Boston Playwrights' Theatre Presents a Remarkable New Play - "Memorial" by Livian Yeh - An Absolute MUST SEE!

I just witnessed one of the finest new plays I have seen in many years.  "Memorial" will be playing for one more weekend at Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and it must be seen.  Playwright Livian Yeh is an MFA student in Boston University's Playwriting Program, and she is as precocious in the depth and breadth of her voice as are other award-winning members of the rising generation of young women and men who are writing for the stage: Branden Jacob-Jenkins, Ayad Akhtar, Annie Baker. Her story parallels in some ways the themes of this play.

Maya Lin was a 21-year-old Yale student of architecture when she submitted a design for a Vietnam veterans' memorial that was selected out of more than a thousand entries. Her simple and controversial design - a reflective granite wall containing the names of those who died in the Vietnam conflict - has become part of the fabric of the Mall in Washington, D.C., but the memorial was almost not constructed.  "Memorial" chronicles in a dramatized fashion the battles that raged behind the scenes and under the surface once the design had been awarded to Ms. Lin. Her innovative design concept was a simple black granite wall that would be reflective, causing those who visited the memorial to see themselves, to see the war, and to see the world in new ways.  In similar fashion, Ms. Yeh has constructed a work of art in "Memorial" that gives the audience ample opportunities to reflect - on the nature of war, its impact on victims and survivors, the proper role of memorials in a society, the tension between tradition and innovation, and the role of art in catalyzing conversation about important issues. This gifted playwright has erected a reflecting wall on the southern border of our consciousness and sensibilities.  And, unlike the wall being proposed by a candidate who shall remain nameless here, her wall unites rather than divides, includes rather then excludes. How timely and appropriate it is that in the current political climate in which racism, sexism, xenophobia are being etched onto the granite facade of our republic, along comes a young, female, Asian playwright who has crafted a play about another young, female, Asian artist who must overcome all of these prejudices to get her memorial built.

The inherent tensions in this story are established early in the play.  Maya (Amy Ward) is visited in her Yale dorm room by Wolf von Eckardt (Dale J. Young), an art and architecture critic who headed the memorial selection committee. Accompanying Mr. von Eckardt is Col. James Becker (John Kooi), a Vietnam veteran who headed the funding raising committee, and who vehemently opposes the selection of Ms. Lin's design. The other two characters in the play are esteemed architect, Hideo Sasaki (Jeff Song) and Maya's domineering mother, Julia Lin (Roxanne Morse).

Dale J. Young as Wolf von Eckardt
Amy Ward as Maya Lin
John Kooi as Colonel Becker
"Memorial" by Livian Yeh
A BU New Play Initiative Production
Through October 23rd
Boston Playwrights' Theatre
Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

As the action progresses, Ms. Lin finds herself at odds with each of the other characters at some point along the way. Should she compromise, or hold fast to the purity of her vision? She butts head with renowned architect, Hideo Sasaki, who offers a compromise that would break the deadlock between Congress and the Vietnam vets on the one side, and Maya's insistence that her design be built as she originally conceived it. Maya's mother interjects herself into the mix, wanting to protect her daughter. In a scene that is the emotional heart of this play, the action slows to a crawl as Colonel Becker makes an unannounced visit to Maya and her mother. The mother senses an opportunity to open a dialogue between the warring factions, and invites Col. Becker to join her and Maya for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. The ceremony involves many complex steps of pouring and washing and pouring and steeping and smelling and sipping.  It cannot be rushed.  Maya is furious, but the slow pace of the ceremony allows each person to reflect.  This slow moving scene also gives the audience an opportunity to reflect on what they have been experiencing up to this point in the play - to let the ideas and images steep. The insertion of this scene at this point in the action is a brilliant structural device. And in the scene, Ms. Morse as Maya's mother is the perfect blend of elegance and grace and steel in pressing home her agenda.

Amy Ward as Maya Lin

Roxanne Morse as Lulia Lin

John Kooi as Colonel Becker

"Memorial" by Livian Yeh

A BU New Play Initiative Production

Through October 23rd

Boston Playwrights' Theatre

Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

The wall is eventually built, but with the compromise that a more traditional statue of three soldiers is also erected on the periphery.  Maya feels defeated and does not even want to see her compromised design.  Caving in to pressure from her mother to visit the finished site, she bumps into Col. Becker, who finds himself, despite his strongest expectations, to be deeply moved by the memorial. He becomes transparent in sharing why he really fought so hard against the reflective wall. Mr. Kooi and Ms. Ward are particularly effective in this cathartic scene.

This excellent cast is directed with a deft hand by Kelly Gavin.  Mary Sader's set suggests a gently curving wall, emblematic of the fact that the building of Maya's wall was not a simple linear process. Lighting by Aja M. Jackson, Sound by Oliver Seagle, Costumes by Theona H. White draw us into the period in which the play is set, and punctuate the changing scenes and developing action.

The Vietnam Veterans' Memorial
The Reflective Surface

In the course of this play, each character is compelled to reflect, and as a result, undergoes some sort of transformation. Isn't that the function of great art?

This is a play that should be seen while it is here in Boston through October 23rd, and also demands a further life for a broad audience. I am already in the process of alerting some of my New York friends that this is a show they should consider producing. Get your tickets now, for if you do not, it may reflect badly on you! And remember the name of playwright, Livien Yeh.  You will see it one day on a marquee on Broadway.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre website

Enjoy!

Al