What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1490954
6 WHAT'S UP! JANUARY 29-FEBRUARY 4, 2023 Kim's Continued From Page 5 Karen Tsen Lee plays Umma, the matriarch of the family, and also shares the immigrant experience. She was born and raised in New York City of a first generation immigrant family from China and Taiwan. "My family started a Chinese restaurant called the Flower Drum," she explains. "As a way to 'drum' up business, we started performing during August Moon Festival and Chinese New Year. We were the performers, crew, master of ceremonies, and PR! Chinese dinner theater. On the off times, we were the not-so-glamorous coat check, cashier and hostess. "Umma (mother) and Appa (father), like my real parents, came to Canada to build a new life," Lee says. "This is the hardest thing, to move from a country with a different language, survive, and create a successful business. The dream [is] to build a life for not only the first generation but for the next." "The biggest challenge is making the audience see that these characters have the same struggles as any other family — disappointments, fighting, jealousy, familial relationships that are as complicated and as loving as their own," concludes Eusebio. "The genius of Ins Choi's work is that he's giving you these deep life lessons delivered in humor. I hope that people walk away thinking, 'Man, everybody's got problems, but we can get through it with some grace and laughter — together.'" Karen Tsen Lee and Greg Watanabe star in "Kim's Convenience," the play on which the hit Netflix series was based. It's on stage through Feb. 19 at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville. (Courtesy Photo/Wesley Hitt for T2)