Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The mildly satiric CHINESE REPUBLICANS continues Alex Lin’s investigation into the costs of assimilation

• By drediman
• February 27, 2026
• No Comments

Last night, Roundabout Theatre Company’s world premiere production of Chinese Republicans opened Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre. In short, Alex Lin’s new play is a mildly satiric look into the cut-throat world of investment banking from the perspective of three generations of Chinese women who are employed at the same fictitious bulge bracket firm. More specifically, the play depicts three bankers — each of whom have had to make big sacrifices to ascend in a white male-dominated industry — as they attempt to groom Katie, a fresh-faced Chinese American woman for banking greatness.

Like the playwright’s Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear — which was also produced Off-Broadway this season at 59E59 Theaters courtesy of Primary Stages — the play is most effective as a study of the compromises immigrants have had to make in order to acclimate to American society and the resulting pockets of culture — now fast disappearing — that such efforts have spawned. However, like Matthew Libby’s Data at the Lucile Lortel, it’s somewhat less convincing as an accurate and nuanced depiction of corporate America. Indeed, the scenes involving banking lingo don’t quite ring with authenticity, and its presentation of toxic gender politics at the workplace could benefit from subtlety. Overall, I wish that the somewhat predictable Chinese Republicans was more of a full on satire like Lauren Yee’s inspired Mother Russia, which also opened this week at Signature Theatre.

The Roundabout production has been smoothly directed by Chay Yew on an efficient turntable set by Wilson Chin. Yew has also elicited some vivid performances from his cast of five. Particularly fine are Katie’s three mentors at the bank. As played by Jodi Long, Jennifer Ikeda, and Jully Lee, they bring force and vivacity to their performances that suggest women who have had to fight harder and bolder to stake some sort of claim at the table. Ikeda is especially affecting as a woman whose personal compromises have finally caught up to her. As Katie, the immensely likable Anna Zavelson brings her considerable ingenue charm to the role.

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CHINESE REPUBLICANS
Off-Broadway, Play
Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels Theatre
1 hour, 35 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 5