Interview
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Interview with Eugenie Chan Feb, 2008
As interviewed by Centenary Stage Company's Associate Artistic Director
and
Director of the Women Playwrights Series (WPS) Catherine Rust
(CR)
CR: Eugenie, this is a delightful play you have written, and we are having so much fun working on.
Can you tell us something about the inspiration?
EC: Basically, Daphne Does Dim Sum is a valentine to my mother's generation of women- women who have
worked hard through the years to raise families, work, be friends, mothers, daughters, wives, single
women -- the whole gamut, at a time when it was much more difficult to be opinionated and forthright
as Chinese women. These are the women who love each other and their children, nieces, nephew, grandkids
et al to death without ever saying the words, "I love you, What a good friend you are."
Playwright
Darrah Cloud challenged a bunch of writers in a workshop in California to have a character from a
play we were imagining sit in the audience as we wrote & conceived the play. So I imagined what
it would be like for the characters of Bessie and Daphne to alternatively watch themselves from the
audience.
 Playright Eugenie Chan |
CR: Yes! Darrah is one of our WPS "alumni" playwrights! It was from Darrah that we first
learned of your work! When you and I talked about your family, you told me of your great, great grandmother
and her journey from indentured servant to owner of her own business (a brothel!). I immediately
thought, "Oh, she was an entrepreneur!!" It seems as though you come from strong line
of women role models. Would you say that is true?
EC: Yes. What I really see in women like my great grandmother -- the madame, or her daughter-in-law
(my grandmother) -- a "properly-raised" traditional Chinese woman (her marriage was arranged)
is the ability to do the best they could, given the strict boundaries surrounding them. For my great-grandmother,
that would mean wresting a living from an America dominated by "Yellow Peril" anti-Chinese
politics at the time of her arrival. For my grandmother, that would mean being the dutiful wife in
an arranged marriage where she raised eight children in a very cloistered environment. My mother,
for her part, like many in her generation, married, raised children, and worked. Although she was
admitted to U.C. Berkeley, like many Chinese women in her generation, the beginning of WW2, the lack
of finances, and her obligations as a daughter prevented her from attending. So she has been a big
force in encouraging me to pursue my writing and teaching.
CR: You recently were invited to join the respected New Dramatists organization in New York. Can
you talk about how that membership helps emerging playwrights develop their work and get their voices
out to a larger audience?
EC: New Dramatists organizes workshops of new plays for member playwrights. In this way, we can work
with actors and directors to see a play on its feet, so-to-speak, w/ all its bumps, bruises -- things
like timing, unfinished beats and plot lines that we need to address. We can choose to invite an
audience or not. In that way, we get to reveal a play when we're ready for feedback, not before.
Being a resident playwright also helps get our plays read and seen at theatres in NYC and beyond,
which is especially important for a writer, like me, who is based in San Francisco.
CR: Some of your other work explores much more deeply the subject of cultural identity. What do you
, personally, see as themes that emerge in your work as you write?
EC: Hmm, this is always hard to answer because I tend to see my plays in terms of character. But
here's an analytical shot at the question -- Cultural identity is big one, especially the i.d. of
multigenerational Asians -- people who have been in America, like my family, for 3-4 generations
but are still perceived as outside the mainstream, by themselves, as well as others. There's a big
obsession with the question of desire for the Asian characters in my plays, that is, how can an individual
be in lust, in love, in deep connection with his or her sexuality when all signs and signals from
family, tradition, and greater American culture say otherwise. You see this conflict emerge in Daphne
when Daphne flirts a lot and her best friend Bessie disapproves.
CR: During our own development relationship with Daphne.. (in the WPS last spring, in the presentation
with New Dramatists in NY this January and this current rehearsal period) we have worked with so
many wonderful Asian American artists. It seems as though this group of artists is a very tight community
and so supportive of each other. Do you see yourself working with some of these actors on future
projects? And how does this sense of community contribute to the working process for a playwright?
EC: Yes, I absolutely hope to work with these actors in the future! We're talking about a community
of actors that has a long and esteemed history in NY theatre -- an outrageously generous community
of artists, many of whom took me in as a teeny-tiny grad student years ago in NYU and continue to
share their gifts. I can't say enough about their talent, expertise and KINDNESS!!!! Their spirit
absolutely continues to give life and prosperity to the writer's craft. As a writer of Asian characters,
they make it possible for a play to be realized. Back in grad school, I knew I could write plays
with real actors who could embody the characters. It gives hope to a playwright.
CR: As an artist, do you find that there is any difference between working on your plays in New York
versus San Francisco?
EC: Both places nurture playwriting in different ways. Because I live in SF, I can take more time
to explore a work. When I'm in New York, my time is limited. So, thankfully, NY's intensity and speed
allows me to work on my plays with furiously and completely. Working in NY and on the East Coast
is a shot in the arm. I love it!
CR: You are a teacher as well as a playwright, and you have led some very fun writing workshops while
here in residence. Do you find that your two careers "inform" each other in any way?
EC: Yep, the students keep me on my toes and keep me current with what's happening at a dizzy pace
in culture. The writing allows me to explore new avenues of creativity with my students and myself,
at the same time.
CR: Anything else you'd like to add??
EC: Can you tell that I like to eat? Food and eating plays a huge role in my life and in my work.
No surprise there! And, yes, I love dim sum. Shrimp dumplings are my favorite!
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