THE HEART SELLERS Comes to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Performances run April 2-27, 2025.
By: Stephi Wild Feb. 25, 2025
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will present the new play The Heart Sellers by 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh (The Chinese Lady, The Far Country). This humorous and heartwarming work takes its title from the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, which paved the way for thousands to become U.S. citizens. Set in 1973, The Heart Sellers centers on two Asian women navigating their first American Thanksgiving. Starting out as strangers who meet in the grocery store, Luna from the Philippines and Jane from South Korea find common ground in their shared experience, including their often-absent medical resident husbands, missing families and friends back home, and discovering the joys and challenges of life in America. As the women attempt to cook Thanksgiving dinner, they dream of discotheques, Disneyland, and the future in a timely celebration of the human spirit. The Heart Sellers will perform April 2-27, 2025 (press opening: April 5) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street.
Acclaimed director/actor/playwright Jennifer Chang, who directed the World Premiere of The Heart Sellers at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, reunites with Suh to direct this co-production, which opened at Sacramento’s Capital Stage in Fall 2024 and performs at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre Company before its run at TheatreWorks. San Francisco Chronicle called the play “a fitting tribute. Mines glistening jewels of humanity." BroadwayWorld deemed it “beautifully crafted. A masterpiece of a script by Lloyd Suh. One of the most meaningful and memorable nights of theater I have experienced in a long time.”
TheatreWorks is committed to creating an environment that is accessible for all audiences in its community. American Sign Language interpretation will be available at the performance of The Heart Sellers at 7:30pm Tuesday, April 15. In partnership with c2 Caption Coalition, TheatreWorks will include open captioning (a screen displaying all dialogue and a description of sound effects) for the performances 2pm and 7pm on Sunday, April 20 and 2pm Wednesday, April 23. TheatreWorks is collaborating with Gravity Access Services in offering audio descriptions to assist patrons who are visually impaired. This service will be available 8pm Saturday, April 26 and 2pm Sunday, April 27 (To utilize audio description, patrons should pre-register at 877-662-8978 after purchasing tickets). Assistive listening devices are offered at every performance with no advance registration required.
TheatreWorks will host a pre-show artist talk at 6:30pm Thursday, April 3 and will hold post-show discussions with the cast following the Wednesday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 23 performances. TheatreWorks will require face masks to be worn for the performances of The Heart Sellers at 8pm Friday, April 11; 2pm Saturday, April 12 and 2pm Sunday, April 20.
For the TheatreWorks run of this co-production, director Chang reunites with Nicole Javier and Narea Kang, who both appeared in the World Premiere of this play at Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
Seen in TheatreWorks’ Mrs. Christie and tokyo fish story, Nicole Javier (she/her) returns as Luna, an immigrant from the Philippines. Javier has also acted with La Jolla Playhouse, San Francisco Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company, Capital Stage, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Crowded Fire Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Shakespeare Orange County, Cornerstone Theatre Company, and Provincetown Playhouse.
Narea Kang (she/her) makes her TheatreWorks debut as Jane, an immigrant from Korea. Kang has performed with The National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), Ars Nova, American Conservatory Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Northern Stage, 5th Avenue Theatre, Studio Theatre, Intiman Theatre, and Livermore Shakespeare Festival. She has performed in staged readings and workshops with American Conservatory Theater, People’s Light, Clubbed Thumb, Northern Stage, New Dramatists, and Corkscrew Theater Festival. Her film and TV credits include NBC’s “Law and Order SVU,” CBS’ “Blue Bloods,” and HBO’s “Betty,” and her voice can be heard on Disney+’s “Light Shop” and Nickelodeon’s “Wylde Pak.”
The Heart Sellers features scenic design by Arnel Sancianco, costume design by Lisa Misako Claybaugh, lighting design by Isaiah Leeper, sound design by Ed Lee, properties design by Christopher Fitzer, and dramaturgy by Nicole Limon. Taylor McQuesten is stage manager with Bella Campos Hintzman as assistant stage manager.
Named one of “50 to Watch” by The Dramatists Guild, Lloyd Suh’s (playwright) plays include The Heart Sellers, The Far Country, The Chinese Lady, Charles Francis Chan Jr’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, Jesus in India, The Wong Kids in The Secret of the Space Chupacabra GO!, and American Hwangap. The Far Country was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. His play The Chinese Lady was hailed a New York Times Critics’ Pick and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Suh also won the 2022 Steinberg Playwright Award and was the 2019 winner of the Herb Alpert Award for Theater. Suh has received additional grants, awards, and fellowships from organizations including The Dramatists Guild, The Jerome Foundation, the Lark Play Development Center, The NEA New Play Development Project at Arena Stage, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, and NAATCO. His work has been presented by Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, NAATCO, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Long Wharf Theatre, Magic Theatre, Theatre Mu, Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Artists at Play, and Artists Repertory Theatre. An alum of Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood and the Soho Repertory Theater’s Writer Director Lab, Suh has previously served as Artistic Director of Second Generation Theatre, Co-Director of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, and Director of Onsite Programs at The Lark.
Jennifer Chang (director) is a multi-disciplinary artist who is committed to anti-racist practices and diversifying storytelling aesthetics. Her directing credits include work with Atlantic Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, East West Players, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre in Virginia, City Theatre Company, LA Opera, Antaeus Theatre Company, Primary Stages, South Coast Repertory, The Fountain Theatre, and Artists at Play. She has developed new work at South Coast Repertory’s Pacific Playwrights Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The New Harmony Project, Ashland New Plays Festival, Center Theatre Group, Boston Court, Theatre Mu, Chance Theater, Echo Theater Company, Circle X Theatre Company, Chalk Repertory Theatre, Artists at Play, East West Players, The Sông Collective, and others. Her plays include The Devil is a Lie, she was the recipient of the 2022-2023 Beatrice Terry Residency for the Drama League for her play Matter, and she is currently writing a musical in the Geffen Writers Room. A founding member of Chalk Repertory Theatre, Chang was a Drama League Directing Fellow, an Old Globe Classical Directing Fellow, and she won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award. As an actor, she has collaborated with La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, NAATCO, East West Players, and Mixed Blood Theatre.
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