Special Events

• Sunday, April 21: The Real Afong Moy post-show presentation by historical and cultural consultant, Patrick Chew.

• Sunday, April 28: AAPI Matinee with snacks to follow.

• Saturday, May 4: Post-show AAPI Industry Mixer.

• Sunday, May 5: Post-show panel discussion featuring Asian American Playwrights.

Synopses

“…piercing and intimate… by the end of Mr. Suh’s extraordinary play, we look at Afong and see whole centuries of American history.” —The New York Times.

Inspired by the true story of Afong Moy’s life, The Chinese Lady is a dark, poetic, yet whimsical portrait of America through the eyes of a young Chinese woman.

Afong Moy is fourteen years old when she’s brought to the United States from Guangzhou Province in 1834. Allegedly the first Chinese woman to set foot on U.S. soil, she has been put on display for the American public as “The Chinese Lady.” For the next half-century, she performs for curious white people, showing them how she eats, what she wears, and the highlight of the event: how she walks with bound feet. Soon her celebrated sideshow comes to define and challenge her very sense of identity.

In Love Letters, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, both born to wealth and position, are childhood friends whose lifelong correspondence begins with birthday party thank-you notes and summer camp postcards. After exchanging letters through the years into adulthood, both lives marked by personal trials and tribulations, the two ultimately reconnect for a brief affair - only to realize it is too late for both of them. However, a final letter after one’s untimely death soon surfaces, illustrating how close they truly were to each other despite their physical distance - as close as only true lovers can be.

The Pear is excited to cast Love Letters with multiple, real-life Bay Area couples with a surprising twist: the actors featured in this show will be "cold reading" from the script at every performance - that is, performing with no rehearsal.

A note from director Wynne Chan

“I admire the resilience of Afong Moy -- the hope she was able to hold on to and all she's tried to achieve in a new country against all odds. And while the events in this play begin 200 years ago, many of the themes still resonate today. I hope audiences think about how their assumptions and feelings changed at the end of the show versus how they might have felt at the beginning.

The Stop AAPI [Asian American & Pacific Islander] Hate movement ‘officially’ began in 2020, but there's a long history of AAPI oppression in this country that the play points to, and it is still going on today. We are not as far from the violence against and the exotification of Asian bodies as we think we are. With this play, we carry on the hope of Afong Moy -- to continue to build a platform for shared understanding across cultures and differences.”
- Wynne Chan | Director, The Chinese Lady.

Cast | The Chinese Lady

Joann Wu… AFONG*
Eiko Moon-Yamamoto… AFONG*
Joseph Alvarado… ATUNG
Daniel Cai… ATUNG (U/S)
*Role is double cast and will alternate.

AFONG Performance Schedule:
Saturday, April 20 at 8:00 pm: Moon-Yamamoto
Sunday, April 21 at 2:00 pm: Wu
Thursday, April 25 at 7:30 pm: Moon-Yamamoto
Saturday, April 27 at 8:00 pm: Wu
Sunday, April 28 at 2:00 pm: Moon-Yamamoto
Saturday, May 4 at 8:00 pm: Moon-Yamamoto
Sunday, May 5 at 2:00 pm: Wu
Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 pm: Wu
Saturday, May 11 at 8:00 pm: Wu
Sunday, May 12 at 2:00 pm: Moon-Yamamoto

Cast | Love Letters

Bryan Moriarty and Vanessa Alvarez
Paul Braverman and Robyn Ginsburg Braverman
Curtis Murray and Naomi Evans
Chris Mahle and Kristin Walter
Michael Saenz and Michael Rhone
Joseph Alvarado and Eiko Moon-Yamamoto
Michael Champlin and Katie O'Bryon-Champlin
Fred Pitts and Kelly Rinehart
Max Tachis and Roneet Aliza Rahamim
The roles of ANDREW and MELISSA will alternate.

Performance Schedule:
Friday, April 19 at 8:00 pm: Moriarty & Alvarez
Saturday, April 20 at 2:00 pm: Braverman & Ginsburg Braverman
Friday, April 26 at 8:00 pm: Murray & Evans
Saturday, April 27 at 2:00 pm: Mahle & Walter
Thursday, May 2 at 7:30 pm: Saenz & Rhone
Friday, May 3 at 8:00 pm: Alvarado & Moon-Yamamoto
Saturday, May 4 at 2:00 pm: Champlin & O’Bryon-Champlin
Friday, May 10 at 8:00 pm: Pitts & Rinehart
Saturday, May 11 at 2:00 pm: Tachis & Rahamim

Production Team

Director: Wynne Chan
Assistant Director: Daniel Cai
Stage & Production Manager: Kelly Weber Barraza
Set Design: Louis Stone-Collonge
Composer & Original Compositions: Howard Ho
Lighting Design: Sonya Wong
Costume Design: Sharon Peng
Historical and Cultural Consultant: Patrick Chew

Rating

PG-13 for adult language, dialogue and themes.

Runtime

Love Letters runs approx. 90 minutes with a 15 minute intermission.
The Chinese Lady runs approx. 90 minutes with a 5-10 minute drink delivery service interlude.

Press

"...The Pear definitely has a hit on its hands. One of the delights of doing [Love Letters] without rehearsals is that occasionally, even the actors laugh at something they are saying – or laugh at what the other says in response." - Tender “Love Letters” Features Real-Life Partners ~ Joanne Engelhardt, Aisle Seat Review.

"…might just be the best theater you will see all year. There was a standing ovation after the performance I attended, and I expect there will be one after every performance of this play... The Pear always adds its own unique touches that make the experience one-of-a-kind." ~ FIVE STARS FOR “THE CHINESE LADY” at the Pear Theatre in Mountain View - Jeryl Moy, Splash Magazines

~ Pear Theatre stages ‘The Chinese Lady’ and ‘Love Letters’: Two-person plays follow characters through the years - Karla Kane, Palo Alto Online

~ Pear Theatre’s ‘Love Letters’ and ‘The Chinese Lady’ explore tragedy and rebirth in women’s lives - Brandon Roth, Los Altos Town Crier