CHAT’s Youth Leadership Group (YLG), the same youth that brought you Hmonglish Musical (which you can still catch) has created an entirely new play, from scratch, in a matter of weeks. Let by Sun Mee Chomet of Mu Performing Arts, these youth shine brighter than ever in the play called
Family Portrait: Love and Saving Face.
The characters, portrayed in a slightly larger than life, caricature style, are the most honest portrayal of your “typical” family members brought together by any family event:
the overbearing, lovable and funny mother/ auntie; the hilarious father/ uncle who covers up his worry and pain about his lot in life; the single mother who plays off the severity of her situation in order to hold it together; the lost lovers, unsure of the gem that they hold in their hands; the overly made up cousin who needs to find her inner beauty; the nerdy/ creepy (soon to be ex) boyfriend; and of course, the drunk and annoying cousin. YLG members show off their variety of talents by still tying in singing (via the karaoke machine) and breakdancing.
Watching each family member try to cover over their need for real love in order to save face made me laugh, made me cry, but most of all made me feel an intense amount of love for each person. Absolutely the best bilingual Hmong/ English theater being created – organically and spontaneously. This play is the best example of what theater was really intended to do for an audience and for the performers.
The youth have only had the opportunity to perform this piece two times at the Lowry Lab – which was, unfortunately, very minimally announced, but a plan is in the works for another short run at the Capri Theatre in Minneapolis for a weekend in mid-October.
Please check in again for the final information – or sign up for our enewsletter, CHATScoop, on our homepage to get notices about the show and other CHAT events.
2010 YLG members in Family Portrait include (from left to right in the photo): Johnny Junhia Vang, Billy Bee Xiong, Chue Vang, Luchie Lee, Jennifer Yang, Jospehine Yang, and Mimo the Great.
