage

Admittedly, I have a soft spot for stories about the Asian-American experience. Korea, in particular, has always fascinated me. When I was growing up, I heard my mother’s stories about her life in Korea and the challenges she encountered as an immigrant to the United States. My grandmother’s hardships were worse. Entering the United States as an adult was a culture shock. A new language, different customs, and a life that was completely unrecognizable from the one she had known for thirty years took a toll. I wish I had listened more and asked more questions. She was lonely and yearned for companionship with someone who understood her unique position, much like the two characters in Lloyd Suh’s poignant take on friendship, The Heart Sellers. Its Northern California premiere is happening now at Capital Stage, after which it will then go on to two other Bay Area theatres in a triple co-production.

The Heart Sellers is a play on the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, a federal law that changed America’s immigration system. It opened up immigration possibilities to those who were not European. Under Jennifer Chang’s expert direction, two beneficiaries of this legislation are Luna and Jane. Luna is brilliantly and energetically played by Nicole Javier, who reprises this role from its 2023 showing at Milwaukee Rep. Wonjung Kim plays Jane, replete with accurate mannerisms, dialect, and authenticity. Luna is a recent transplant from the Philippines, Jane from South Korea. They have followed their husbands to the United States for the men’s medical residencies. Adrift in an unfamiliar place, both women spend their days tied to their living rooms, watching television and being held hostage by their loneliness. After a chance meeting and Luna’s impulsive invitation to spend Thanksgiving together, they commiserate about their similar circumstances. The only company they have are the actors they mimic to learn English. Which is a good thing, since t.v. has taught Jane how to make the frozen turkey that Luna has brought home for the dinner they’re about to share. “Not just Julia Child, everything television I watch,” Jane says. “All day. ‘Price Is Right.’ ‘Young and the Restless.”  Of the entire ninety minutes, this line rang the truest for me. Like these two fictional women, my grandmother’s only friend was her television set. I would sit at her feet on the orange shag carpet as I played with my Barbies and we watched shows together. Like Luna, her favorites were game shows and soap operas. How many immigrants spent time with “General Hospital” and “Wheel of Fortune,” but didn’t understand the lines? Suh brings the audience into the immigrant experience with the use of nostalgic pop culture references, every example drowning in truth.

Equally powerful is Suh’s vibrant imagining of Luna’s despair at leaving her homeland and beginning a new life. Luna dreams about immigration officials taking her heart in exchange for entry to the United States. She feels her life slipping away as her husband follows his dreams and she likens it to “one more soccer game I watch somebody else play.” She worries that “I will struggle to love my babies the way my mother loved me because they won’t understand me the way I understand her.” Those babies will live American lives and be far removed from their mother’s country, each generation losing a bit more of their important heritage; yet, these recent immigrants also deny where they come from. Suh knows that the shame of immigrants runs deep; Luna and Jane both have communist siblings they don’t talk about. In the land of the free, acknowledging such a relation is too embarrassing. It’s true…my grandmother did the same. Like Jane, my grandmother told people her brother was dead. In reality, he voluntarily went to North Korea.

In short, Suh gets it. He writes in such a way that allows Chang to direct these talented actors to include everyone in the room. Luna and Jane’s 1970s experience translates to modern audiences. There are immigrants here, now, from Afghanistan, Ukraine, everywhere, who are watching soap operas and game shows and wondering how to cook a frozen turkey in time for dinner.

Today is, fittingly, my grandmother’s birthday. This time, I’ll make sure to listen to their stories. Happy birthday, grandma.

Photo credit: Misty McDowell

 

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