Purple Cloud
Synopsis
When you’re hapa, you know deep down you’re greater than the sum of your many parts. In Purple Cloud, three generations of Huangs deal with the multifacets of their multiracial identities as—accompanied by four Jade Pieces—they embark on a mythical journey from China to Minnesota and back again. Through three intertwining stories, the Huang family acculturates: Grandpa Lee emigrates from Shanghai to America during the Sino-Japanese War; his son Orville deals with his confusion as a first generation Asian American; and his granddaughter fights for her Chinese-ness through the search for her true name.
Quotes/Reviews
“a thoughtful and ultimately universal exploration of what it means to belong.” Lisa Brock, Star Tribune
“a thoroughly entertaining and moving work.” Ed Huyck, City Pages
“a beautiful play, with the rare kind of script that strikes you instantly with the excellence of its writing.” Compendium
“one of the most powerful and moving scenes I’ve witnessed in theater. It pulled together the various threads of the play in the ways that only true art can. By the play’s end, I realized I had just witnessed something unprecedented, something—contrary to Hewitt’s generalizing and unfocused eye—entirely new: The birth of a hapa tradition.” David Mura, Op Ed, Pioneer Press
Production HIstory
Asian American Theatre Project, Stanford CA 2017
Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists, Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2016 (remount of Mu production)
PREMIERE: Mu Performing Arts, Minneapolis MN 2015
Awards
Susan Smith Blackburn Nominee
Kilroy List Honorable Mention
Source Festival finalist
