Colonialism is Terrible, But Pho is Delicious

This new play will be presented as a one-time-only live stream reading. Readings are an essential part of the play development process. We are proud to offer this as part of our On The Radar (OTR) New Works Program that aims to support the creation of diverse new stories by emerging U.S. playwrights. Click here to learn more about OTR.

Dustin Chinn’s Colonialism is Terrible, But Pho is Delicious took its inspiration from two viral incidents around cultural appropriation and food. [Chef Tyler Akin did a how-to video for Bon Appetit, “PSA: This is How You Should Be Eating Pho,” and Dan Pashman of The Sporkful suggested you could improve bibimbap using a bundt pan.] Chinn says he “followed the rabbit hole” and wrote Colonialism; what he dubs “a triptych about the ownership and authorship of food following the journey of Vietnamese noodle soup.”

This dark comedy spans centuries, continents, and cultures in its three-part vignette structure. Beginning in 1880s Hanoi, the capital city of 19th-century French Indochina, where a Vietnamese cook finds herself in the kitchen of aristocratic French settlers. Then 1999, a century later, in Ho Chi Minh City, where American diners get their first taste of the local cuisine. Then finally, a present-day, gentrifying Brooklyn, where the simmering argument around culture, ownership, and authenticity come to a roaring boil.

This OTR live stream reading stars Celeste Den (Broadway: M. Butterfly; TV/Film: WHAT/IF, The Blacklist), Elissa Beth Stebbins (Theater: Becky Nurse, Kings), Trieu Tran (Theater: Equus; TV/Film: Altered Carbon, Tropic Thunder), and Joseph Patrick O’Malley (Theater: MacBeth, Spamalot!) and directed by Chance Theater’s Executive Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen (Chance: Skylight, Big Fish).

We are excited to be presenting this special virtual reading with Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre Company which was called “one of the most important regional theatres in the area” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

2021 OTR Reading Series Sponsors

National Endowment for the Arts
The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation
Elizabeth George Foundation
Ashleigh Aitken & Michael Penn