It is always with trepidation that I go to the theater when I know that a dear friend is in the cast. I can’t stop thinking thoughts like, “What if it stinks? What if she/he stinks? What if it’s cringe-producing?” Not this time — phew! Attending the opening night of “Pang Spa” at the Atwater Village Theater was a glorious experience; I left the theater with more evidence of how good Los Angeles Theater can be.
The courtyard of the Atwater Village Theater, located aptly enough in Atwater Village, is open and welcoming. Plentiful tables, chairs and lighting are provided for pre-theater snacking, chatting and program perusal (via a QR code on one’s iPhone). Another amenity important to anyone in Los Angeles to know about in advance is their free, ample and easy parking!
“Pang Spa” playwright David Johann Kim takes a multitude of threads and weaves them into a tight tapestry of tragedy and comedy: aging, dementia, a broken health care system, sexual assault in the military, abortion, a housing crisis, and the LA riots in the wake of the Rodney King/LAPD verdict. Despite needing a bit of trimming in the first act, Kim takes on a complex Korean-American story and makes it universal. The Pangs are the micro; the backdrop of Los Angeles, racism and violence is the macro. Mr. Kim deftly knits the personal and collective together.
If you didn’t know or don’t remember, four white police officers faced criminal charges for beating King on camera. Everyone in LA saw the footage, and there was no question about what happened. What was actually on trial was the “why.” Martin Luther King famously said, “A riot is the language of the unheard,” which, in the case of Black citizens and their relationship with the LAPD, has been one rife with violence, deaf ears, outright belligerence and turned backs. It was foreseeable that the acquittal would light fires — emotional and physical.
A significant portion of Los Angeles’ Koreans were involved in the background and then foreground of that violence and property destruction. Many new immigrants from Korea could afford to own stores in the historically Black neighborhoods of South Central LA. It is a Korean story that “Pang Spa” adeptly portrays in a profound evening of theater.
Having lost almost everything in the riots, the Pang family lives in an apartment building they own. However, to obtain the medical care they need for Tae and Avy (Mr. and Mrs. Pang), both of whom have dementia, the family arranges to have a trusted tenant own the building on paper. The Pangs’ son, Daniel, has given up his dream of acting to take care of them. The play opens with Dora, a mysterious young woman who enters the apartment courtyard. Later on, her identity will be revealed in an emotional wallop of a scene. The play’s title comes from the improvised spa constructed in the backyard, where secrets come out and healing can begin.
Reena Dutt’s direction is excellent. She pulls the best from her six-member cast and skillfully uses a set that creates the courtyard of three apartments in the round. The set, lighting and sound designs are just right. Forgive me for not listing all the names of the Chalk Repertory Theatre artists who made this production happen; I need to get to the cast.
Daniel Pang is exceptionally played by Ben Carroll! He’s saddled with two parents with varying degrees of dementia while self-medicating with whisky to deal with the untimely self-inflicted death of his brother, David. Then, we have a mysterious and furtive visit by the “mystery woman” Dora, played by Jasmine Kimiko. What a leading role Dora is! For me, someone whose mothership is theater, so many of us female-identified actors would have given a body part to play a part like that. Ms. Kimiko pulls off a nearly impossible assignment: embody both the raw youth and maturity emblematic of an adult child of an alcoholic. After having punched her commanding officer in the face, she’s waiting to hear if she’ll be reinstated in the army. OK then! See what I mean by a multitude of threads? Adding to the woven textures are the idiosyncratic and beautifully rendered neighbors, Mrs. Weiss (Dian Kobayashi) and Yong (Edward Hong).
What about the eponymous Pangs, mom and dad? The father, Tae Pang (Hahn Cho), is deep into his dementia and has been given toy guns so he can shoot the Japanese and Chinese he is convinced are coming to get him. Mr. Cho is convincing and also expresses the “all filters off” aspect of a few men I personally know who see women as a target of their libidos. Ewwww … and true. Leaving my dear friend for last, Christopher Callen plays Avy Pang, a caucasian woman who married Tae after the Korean War. As a counterpoint to Tae, her dementia comes and goes, and as a result, she is utterly charming and sweet. I was not cringing — my initial fear — and I was deeply moved by my friend’s performance. Bravo to all, and brava to Christopher!
I encourage you, wherever you live, to discover where Atwater Village is and try to see “Pang Spa.” You could even go to Koreatown for a meal beforehand to celebrate our metropolitan diversity. Los Angeles County has the largest population of Koreans living outside of South Korea — the most prominent enclave in America — and that’s also worth celebrating.
Ellen Snortland teaches creative writing online and has a few rare openings in her classes. She can be reached at ellen@beautybitesbeast.com to get more information regarding tuition and schedule. New! If you’d like to access Ellen’s other writing, visit https://ellenbsnortland.substack.com and consider subscribing, free or paid.
