"The Heart Sellers" at Guthrie Theater

The final play of the Guthrie's 2023-2024 season in their proscenium theater was the Pulitzer Prize-winning play English, about a group of students in an English class in Iran, preparing to become immigrants and facing all of the challenges that entails. Currently on the proscenium stage is a play that serves as a wonderful companion piece, telling another piece of the immigrant story. The new play The Heart Sellers (by Lloyd Suh, author of the brilliant play The Chinese Lady seen at Open Eye last fall) is about two women newly immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea and the Philippines. One lonely Thanksgiving day, they find a surprising and revelatory friendship in this two-hander that's funny and real and relatable and moving. We all come from immigrants (except for those people indigenous to this land), some more recently than others, but it always requires a leaving behind of valuable things (home, culture, family, language) in order to pursue a better quality of life (safety, security, opportunity). These two women embody that conflict in a palpable way, and it's both heart-breaking and heart-warming. See The Heart Sellers at the Guthrie Theater through January 25.

The title of the play is drawn from the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act, which the program reminds us was a bill that focused on "opening U.S. immigration to non-European nations," the result of which "greatly shifted the demographics of America." The story plays out in real time on Thanksgiving of 1973 with two women whose husbands immigrated (thanks to this bill) to continue their studies in a residency program at the local hospital. Vivacious Luna, from the Philippines, invites an initially reserved Jane, from South Korea, to her apartment after spotting her shopping at the grocery story on Thanksgiving day. Both come from cultures with traditional gender roles, and it was the '70s, so the women had little to do but wait for their husbands to come home. Speaking tentatively in English (neither's first language), they begin to bond over their similar life stories. As they drink wine and eventually change into "home clothes" (aka PJs), the conversations gets a little deeper as the women mourn past traumas and imagine their futures. Nothing much happens over the course of the 90-minute story, other than watching the birth of a beautiful friendship.

Jane (Juyeon Song) and Luna (Jenna Agbayai) get silly
(photo by Dan Norman)

This play was produced at The Huntington in Boston a year ago, and the cast and much of the creative team return for this production. Both the playwright and director May Adrales are children of immigrants, which brings a vital feeling of authenticity to the play. As does the way the characters speak (thanks to dialect coach Joy Lanceta Coronel), Luna with a Filipino accent but speaking quite fast and fluently, Jane in a South Korean accent that's more hesitant and broken, but finding her way as her comfort with the friendship grows. This specific use of language reminds me of English, and how we become different people when speaking different languages; it's challenging to be one's full true self in a non-native language. The conversation between the women feels so real and natural, even in (or perhaps because of) its awkward moments, misunderstandings, and pauses.

Both members of the returning cast are just delightful, giving authentic and lived-in performances, with a genuine feeling of gradually warming friendship between them (their whispering and laughing together during curtain call speaks to what looks like a real-life friendship). The set also feels authentic, a shabby but homey studio apartment with so many fun '70s touches (the orange Tupperware! the knitted afghan on the couch!). The apartment has no walls, allowing us to see the wall of apartments behind it (also reminiscent of English). The characters are decked out in fun '70s era fashion, Jane in a more conservative patterned dress and sweater, Luna in groovy purple corduroy bell-bottoms. (Scenic design by Wilson Chin, costume design by Junghyun Georgia Lee.)

The image on the program is a great representation of this show, and of the immigrant experience: pumpkin pie with chopsticks. Embracing a new culture while holding on to your roots and the culture of home. And a meaningful new friendship to help these two women from different countries find that delicate balance.

See The Heart Sellers at the Guthrie through January 25 to find out the beautifully tragic meaning behind the title, and you might find that they've captured a piece of your heart as well.