Lloyd Suh’s ‘The Heart Sellers’ @ Amphibian Stage
—Jan Farrington
LUNA: Yes we went to Disneyland! Our honeymoon. Sorta kinda. We got married in the Philippines just before we came to America, so he said pick a place, anyplace, we will go early, of course I said Disneyland!
JANE: Wow.
LUNA: I know! But of course I mean we didn’t go inside, tickets are expensive I don’t have to tell you that, but anyway we got to be there! Right there, you know? Just outside of everything, and we could see almost all of it. The train and the hotel, the big mountain and the water slide, for real, we could almost see everything.
Silence.
A “good” play will engage you with its sense of reality and truth, its compelling and distinctive dialogue, or its memorable characters.
It’s rare to find all these things together in one show, on one stage.
Amphibian Stage’s regional premiere of Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers is that and more—a dazzling, sobering, often hilarious play disguised as a kitchen-sink story set in a nothing-special city apartment. (The stage design, by Zhuosi “Joyce” He, does the job to perfection.)
Heart Sellers visibly moved a sold-out opening night audience near to tears, surprised us with sudden laughs, and opened our minds wide, to new thoughts about the people who join us in our home country. The two immigrant women of the story are coming from “a bad time” in their home countries to another “bad time” in the America of 1973. They think America might be a “big adventure” for them—or “the opposite.”
And right now, they are lost, caught between memories of their homes and family in the Philippines and South Korea, and the daily struggle to find ways to “fit in” in the U.S.
Heart Sellers is directed with great instincts and insightful detail by Shyama Nithiananda, and stars Olivia de Guzman as Luna and Tara Park as Jane—two young wives who have followed their med-student husbands to a mid-sized (and unnamed) U.S. city. Both arrived a few months ago, and meet at the local supermarket—though the story reveals later that they’ve noticed one another before. It’s Thanksgiving Day, and the store is almost empty. Perhaps that’s why Luna gets brave enough to invite Jane home with her.
Park and de Guzman are delightful to watch: Jane is prim and quiet, with small, doll-like movements and a shy manner. Luna admits she’s a chatterbox: “Somebody is talking too much,” she scolds herself. At the start, the only thing they have in common is their identical winter coats, bought at the nearby (and fascinating) Kmart store.
Over the play’s uninterrupted single act—and with the help of a bottle or two of wine—the two open up over the turkey prep (Jane knows a way), the drawbacks of husbands, how much they miss home, and their longing to find somewhere to go and something to do in this new country. This is a play full of laughter and sorrow, a charming mix of comedy and heart-tugs.
We Americans too often think of immigrants as people who hope to gain a safer, more comfortable life by coming to our country. But The Heart Sellers (based in remembered conversations playwright Suh and the play’s original director had with their immigrant mothers) lays bare the losses they experience as well. Luna’s dream of passing through the scary immigration line on arrival—and being asked to dig her old heart out (literally) and trade it for a new one, is jolting and unforgettable. And Jane’s image (her dad coached her brothers in soccer but left Jane on the sidelines) is equally sad: that her America might be “one more soccer game I watch somebody else play.”
But the heartbreaks of the story are countered by a feast of laugh-out-loud moments. (Neither has ever seen a “peener” other than those of their arranged-marriage husbands; maybe going to a “porno” might enlighten them?) It’s a true pleasure to watch these isolated young women slowly come closer, bonding in a way that is likely to change their lives for the better. The difference between one female friend and none…it’s huge.
Jane and Luna’s tracks could swing toward pain or joy—Luna’s intense emotion expresses itself in visions, dreams, and soliloquies packed with emotion. Her shared images and words (Suh’s plain but rich dialogue is a marvel) shine a revelatory light on millions of immigrant lives. And Jane, whose English is more limited (but wonderfully to the point!), turns her feelings toward action—a plan for tomorrow, and tomorrow.
LUNA: Is it… is it what you expected?
Jane laughs. Then Luna laughs. Jane laughs louder.
They laugh and laugh and laugh. They can’t stop laughing.
WHEN: August 1-17, 2025
WHERE: Amphibian Stage, 120 South Main Street, Fort Worth
WEB: amphibianstage.com
