BNT’s play shows love and trauma
Contrasting red and blue hues painted the stage of Massman Theatre during the opening night of Brand New Theatre’s production of “The Bridge of Birds” Friday. The small forum would soon come alive with a larger-than-life and timely story on love and family as envisioned by director Violet Ko, a senior majoring in theater, and playwright Eden Treiman, a junior majoring in theater and narrative studies.
BNT’s first full-length production since the University’s return to in-person instruction, “The Bridge of Birds” takes a modern spin on a Korean folktale. Revolving around the holiday of Chilseok, the tale focuses on two lovers separated by their parents and the Milky Way Galaxy. Only allowed to see each other once a year but unable to cross the Milky Way, magpies form a bridge for the couple to cross after hearing their sorrowful cries. While the play is far from the original telling of Chilseok, the bridge of magpies inspired Treiman’s writing and the name of her play.
After the lights dim and spring back to life, the audience meets Helen (Mai Yang), who has survived the struggles in her life through fairytales such as Chilseok. Introducing the play with her monologue, Helen states, “There is a story that has been told for centuries. Millenia. One as old as the stars themselves. But, it’s changing.” As imagery of stars and birds cover the walls of the Massman behind her, Helen poses as the main narrator for the story, telling it once more in hopes that this time it will have a “happy ending.”
As the five-act play progresses, the audience meets Helen’s son, George (Henry Tsai), who comes off as the traditional first-generation kid. With dreams of success and hopefulness in returning the favor to his mother, George embarks to Los Angeles for opportunity. There, he meets Jenny (Kiana Fong), the daughter of Korean immigrants (Thomas Winter and Rebecca Ko) who run a dry cleaning store.
While Jenny and George do not get off on the right foot –– as George’s stereotypical Bay Area pretentious fuckboy characteristics are brilliantly depicted by Tsai’s acting –– the two grow closer as their playful exchanges turn into a deeper conversation about their greatest fears and insecurities.
More and more backstory unravels and the audience learns more about each character’s struggles. Constantly facing roadblock after roadblock, Jenny, like many of us when overwhelmed by the weight of the world, crashes down to earth after the high of young love quickly dissipates. Forced to choose between her lover and her family, Jenny feels a sense of responsibility for her parents yet continues to yearn for true love and freedom. However, her progression from youth to motherhood not only inspires but questions a key part of life — “What is love?” — a question that both Jenny and the audience can only answer themselves.
Put simply, a lot goes down in the two-hour play. The audience appeared to have visceral reactions to the action on stage and the actors, too, fed off of the crowd’s energy as they exchanged words. Each table slam, tear and outburst only better illustrated each character’s anguish and internal lament.
“The reason you have that kind of reaction is because the audience is so invested in the story, in the characters, that they have a visceral and emotional response to it, and that’s always a good sign,” said Winter, a senior majoring in economics and theatre.
Ko, a sophomore majoring in theatre, perfectly plays a sympathetic but annoyingly strict Korean mother who simply wants the best for Jenny, but in wanting to protect her daughter, cannot help but focus on the bad. On the other hand, Winter as Jenny’s father provides great comedic timing in several scenes and actively breaks down stressful situations earlier in the story. Nonetheless, Winter’s character slowly succumbs to the stress and anger of failing to protect his family after George destroys their legacy. However, in accepting the limits of their ability to control those around them, we come to understand that there was no villain in the story after all.
Winter said the role, even when Jenny’s father came to his lowest point, still was “redeemable” in the end.
“We see in the show … how good intentions can lead to bad consequences,” Winter said. “It’s just that there are unfortunate circumstances and unfortunate consequences of their actions that make people lose their ability to choose.”
Nods to Korean culture are also present throughout the play, such as Jenny and her mom wearing a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress, during Jenny’s wedding, and the couple paying respects to Jenny’s parents during Korean New Year with sebae, a bowing ritual done by the younger for their elders to bring luck and happiness into their lives.
Opening night coincided with USC’s kickoff celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, and the production marks the first instance of an all-Asian cast in a USC student production. Ko said that this, along with the casting, made sure the story revolved around Asian culture.
“There are cultural elements that we did have to share with the cast who don’t share the same culture. But overall, it was a very mutually respectful environment, and I think we all learned a lot through that process,” Ko said.
The play encapsulates a type of immigrant experience that many Asian Americans can find comfort in, one that shows the nature of overbearing, controlling parents’ desire for their child’s success but disillusionment with their child’s happiness. Treiman spoke about writing parental roles into the production, noting previous stereotypes or even personal resentment that some may have against their own family for misunderstandings.
“[My parents] are people who are trying their hardest to understand me, much as I’m trying to understand them,” Treiman said. “It’s like, ‘I love my parents. I love my family.’ It’s just that some days, I’m like, ‘I wish you wouldn’t say that sometimes.’”
While centered around the Asian American experience, nearly everyone could relate to or empathize with this notion. We can all relate to the struggle of trying to discover our purpose in life.
Students, family members and theater enthusiasts alike all gasped at heart-wrenching one-liners and chatted between scenes, making the Massman feel more like a home than a theater. It felt as if the entire audience was your friend group, all sharing a particular anger when George burned down the family dry cleaner and joy when Jenny stood up for her true beliefs. It felt like we were all tied to one another through our mutual understanding that life is complicated and at the end of the day, we can only control ourselves. One roller coaster of emotional turmoil, “Bridge of Birds” makes you ponder who you are and who you come from.
Rating: 5/5