Lia Chang
Thom Sesma (Photo by Lia Chang)
Thom Sesma, Peter Kim, Andrew Cristi, Roarke Walker and Tony Campisi are featured in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of Julia Cho’s DURANGO. Performances are in the Playhouse’s Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre through October 19.
Widowed Korean immigrant Boo-Seng Lee (Thom Sesma) finds himself at a loss after being let go from the corporate job he has held for over 20 years as part of company-wide layoffs. It’s not a job he loved, but one that was part of his vision for achieving the American dream and ensuring his two sons achieve happiness and success, which, as for many first-generation immigrants, meant sacrificing his personal desires.
To the outside world, the Lee brothers look like the perfect Korean American sons: 21-year-old Isaac (Peter Kim) plans to be a doctor and has just come home from Hawaii, where he traveled for a medical school interview. His younger brother, Jimmy (Andrew Cristi, 13, is a champion swimmer with a bright future.
(l-r) Peter Kim portrays Isaac Lee, Andrew Cristi is Jimmy Lee and Thom Sesma is Boo-Seng Lee in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
Boo-Seng doesn’t tell his sons about his job loss when he returns home from work. Instead he decides to take them on a spur-of-the-moment weekend road trip to Durango, Colorado, to ride its historic railroad. Along the way, all three find themselves grappling with old memories and unhealed wounds. As tempers flare and secrets break open, the difference between who they are and who they’ve pretended to be threatens to tear the family apart.
Julia Cho’s plays include The Piano Teacher, The Winchester House, BFE, The Architecture of Loss, 99 Histories and Bay and the Spectacles of Doom. Honors include the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwriting Award, the Claire Tow Award for Emerging Artists and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award. Cho is a graduate of Amherst College and has degrees from UC Berkeley, NYU and The Juilliard School.
With sets by Kevin Judge, costumes by Anne Kennedy, lighting by Josh Epstein (Lighting Designer) and sound design by composer Ryan Rumery.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sundays.
Tickets for for DURANGO are $47-$57. For more information, call the Playhouse box office at 513/421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800/582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com.
Related Articles:
Spotlight on Shanghai Moon’s Thom Sesma
Leave a Comment
No comments yet.
