Korean-American Playwright Taps Childhood Memories At Luna Stage

WEST ORANGE, NJ — What’s it like to grow up as a Korean-American in suburban Pennsylvania? Get a glimpse into one playwright’s experience at “Soo Jin Pretty Nail (and more!),” now showing at Luna Stage in West Orange.

The darkly comic, interactive experience is the brainchild of writer and performer Susan Hyon, who drew inspiration from her childhood as the youngest of four “unhappy Korean-American children” living in suburban Pennsylvania.

The play – which runs until Oct. 7 – is part of Luna Stage’s American Voices Series. Performances are Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m., and Mondays at 7 p.m. General admission tickets are $20 and are available at LunaStage.org or by calling OvationTix, at 866-811-4111.

Here’s how the theater describes the performance piece, which is directed by David Skeist:

“Meet Soo Jin and Susan. Susan is the little engine that could pull herself out of a crappy small-town trainwreck only to speed headlong into another of her own making. And another. And another. And yet somehow she keeps chugging along, accumulating scars and the stories that go with them. Soo-Jin is like that Korean exchange student who introduced everyone to Hello Kitty, Keropi, and cute pencils. Upon hearing of Susan's life as a new mom (finally!), Soo Jin appears, ready for a baby shower. Fresh off the boat (and out of the plastic surgeon’s chair), Soo Jin regales the audience with the virtue of beauty. She prays that Susan will maintain her youthful looks in the face of parenthood. Soo Jin Pretty Nail (and more!) is a play, a stand-up routine, a confession, and a therapy session that will probably make you feel better about your life, the world, and a good old-fashioned eye-lift. Soo Jin will talk about light things that will make you feel heavy, and Susan will talk about heavy things that make you feel light.”

Luna Stage shared the following discussion questions with Hyon.

Is Soo Jin Pretty Nail (and more!) really auto-biographical? Is there a real Soo Jin? If so, has she seen the show?

Soo Jin will see the show…my Korean name is Soo Jin.

Has your Korean American experience influenced you as a writer, performer, artist?

It has influenced me completely. It’s not necessarily that I am or feel 50% Korean and 50% American. And, it’s not unlike other children of immigrants born in the U.S., I imagine. You are fully American in the sense [that] English is your first/main language, and the toys you wanted were the toys that all of the more American-looking kids wanted. But then society sees you as “other” (especially if you live in a provincial town full of mostly white people), and weird things happen at home and you don’t have anyone to be a sounding board. At least this was part of my growing up experience. And what I write and perform has a lot to do with my looking back at how I developed and undeveloped and was and am under-developed and over-developed as a human being, given the circumstances of my family and childhood and just who I am, essentially, the karma that has been embodied by me in this lifetime.

What is it like to play two characters at the same time? Is it therapeutic or mind-blowing or...?

Quite satisfying.

What would you like audience members to take away from their time with Susan and Soo Jin?

I’m an uptight yogi and as I go inward and try to share my interior life, I hope to inspire people to pause and go inside a bit, too. In these times, the only salve for our battered souls is to spend time alone, reflect, be bored (as opposed to constantly entertained), and work a bit more rigorously on our humanity. The paradox is that by doing so, I believe we each will not feel so alone and disconsolate, but instead, we will feel connected with other humans just a little bit more.

What inspired you to create Soo Jin Pretty Nail (and more!)?

Director David Skeist and I have had a long-running joke that started when we met in grad school (Columbia MFA Acting) that I should write a one-woman show and that he should direct it—despite the fact that I wasn’t a writer and he wasn’t a director…. The first experiment of me performing my own stuff was at Dixon Place. I had spent several weeks trying to find a coffee shop to just vomit out everything I was going through during that (difficult) time in my life. Everywhere I went (in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn), I couldn’t be comfortable or find a quiet corner because everywhere I went seemed to also occupy pregnant women with their babies and SUV-style strollers. It was all I could write about. And then I showed up at Dixon Place with no script, but with a lot of theories and upset about racism in this country, and the deaths of Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile.... And then I had the chance to present the show at Baltimore Theatre Project, and David said he'd direct me and create a more sculpted, repeatable piece.

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