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话剧《海外剩女》(English Title Where Am I)

The worldpremiere of the drama (话剧)of the same name as the book by the author Xi Zhang  (張西who also wrote and directedthe drama)   took place on 10/10/2015 in Boston. If you just look at the  Chinese title, then it is easy to think that this is  about the trials and tribulations of romances of Chinese women  immigrants in contemporary USA. But this is only a partial truth. The drama really covers the history of Chinese America (1979-present)and a kaleidoscope of the lives of  various  Chinese Americans in the country from a mainland immigrant’s view. In  fact by appropriately  inserting  a couple of cast characters, the author even  reached back to the 1940s. She also was brave enough to hint at some darker side of the current Chinese  American culture which may be lost on the standing room only  and  appreciative audience. One may criticize some inadequacies  of the 100% amateur actors, but as someone who actually lived through this period (1950-date), the drama touched me  strongly   and deeply. I admired the  author’s  perception  of Chinese America and cannot help but think of the similar book and movie “The Joy Luck Club” whichcovers a slightly  different  period of Chinese  American history from a  native born Chinese American  viewpoint. My best wishes to the author/director for her success.

Note added 10/15/2015 Thanks to 胡其萍女士翻译。Here is the Chinese translation

话剧《海外剩女》10月10日在波士顿全球首演，这部话剧的导演张西也是这本书的作者。如果你只是看这本书的中文名字，你也许会很容易想到这本书是关于中国女性移民到美国的考验和磨难。但其实这只是本书一部分的内容。这本书覆盖了1979年以后华裔美国人的历史，从一个中国大陆女性的角度讲述了各种不同华裔美国人的生活方式。而且，通过巧妙地插入了一对老夫妻这个角色，使得对于华裔美国人生活的讲述甚至可以往前追溯到上个世纪40年代。作者还很勇敢地触碰了华裔美国人文化一些黑暗的方面，不过很可能被群情高涨的观众们忽略了。

也许有人会评论演员们都是业余水平，但是对于我这个从上个世纪50年代就生活在这个群体的人来说，这部话剧深深地打动了我。我非常欣赏作者对于华裔美国人独特的视角，忍不住会想起另外一部同样性质的书籍和电影《喜福会》，它从一个本土出生的华裔美国人的角度讲述了华裔美国人这个群体另外一个时期的生活方式。

祝贺本书作者/本话剧导演取得了巨大的成功。