Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Holding on to fast fading cultural identities: Conjuring the past in MEET THE CARTOZIANS, LAOWANG, and A BODEGA PRINCESS REMEMBERS

• By drediman
• December 17, 2025
• No Comments

This fall, a fascinating common concern of several Off-Broadway plays has been the gradual erasure of cultural identities within the melting pot that is, for better or worse, America. In occasionally heartbreaking and sobering acts of theatrical remembrances, each of these new works conjured — in painstaking detail — fast disappearing pockets of memory vis-à-vis the largely gentrified state of today’s society.

MEET THE CARTOZIANS
Second Stage Theater
Through December 14

In Second Stage Theater’s Off-Broadway production of Meet the Cartozian (RECOMMENDED) at the Pershing Square Signature Center, playwright Talene Monahon has written a work that endeavors to resonate in equal parts as captivating historical fiction, as well as sharp social satire. Of the three shows discussed in this piece, Monahon’s play strikes me as the one that most actively juxtaposes the once unified cultural identity of a people — in this case, manifested in a proud Armenian American family during the 1920s — with the largely petty, convoluted, and self-serving concerns of their present day descendants (seemingly inspired by the similar-sounding Kardashian family). While the historically astute 1920s-set first act lands with quiet power that had me wholly captivated, the satirical characterizations and bickering dialogue of the second act came across as somewhat forced. As directed with a fine-tooth comb by David Cromer and acted with incisive precision by a finely tuned ensemble cast (as always, a particular standout was two-time Tony-winner Andrea Martin, one of our most fabulous working character actresses), the play on the whole effectively mines the tricky notion of cultural heritage when what your forebears once stood and fought for — often at devastating personal cost to them — no longer form the core of one’s identity.

LAOWANG: A CHINATOWN KING LEAR
Primary Stages
Through December 14

Then there was Alex Lin’s Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED), a Primary Stages production that was recently seen at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters. As indicated by its title, the play is adapted loosely from Shakespeare’s monumental tragedy, transposing Lear onto A-Poh, an aging Chinese American woman. As the play begins, the strong-willed matriarch makes the decision to sell her once prominent restaurant located in the rapidly changing neighborhood that is New York’s Chinatown, causing her three concerned (mostly for the wrong reasons) grandchildren to rush to her side. But as her wits increasingly elude her and she sinks into dementia, vital memories from her past — her family’s painful immigration process, the establishment of the family restaurant — chaotically collide with the stark realities of her culturally desolate present, affecting the outcome of her plans for the restaurant. Unfortunately, Lin has given much of his play with an overly caustic tone, resulting in scenes that distance audiences with their cartoonish quality, despite the valiant efforts of Joshua Kahan Brody’s sensory-heavy staging and a passionate cast (thankfully, in the central role of A-Poh, Wai Ching Ho was grounded in a genuinely harrowing performance as an elder stateswoman losing her grasp on reality).

A BODEGA PRINCESS REMEMBERS LA FIESTA DE LOS REYES MAGOS, 1998
Ensemble Studio Theatre
Through December 14

The slightest but perhaps most endearing of the bunch was A Bodega Princess Remembers La Fiesta de los Reyes Magos, 1998 (RECOMMENDEED), theater artist Iraisa Ann Reilly autobiographical solo memoir presented at the intimate Hell’s Kitchen digs of Ensemble Studio Theatre. Staged in an immersive and interactive manner, the piece is inspired by home videos — recorded by Reilly’s father — of the 1990s Christmastime celebrations of the Latine community of Egg Harbor City, NJ, where she grew up. More specifically, these videos captured the festivities of the annual Fiesta de los Reyes Magos (or “Feast of the Three Kings”), which took place in the modest basement cafeteria of a local Catholic elementary school. In a heartfelt tribute to the family and tight-knit neighborhood of her youth, Reilly and the audience nostalgically reconstruct these holiday gatherings, in the process conjuring and animating a bevy of family, friends, and her own former self in an endearing act of communal theater-making. Filled with warm-hearted storytelling and genuine good cheer, A Bodega Princess Remembers finds Reilly boldly yet lovingly reclaiming fast fading memories by essentially reliving joyous moments of her youth.