Poor Yella Rednecks

The major problem that I had with the play was the language barrier. So much of the play dealt with how difficult it was to speak, and understand the new language in the United States, and how hard it was for them to understand. Throughout the play, the Vietnamese language itself was never spoken or attempted. Even in the rap music. English came to them so easily. I drew back to my remembrance of In the Heights, and it was in the rap music that I could really understand the Dominican people and their world. Here, in the rap music and in the dialogue, I had no sense of what it meant to be Vietnamese or what kind of family and community they were able to create. I just didn’t leave the theater understanding one thing about the Vietnamese experience particularly that experience in America. What fun they could have had with this language barrier . . . I think I missed the central and potentially the most meaningful part of the story.

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