The Chickencoop Chinaman
Encyclopedia
The Chickencoop Chinaman is a 1972 play by Frank Chin
. It was the first play by an Asian American
to have a major New York production.
Kenji: Tam's Japanese American childhood friend, who is hosting him during his stay in Pittsburgh
Lee: Kenji's girlfriend, of uncertain ethnic extraction and with children by several different fathers; ex-wife of Tom
Robbie: Lee's son
Charley Popcorn: an elderly black man, presumably Ovaltine's father, but now running a porno theater
Tom: a Chinese American author, now writing a book entitled Soul on Rice; Lee's ex-husband
Hong Kong Dream Girl, The Lone Ranger and Tonto: characters who appear in fantasy/dream sequences
, 27 May 1972. Directed by Jack Gelber
; scenery by John Wulp
; costumes by Willa Kim
; lighting by Roger Morgan
. With Randall Duk Kim
, Sab Shimono
, Sally Kirkland
, Anthony Marciona
, Leonard Jackson
and Calvin Jung
in the lead roles.
playwrighting contest, the reviews of the New York production were mixed. Positive reviews came from Edith Oliver at The New Yorker
and Jack Kroll at Newsweek
, but neither Clive Barnes nor Julius Novick of The New York Times
liked it. A middle-of-the-road review came from The Village Voice
's Michael Feingold, who liked the characters, the situations, and much of the writing, but felt that the monologues were "hot air, disguised as Poetry". Audiences were critical too, as author Betty Lee Sung points out that many members left midway through.
stereotype that continued to affect Chinese American men and an attempt to investigate what Chin perceives to be the cultural emasculation of Asian American by racist stereotypes. The main character of the play, Tam Lum, is a Chinese American filmmaker who, as a boy in search of heroic Chinese American models listened to the Lone Ranger radio shows and believed that the Ranger wears a mask because he is in fact a Chinese man intent on bringing "Chinaman vengeance on the West". Seeing the men of his parents' generation as unheroic—he used to care for an elderly dishwasher who wore his underwear in the bath out of fear of being watched by old white women—Tam uses Ovaltine as his model for masculinity; but he finds out later that Ovaltine had made up his stories about Charley being his father, and he also learns that the old man he cared for (whom everyone else assumes is his father) was in fact extremely dignified and loved to watch boxing matches. As scholar Jinqi Ling notes, Tam's inability to see [the dishwasher's] dignity represents not only the historical and cultural effects of racism on Asian American men, but also the role of language and story in capturing and passing on a new, heroic Asian American masculinity. As scholar Elaine H. Kim
notes, Tam is only good for his ability to out-talk people, and even though he has given up his self-delusions and let go of the idea that he could be like the black men he admires, he will remain so until he is able to connect his masculinity to his heritage; in the meantime, he is, as Kim says, "still experimenting".
The character of Tam is in many ways the continuation of such earlier Chin characters as Johnny from "Food for All His Dead", Freddy (later renamed Dirigible) from "Yes, Young Daddy" and Dirigible from "Goong Hai Fot Choy". As in those stories (some of which are available in revised versions in The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco R.R. Co.), he looks outside of Chinatown—and outside Asian America—for models. But everywhere he looks, the models of fatherhood are absent or ambiguous: he rarely mentions his own children; his best friend Kenji seems to be refusing to acknowledge having a child of his own; Ovaltine has fabricated stories about his father (who was in fact only his manager). The only male character in the play who seems eager to embrace fatherhood is Tom, a Chinese American who has bought into the model minority
myth of Asian American while, at the same time, arguing that Tam needs to accept that they are Chinese rather than Americans. Chin has described Tam as the "comic embodiment of Asian-American manhood", a character designed to capture the experience of Asian American men—not just their circumstances, but their language, their symbols, their humor and their mythology. Yet critics such as Kim feel that Chin has not quite achieved his own goal, and that perhaps Chin has too readily accepted an oppressive definition of masculinity.
Chin's use of the Lone Ranger signifies his interest in the history and legends of the Old West, especially the contributions and sufferings of the Chinese immigrants who helped build the railroads and who became the first Chinese Americans; Chin considers their stories to be as important to Chinese American history as those of the Chinese classic about oppressed rebels who challenge the Emperor's authority, Outlaws of the Marsh. At the same time, his use of language represents his admiration for the Black Power
movement and their fight against institutionalized racism and white dominance; his characters speak an English that is inflected with both Cantonese and black vernacular elements. David Leiwei Li points out that this language reflects Tam's rebellion against the Orientalist
American construction of Asian American and wants "to claim a Chinese American language that is self-referential and that will relate to others", and that he begins to realize by the end of the play that he needs to turn to the history and stories about Chinese America, such as those stories of the Old West he had heard from his grandmother; in this way, Chinese American men will no longer be passively created by American Orientalism, but will gain the ability to create themselves. In her introduction to the printed edition of the play, Dorothy Ritsuko McDonald connects Tam's use of language with Chin's desire to capture "the rhythms and accents of Chinese America," in accordance with Tam's wish to be taken seriously as neither Chinese or assimilated American, but as a synthesis of the two: an American whose ancestors were not allowed into the mainstream of American history.
Frank Chin
Frank Chin is an American author and playwright.- Life and career :Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California, but was raised to the age of six by a retired Vaudeville couple in Placerville, California. At six his mother brought him back to the San Francisco Bay Area to live in Oakland Chinatown...
. It was the first play by an Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
to have a major New York production.
Story
Tam Lum, a Chinese American filmmaker working on a documentary about a black boxer named Ovaltine, has arrived in Pittsburgh to visit Ovaltine's father, Charley Popcorn. In Pittsburgh, he stays with his childhood friend, the Japanese American Kenji, who lives in Pittsburgh's black ghetto with his girlfriend Lee and her son. In Act I, Tam has just arrived and is catching up with Kenji. In Act II, the two men meet with Charley and bring him back to the apartment, where Lee's ex-husband has shown up to take her back. These scenes are intercut with fantasy sequences, such as one in which Tam meets his childhood hero, the Lone Ranger.Characters
Tam Lum: a filmmaker who grew up in Chinatown but has adopted the inflections of black speech in honor of his hero, Ovaltine Jack Dancer, a black boxer about whom he is making a documentaryKenji: Tam's Japanese American childhood friend, who is hosting him during his stay in Pittsburgh
Lee: Kenji's girlfriend, of uncertain ethnic extraction and with children by several different fathers; ex-wife of Tom
Robbie: Lee's son
Charley Popcorn: an elderly black man, presumably Ovaltine's father, but now running a porno theater
Tom: a Chinese American author, now writing a book entitled Soul on Rice; Lee's ex-husband
Hong Kong Dream Girl, The Lone Ranger and Tonto: characters who appear in fantasy/dream sequences
First performance
The American Place TheatreThe American Place Theatre
The American Place Theatre was founded in 1963 by Wynn Handman, Sidney Lanier, and Michael Tolan at St. Clement's Church, far west on 46th Street in New York City and was incorporated as a not-for-profit theatre in that year. Tennessee Williams and Myrna Loy were two of the original Board members...
, 27 May 1972. Directed by Jack Gelber
Jack Gelber
Jack Gelber was an American playwright best known for his 1959 drama The Connection, depicting the life of drug-addicted jazz musicians. The first great success of the Living Theatre, the play was translated into five languages and produced in ten nations...
; scenery by John Wulp
John Wulp
John Wulp is an American scenic designer, producer, and director. Wulp won a Tony Award for Best Revival for his production of Dracula in 1978. He also received a Tony Award nomination and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for his designs in the 1979 production of The Crucifer of...
; costumes by Willa Kim
Willa Kim
Willa Kim is an American costume designer for stage, dance, and film.Kim was born in Los Angeles, California and is a 1935 graduate of Belmont High School where she excelled in art and was an art editor for the 1935 Campanile...
; lighting by Roger Morgan
Roger Morgan (designer)
Roger Morgan is an award winning American light designer. He has designed the lighting for more than 30 productions on Broadway including The Visit, Mort Sahl on Broadway!, Me and My Girl, The Octette Bridge Club, Agnes of God, I Remember Mama, First Monday in October, It Had to Be You, Dracula,...
. With Randall Duk Kim
Randall Duk Kim
Randall Duk Kim is a Korean-American stage, television and film actor. Kim was also the artistic director and mainstay lead actor at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, which he founded with Anne Occhiogrosso and Charles Bright...
, Sab Shimono
Sab Shimono
Sab Shimono is an American actor who has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows in character roles.-Career:An accomplished stage actor, he has appeared on Broadway and in regional theaters including San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre and Berkeley Repertory Theatre...
, Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Kirkland was named after her mother, fashion editor Sally Kirkland, who was a fashion editor at Vogue and LIFE magazines, and was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, Frederic McMichael Kirkland, worked in the scrap...
, Anthony Marciona
Anthony Marciona
Anthony Marciona is an American film, Broadway and television actor, singer and dancer from New York City. Marciona began his acting career at the age of five playing Kirk Douglas' godson in The Brotherhood.-Biography:...
, Leonard Jackson
Leonard Jackson (actor)
Leonard Jackson is an African-American stage, film, and television actor, perhaps most widely known for his roles in several PBS television series for children as well as his roles in films such as The Brother from Another Planet, Car Wash, and The Color Purple.-Early years and stage...
and Calvin Jung
Calvin Jung
Calvin Jung is an American actor.Graduating from high school in New York, Jung attended Massanutten Military Academy in Virginia. He attended Hillsdale College in Michigan, and left his senior year to pursue acting back in New York. His first professional acting job was a commercial in Canada in...
in the lead roles.
Reception
Although the play won the 1971 East West PlayersEast West Players
East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As one of the nation's first Asian American theatre organizations, East West Players today continues to produce works and educational programs that give voice to the Asian Pacific American...
playwrighting contest, the reviews of the New York production were mixed. Positive reviews came from Edith Oliver at The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and Jack Kroll at Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, but neither Clive Barnes nor Julius Novick of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
liked it. A middle-of-the-road review came from The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
's Michael Feingold, who liked the characters, the situations, and much of the writing, but felt that the monologues were "hot air, disguised as Poetry". Audiences were critical too, as author Betty Lee Sung points out that many members left midway through.
Themes
The play is a direct attack on the John ChinamanJohn Chinaman
John Chinaman was a stock caricature of a Chinese laborer seen in cartoons of the 19th century. Also referenced by Mark Twain and popular American songs of the period, John Chinaman represented, in western society, a typical persona of China...
stereotype that continued to affect Chinese American men and an attempt to investigate what Chin perceives to be the cultural emasculation of Asian American by racist stereotypes. The main character of the play, Tam Lum, is a Chinese American filmmaker who, as a boy in search of heroic Chinese American models listened to the Lone Ranger radio shows and believed that the Ranger wears a mask because he is in fact a Chinese man intent on bringing "Chinaman vengeance on the West". Seeing the men of his parents' generation as unheroic—he used to care for an elderly dishwasher who wore his underwear in the bath out of fear of being watched by old white women—Tam uses Ovaltine as his model for masculinity; but he finds out later that Ovaltine had made up his stories about Charley being his father, and he also learns that the old man he cared for (whom everyone else assumes is his father) was in fact extremely dignified and loved to watch boxing matches. As scholar Jinqi Ling notes, Tam's inability to see [the dishwasher's] dignity represents not only the historical and cultural effects of racism on Asian American men, but also the role of language and story in capturing and passing on a new, heroic Asian American masculinity. As scholar Elaine H. Kim
Elaine H. Kim
Elaine H. Kim is an award winning writer, editor and professor in Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Kim is widely published in her field. Some of her books include Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism ; Making More Waves: New Writing by Asian American Women...
notes, Tam is only good for his ability to out-talk people, and even though he has given up his self-delusions and let go of the idea that he could be like the black men he admires, he will remain so until he is able to connect his masculinity to his heritage; in the meantime, he is, as Kim says, "still experimenting".
The character of Tam is in many ways the continuation of such earlier Chin characters as Johnny from "Food for All His Dead", Freddy (later renamed Dirigible) from "Yes, Young Daddy" and Dirigible from "Goong Hai Fot Choy". As in those stories (some of which are available in revised versions in The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco R.R. Co.), he looks outside of Chinatown—and outside Asian America—for models. But everywhere he looks, the models of fatherhood are absent or ambiguous: he rarely mentions his own children; his best friend Kenji seems to be refusing to acknowledge having a child of his own; Ovaltine has fabricated stories about his father (who was in fact only his manager). The only male character in the play who seems eager to embrace fatherhood is Tom, a Chinese American who has bought into the model minority
Model minority
Model minority refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members achieve a higher degree of success than the population average. It is most commonly used to label one ethnic minority higher achieving than another ethnic minority...
myth of Asian American while, at the same time, arguing that Tam needs to accept that they are Chinese rather than Americans. Chin has described Tam as the "comic embodiment of Asian-American manhood", a character designed to capture the experience of Asian American men—not just their circumstances, but their language, their symbols, their humor and their mythology. Yet critics such as Kim feel that Chin has not quite achieved his own goal, and that perhaps Chin has too readily accepted an oppressive definition of masculinity.
Chin's use of the Lone Ranger signifies his interest in the history and legends of the Old West, especially the contributions and sufferings of the Chinese immigrants who helped build the railroads and who became the first Chinese Americans; Chin considers their stories to be as important to Chinese American history as those of the Chinese classic about oppressed rebels who challenge the Emperor's authority, Outlaws of the Marsh. At the same time, his use of language represents his admiration for the Black Power
Black Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
movement and their fight against institutionalized racism and white dominance; his characters speak an English that is inflected with both Cantonese and black vernacular elements. David Leiwei Li points out that this language reflects Tam's rebellion against the Orientalist
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
American construction of Asian American and wants "to claim a Chinese American language that is self-referential and that will relate to others", and that he begins to realize by the end of the play that he needs to turn to the history and stories about Chinese America, such as those stories of the Old West he had heard from his grandmother; in this way, Chinese American men will no longer be passively created by American Orientalism, but will gain the ability to create themselves. In her introduction to the printed edition of the play, Dorothy Ritsuko McDonald connects Tam's use of language with Chin's desire to capture "the rhythms and accents of Chinese America," in accordance with Tam's wish to be taken seriously as neither Chinese or assimilated American, but as a synthesis of the two: an American whose ancestors were not allowed into the mainstream of American history.