CHUANG Stage and Seoulful Productions present ‘Did You Eat (밥 먹었니)?’ Written and performed by Zoë Kim. Directed by Chris Yejin. Choreography by Christopher Shin. Set and Costume Design by Szu-Fen Chen. Sound Design by Katie Kuan-Yu Chen. Lighting Design by Ari Kim. Projection Design by Michi Zaya. At Boston Center for the Arts, Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, through November 30, 2024.
By Linda Chin
As we transition into colder and darker winter weather and approach the holiday season and its accompanying triggers (stress, travel, grief, family dynamics, food, lack of belonging, anyone?), being in a room with other compassionate and kind humans can be an antidote to loneliness. In that respect, the timing of CHUANG Stage and Seoulful Productions’ world premiere of the new solo show Did You Eat?( 밥 먹었니 ?), stunningly penned and performed by Asian American storyteller Zoë Kim, couldn’t have been more perfectly planned. At the Black Box Theater in the depths of the Boston Center for the Arts, Kim shares her life journey from birth to now, transporting us to places and spaces in Korea and the US that have felt unsafe, while taking audiences on a deep dive into the complexities of identity, love, and family.
Kim shows remarkable stamina, resilience and bravery in her performance. The Black Box theater space is quiet and still, save for moments when the audience responds to one of the six people (including her child self) she describes/gives voice to/physically portrays with laughter, tears, and gasps, e.g. her grandmother’s delight when she sings, her mother’s persistent helplessness, her father’s provocative threats, her parents’ continuing to express their disappoint that she wasn’t a boy.
The audience is fully engaged throughout the 75 minute running time, a testament to Zoë Kim’s natural acting skills and classical training and Chris Yejin’s deft direction and staging. Credit for supporting the storytelling is also due to Christopher Shin’s mesmerizing choreography (I would have liked to see even more movement) and Katie Kuan-Yu Chen’s consistently solid sound design (which if not consistent and solidly executed can take you out of the show and make the most professional of productions go south very quickly). Szu-Fen Chen’s simple yet elegant set (those diaphanous backdrops!) and costume design (Zoë’s colorful overalls!), Ari Kim’s evocative lighting and Michi Zaya’s projection design – particularly the chalkboard scrawls in Korean and English, sometimes written in a halting hand, other times “shouting” in upper case, were particularly effective and felt intimate and immersive but haunting.
Kim’s physical acting prowess also contributes to the audience’s response. Our minds are in disbelief; our hearts break, and our bodies recoil when her father becomes physically abusive. We sit on the edge of or occasionally slump in (out of despair) our seats before rising to our feet for a well-deserved standing ovation.
In my experience, gratitude and mental well-being also have a strong connection. After the opening night performance, Kim came out to meet and greet family and friends. Still shaken by her tour-de-force performance and moved by Did You Eat? ( 밥 먹었니 ?)’s resonance on my life, I wanted to give her a big hug and sprinkle maternal magic fairy dust on her for good luck.
Did You Eat? ( 밥 먹었니 ?) is CHUANG Stage (Boston’s Asian American theatre company) and Seoulful Productions first co-production.
CHUANG is pronounced like “torn”, meaning to begin, to initiate, to start, and to create in Mandarin Chinese. My NY Times puzzle brain (Wordle) thinks of Chuang as “Can Hug”, hence my remarks that this co-production by the two companies can hug and fill your soul. If you have 75 minutes to spare (the length of time of an extended massage, brisk fall walk, or therapy session), I do recommend Zoë Kim’s ‘Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) for a similar meditative and healing effect – potentially at a lower price point. Besides, tickets are pay-as-you-wish, but an experience that can hug and fill your soul is priceless. For tickets, go to: https://bostonarts.org/event/did-you-eat
