Audiences will have to look closely to find the similarities between the real-world situations in Qui Nguyen’s play “Vietgone” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” the animated fantasy movie he co-wrote with Adele Lim for Disney. But the common threads of stories rooted in Asian culture, strong female protagonists, martial arts action and comic book influences are just as present in this play loosely based on his own parents’ lives. Local Asian American theater companies Pork Filled Productions and SIS Productions copresent Nguyen’s “Vietgone” Aug.
9-24 at Theatre Off Jackson. Directed by Mimi Katano, with live music by Yuelan, “Vietgone” is the story of a Vietnamese couple who meet and fall in love in Arkansas after fleeing the fall of Saigon. “Vietgone” has been performed in Seattle before, at Seattle Rep in 2016.
After the spike in hate crimes perpetrated against Asian American elders during the pandemic, “Vietgone” felt even more relevant to SIS Productions’ executive director, Kathy Hsieh, because its young protagonists are today’s elders. “To be able to share their story on stage in a way that centers the relationships between people and does it with a huge sense of humor was really important,” Hsieh said. For Roger Tang, executive director of Pork Filled Productions, Nguyen is an inspiration.
One of PFP's first productions — the Shakespeare/zombie/martial arts mashup “Living Dead in Denmark,” in 2008 — was Nguyen’s Pacific Nor.