Performances will run from April 2-27.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will present the engaging 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 New York Times called The Heart Sellers “beautiful” and “politically astute.” Boston Globe said “Theater-makers talk often about telling stories that merge the epic and the intimate. There aren’t many contemporary playwrights better at that tricky balancing act than Suh.”
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 will be presented 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" while BroadwayWorld deemed it “a poignant look at friendship and courage.” Nicole Javier plays Luna and Narea Kang plays Jane in the TheatreWorks run of this play.
Previews will take place Wednesday, April 2 – Friday, April 4, 2025, and the production will officially open on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The Heart Sellers will run through
Sunday, April 27, 2025.
Photo Credit: Charr Crail
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