Playbill UniverseReviews: Read What Critics Think of the World Premiere of Once Upon a (Korean) Time
Ma-Yi Theater Company presents the new work by Daniel K. Isaac, which opened at La MaMa August 31.
By
Leah Putnam
September 01, 2022
Sasha Diamond, David Lee Huynh, Jon Norman Schneider, Teresa Avia Lim, Jillian Sun, and David Shih in Once Upon A (Korean) TimeRichard Termine
Reviews are in for Daniel K. Isaac’s Once Upon a (Korean) Time, a world premiere play currently running at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre. The Ma-Yi Theater Company production began previews August 23, opened August 31, and is set to run through September 18.
Isaac's playwriting debut combines traditional Korean fables with the horrors of the Korean War, creating a theatrical analog for experiences of the Korean American diaspora. Set across swathes of time, the play traces inherited trauma through generations—and the methods each one uses to manage it.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
Starring in the cast are Sonnie Brown, Sasha Diamond, David Lee Huynh, Teresa Avia Lim, Jon Norman Schneider, David Shih, and Jillian Sun with Daniel K. Isaac and Sami Ma as understudies.
Obie-winner Ralph B. Peña directs, helming the creative team which features scenic designer Se Oh, costume designer Phuong Nguyen, lighting designer Oliver Wason, projection designer Yee Eun Nam, sound designer Fabian Obispo, and props designer Alexander Wylie. Alyssa K. Howard serves as production stage manager.
The play by Emil Weinstein is based on the memoir by Abby Chava Stein, an openly transgender woman directly descended from Hasidic Judaism's founder, the Baal Shem Tov.
If you like family dramas with a refreshingly nuanced lens and a fair share of laughs, this new play from Tony winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is for you.