Howard Miller takes a look at Once Upon a (Korean) Time from Ma-Yi Theater Company:
Long long ago when tigers used to smoke, the Ma-Yi Theatre Company commissioned a new work by actor and first-time playwright Daniel K. Isaac, recently seen onstage in Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady at the Public Theater. I mention the altogether excellent The Chinese Lady because it, too, was a Ma-Yi production, and its director, Ralph B. Peña, is likewise helming the premiere of Isaac's own play, a potent mix of Korean wartime history, traditional fables, and the human capacity to survive a traumatic legacy. It is called Once Upon a (korean) Time, and it opens tonight in a gripping and imaginatively staged production at the La MaMa E.T.C. Ellen Stewart Theatre. |
