“The Chinese Lady” at Chance Theater

OC Theatre Guild
13 minutes ago
3 min read

A Powerful, Poetic Play Based On The True Story Of Afong Moy

By Anne Reid

In 1834, 14-year-old Afong Moy, the first female Chinese immigrant to set foot in America, sailed into New York Harbor to be featured in a museum and promote Chinese goods. She was brought from her hometown of Guangzhou to New York City by traders Nathaniel and Frederick Carne and exhibited as "The Chinese Lady." Advertisements for her exhibitions featured her clothing, her language, and her four-inch "little feet," the result of foot binding. She saw herself as a cultural ambassador, in the United States to educate and entertain. But to the American public, she became a mesmerizing curiosity—a living exhibit.

Playwright Lloyd Suh’s “The Chinese Lady” imagines Moy’s decades-long journey across a young and restless America. As she travels, Moy offers her evolving impressions of a country still struggling to define itself. At once moving and sharply funny, this play traces her life on display, inviting audiences to witness history not as it's traditionally told, but as it is felt—through the eyes of a woman objectified, exoticized, and overlooked.

As the play progresses through the years… “It is 1849 and I am 29 years old… It is 1864 and I am 44 years old”... Afong’s presence becomes less about spectacle and more about testimony. Her story unfolds alongside the harsh realities of cultural appropriation, systemic exploitation, anti-Asian exclusion laws, and episodes of racially motivated violence.

Michelle Krusiec in “The Chinese Lady” at Chance Theater. Photos by Doug Catiller

Though the real Moy disappeared from public records after 1850, Suh portrays her as an immortal observer who bears witness to pivotal moments-- from the Opium Wars to the Chinese Exclusion Act, and to the violence against Chinese American laborers that scarred the 19th and 20th centuries. By the end, Moy’s voice echoes into the present, reminding audiences that the stories she represents are not relics of the past, but urgent reflections of today.

This story is equal parts heartbreaking, humorous, and haunting. It’s about identity, survival, and what it means to be seen— not as a symbol or stereotype, but as a full, complex human being. It’s a history lesson. It’s a mirror. It’s a love letter. And it’s widely regarded as one of the most beautiful scripts in production.

Suh is known for centering underrepresented voices in American theatre and he approaches Moy’s life with striking lyricism and historical insight. He reclaims her not as a cultural footnote, but as a vibrant, multifaceted person navigating a lifetime of objectification and erasure.

Director Shinshin Yuder Tsai, Producing Associate at Chance Theater and Resident Intimacy and Casting Director, said, "Although it’s set in the 19th century, ‘The Chinese Lady’ resonates powerfully today. Moy’s struggle to define herself in a society determined to define her first will feel deeply familiar to anyone who has ever been stereotyped, silenced, or asked to perform their identity for someone else’s understanding.”

This play lives at the intersection of theatre and history, blending poetic monologue, direct address, and theatrical spectacle. It invites the audience not only to observe, but to reflect on their role as witnesses and inheritors of the legacy Moy represents.

Producing “The Chinese Lady” at Chance Theater is more than timely— it’s necessary. Literary Director James McHale notes that the Chance’s selection is the result of a year-long process of research, reading, collaboration, and curation. “Each play is chosen with care and intention,” said McHale. “This production is a clear extension of the theatre’s mission to elevate voices that have too often been erased from the historical record.”

Director Tsai brings a powerful vision and deep sensitivity to this production. A dedicated advocate for Asian American stories, he is also a Council Board Member for OCTG and the Founding Artistic Director of the AAPI sketch comedy troupe, No MSG Added.

His directing credits include acclaimed productions such as “She Kills Monsters” (Long Beach Playhouse & STAGEStheatre), “The Hatmaker’s Wife,” “LOVE/SICK,” and “Cowboy Vs. Samurai” (Long Beach Playhouse), “The Pillowman” and “Almost, Maine” (UC Irvine), “Metamorphoses” and “Mother Courage and Her Children” (Chapman University), and “Kvetcher in the Wry” at OC-Centric.

Set on the Cripe Stage, Chance’s main stage, from May 16 - June 8, the “The Chinese Lady” is a powerful story based on the life of an outstanding woman.