THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mia Chung’s quietly tragic CATCH AS CATCH CAN is a family drama with newfound pertinence

Jon Norman Schneider and Rob Yang in Playwrights Horizons' production of “Catch as Catch Can” by Mia Chung at Peter Jay Sharp Theater (photo by Joan Marcus).
Jon Norman Schneider and Rob Yang in Playwrights Horizons’ production of “Catch as Catch Can” by Mia Chung at Peter Jay Sharp Theater (photo by Joan Marcus).

Last night at Off-Broadway’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater, I caught Playwrights Horizons’ production of Catch as Catch Can by Mia Chung. The play tells the quietly tragic story of the Phelans and the Lavecchias, two blue-collar New England families whose adult children find themselves stuck – even digressing – in life. On a fateful Christmas gathering between the two families, the cracks in the veneer of their lives begin to show, and things will never be the same again.

I had seen the play previously in 2018 at the New Ohio Theatre in a different (and excellent) production directed by Ken Rus Schmoll. In its new incarnation – directed by Daniel Aukin – the piece gives off a distinctly different air. In fact, it took me a good while to realize that I had actually seen the play before, which I suspect has to do with how much the world has changed since that initial viewing and how Chung’s play has responded to the times. Indeed, with increased attention now being paid to mental health issues and anti-Asian hate – both of which are featured in the play – the work takes on a different hue as a play with newfound pertinence. As such, I’d argue that the work is more relevant than when it first premiered. With regards to the latter issue, the piece registers more acutely than ever with the decision to employ an all-Asian cast.

The work takes the notion of suspending one’s disbelief to the extreme by using three actors (Jon Norman Schneider, Rob Yang, and Cindy Cheung — all excellent) to portray all the characters, regardless of their gender, generation, or race. While the acting is undoubtedly skillful, the chameleonic nature of the play acting sometimes muddies the emotional thrust of the piece. Particularly shattering is Rob Yang, who’s depiction of a young man who succumbs to his mental demons is simply heartbreaking in its brutal honesty.

RECOMMENDED

CATCH AS CATCH CAN
Off-Broadway, Play
Playwrights Horizons
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 20

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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