Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ming Peiffer’s uncompromising USUAL GIRLS is a raw, aggressive dissection of female sexuality (and racism), and it’s shattering theater

• By drediman
• December 21, 2018
• No Comments

Midori Francis in Ming Peiffer’s “Usual Girls”, courtesy of Roundabout Underground at The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Luckily, before heading out of the country for the holidays, I was able to catch one of the final performances of Roundabout Underground’s production of Usual Girls, playwright Ming Peiffer’s aggressively written and performed new play about female sexuality and racism now wrapping up performances at the Black Box Theatre at The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. The play tells the coming-of-age story of Kyeoung, a sexually precocious Korean-American girl as she turbulently navigates, over the years, her budding sexuality vis-á-vis her identity as a strong Asian American woman.

Much like that other play about race and sex currently running in New York, Jeremy O. Harris’s searing Slave Play at New York Theatre Workshop, Usual Girls is one angry, pissed off play. From the get-go, Kyeoung’s journey is fraught with obstacles (mostly of the patriarchal variety) – bullying boys, an abusive dad, mean girls, rape culture, racism, the list goes on. It’s clear that Ms. Peiffer has opted for an approach that gives you a visceral sense of Kyeoung’s howl-to-the-moon woes, perhaps at the consequence of a more measured, level-headed articulation of her experiences. In reality, not all humans with penises are jerks – but in all fairness, in Kyeoung’s eyes, they probably are. I suspect that we’re forced to see the world from her increasingly raging perspective is one of the things that makes Ms. Peiffer’s raw and uncompromising play so utterly potent.

Talented up-and-coming director Tyne Rafaeli has given Usual Girls a sleek, punchy production that skillfully creates momentum out of the play’s episodic structure. In the central role of Kyeoung, Midori Francis gives one of the most fearless performances I’ve seen thus far this season – in fact, the entire cast of nine, mostly women actresses (which includes the likes of the great Jennifer Lim) operate at a similar feverish pitch. What starts off as an hilarious performance basking in the mere fun and games of early childhood quickly and jarringly shifts to the tough realities of growing up not only as a woman, but also a person of color, in this country. Ms. Francis feels every heated moment of her character’s journey, ultimately leaving us with a performance that’s shattering. The sold-out production closes this weekend. However, I suspect, as with other accomplished Roundabout Underground alums (e.g., Speech and Debate, Bad Jews), Usual Girls will have a robust future life.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

USUAL GIRLS
Off-Broadway, Play
Roundabout Underground at the Black Box Theatre at The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 23