In Purple Cloud, three generations of Huangs deal with the many facets of their multiracial identities as they embark on a mythical journey from China to Minneapolis and back again — accompanied by four Jade pieces along the way. Through three intertwining stories, the Huang family navigates through the messy and beautiful business of acculturation: Grandpa Lee immigrates from Shanghai to America during World War II; his son Orville deals with his confusion as a first generation Asian American, taught to pass as white and unsure of his own blood; and his granddaughter fights for her Chinese-ness through a tattoo of a deer and the search for her true name.
About Jessica Huang
Jessica Huang is a multiracial, Minneapolis-based professional playwright, co-founder, producer and core writer of the Unit Collective, recipient of a 2014 Metropolitan Regional Arts’ Council’s Next Step Grant and a 2012 Many Voices Fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center. Her works have been developed and/or produced in the Twin Cities at Mu Performing Arts, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Redeye Theater, The Playwrights’ Center, Pangea World Theater and Pillsbury House Theatre, and nationally at 2nd Generation, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA), the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the Source Festival. Recently, her play Purple Cloud was nominated as one of the best plays written by female playwrights in the past year by LA-based group The Kilroys.
About Mu Performing Arts
Mu Performing Arts is the largest Asian American performing arts organization in the Midwest. Founded in 1992, Mu tells untold stories from the heart of the Asian American experience —presenting a fusion of traditional and contemporary artistic influences ranging from classics to up-and-coming voices in the Asian American community. Mu’s continuing goal, to give voice to the Asian American experience through theater and taiko, is achieved through mainstage productions, emerging artist support, and educational outreach programs. In 2011, Mu Performing Arts published a new anthology of plays through Temple University Press, Asian American Plays for a New Generation. Six of the seven plays included were commissioned and/or produced by Mu. Mu Performing Arts is a proud member of CAATA and the Twin Cities Theatres of Color Coalition.
CAATA presents the 2016 National Asian American Theater Conference & Festival (ConFest), a week of performances, panel discussions, plenary and breakout sessions, new play readings, parties, and networking. The 2016 ConFest is hosted by Oregon Shakespeare Festival from October 1-9. Visit caata.net for more details.