Time travel love story will feature an Asian American cast

COME DOWN IN TIME is a sci-fi love story about a Korean American novelist named Connor Lee (played by Sung Kang in the reading). Connor starts dreaming about a beautiful woman named Annie (played by Michelle Krusiec)–even though he’s never seen this woman before, he feels that she’s real and they have a connection and he becomes obsessed with finding her. I don’t want to give too much away because I think the fun of the play is in the twists and surprises, but Connor does eventually learn the truth about who this woman is, but it’s not what he expected. The play throws in everything from time travel to the notion of alternate worlds to the idea that our dreams may not be exactly what we think they are. These are all things that have fascinated me since I was a child so I thought it’d be fun to write about.

The short answer is that many of these actors are friends and we’ve known each other for many years and I’ve been lucky to have had the chance to collaborate with them in the past and try to work with them as much as possible. I’ve probably known Sung (pictured) for almost fifteen years–back when we were both young and struggling and trying to get a foothold in this business so it’s always nice to have the opportunity to collaborate again. Someone like Sung, as well as many of the other actors, are now successful and in demand so when the rare opportunity comes up to work on something, it’s a no brainer. There are a number of actors I’ve known for years like Daniel Dae Kim (HAWAII 5-0), Sandra Oh (GREY’S ANATOMY) or John Cho (STAR TREK) and I’m just itching to find something to collaborate with them again because, aside from them being successful, they’re also talented, hard-working actors. I’d especially love to find a theater project to do with those guys because there’s just something about working in live theater with actors who can thrive in that world that’s exciting and alive.

As for casting if this play makes it to a full production, I’d definitely feel lucky to have any of the actors who are in the reading carry over, but you just never know until you know when and where the play is being produced. So it all comes down to schedule, but, yeah, you can’t go wrong with a cast like I’ve been fortunate to have.

Unlike writing a novel or short story, when you write a play, it’s really not “complete” until it’s brought to life by your other collaborators–the director, the designers and, of course, the actors. You really don’t know what’s going to work or not until you hear those actors say your words and act out your characters. And when you have talented actors like I’m lucky to have in this reading, you’ll learn very quickly what works and what doesn’t. What’s great about development programs like Pasadena Playhouse’s Hothouse is that they really allow you to explore your script in a “safe” environment. There’s really nothing at stake so you’re free to explore your script without having to worry if it’s going to work or not.

I actually don’t remember a lot of my dreams, but when I do they are pretty vivid. I do find inspiration in those dreams, but here, I think it first stemmed from my desire to write something about time travel, alternate universes and the trippiness of dreams. It’s hard to say where the exact inspiration comes from because for me oftentimes, it’s many little things over a long period of time that sort of accumulate and at some point, you’re like: “I think all of this could add up to an interesting story.” For this play, there were a number of things, but it all started with a question that I’ve often asked throughout my life: “is the world we’re living in real?” It was an interest in exploring that question dramatically–what if the world we’re living in is not what we think it is.

Somehow from that came these other ideas. What gave me a way to start the story was when I somehow tied that question into this whole concept of time travel. I love stories about time travel, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a story where the time traveler is unaware that he’s actually a time traveler. Again, I don’t want to say too much about that and give away too much but the starting point for my play is this notion of someone having gone back in time to change the past but isn’t aware that he’s done so because he’s been fully integrated into the new timeline and what happens when he begins to realize what he’s done through something that happens in his dreams. I was very much inspired by films like INCEPTION or Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO and I hope my play has a bit of the feel of those films–the haunted sense of mystery that they possess is something I was going for.

The other thing that really inspired this story was the chance to explore this particular theme of obsession and not being able to let go of the past and what that does to a person. I love VERTIGO. I love the exploration of this character who cannot let go of this image of this woman he’s loved and lost and becomes obsessed with recreating her. I thought it’d be interesting to explore something similar but in this 21st Century context.

There’s nothing about this story that makes it a traditional Asian American story.(photo of cast and crew of Come Down in Time) In fact, you can cast the whole thing with non-Asians and just change the names and a few of the lines and the play would still work. But I deliberately made all the characters Asian American. That was very important to me because so rarely in mainstream media do you see something like that–in this case, a sci-fi love story with Asian American characters. I think it’s important to tell stories in every genre that features faces that look like ours.

I’m not naive, I realize making these characters be Asian American will limit my opportunities to get this play produced–some theaters have a pre-conceived notion about what constitutes an Asian American play and I don’t think this will fit into that. I’m sure some will react in this way: “it’s not about WWII internment or immigrants or specific Asian community so why do the characters have to be Asian? can’t they just be white?” And my response to that would be, “Yes, they can, but this is my play and in my play these characters are Asian American and if that doesn’t work for you, I guess you won’t be producing my play.”

The other thing is there are a lot of talented Asian American actors like the cast of my play and they rarely, if ever, get to play roles like this because they’re just not available to them. So a part of the reason for the ethnic make-up of the characters is because I want to see these talented Asian American actors, many of whom are my friends, have the opportunity to tackle roles they normally would be able to.

And frankly, if we’re going to talk stereotypes, if anyone is going to be brilliant enough to invent a time machine, come on–it’s going to be someone Asian.

I realize what an incredible opportunity this is so I do feel very fortunate that they selected my play for this. The Pasadena Playhouse has a long and storied history and is one of the most prestigious regional theaters in the country as well as being the State Theatre of California. Artists I have tremendous respect for like Mako, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman studied and trained there. What’s interesting also is that this is one of the few major theaters run by a person of color–in this case Sheldon Epps who is African American and has been a champion of diversity in ways most other institutions at that level have not been.

What Sheldon also did was bring on Seema Sueko, who is Asian American (originally from Hawaii), as his associate artistic director earlier this year. I knew of Seema when she was doing theater down in San Diego and I know her commitment to diversity was genuine and deep and I think she’s definitely going to bring an even greater attention to diversity at the Playhouse. Just look at what she’s done with the Hothouse series which has traditionally been the program where the Playhouse has developed new works–she’s revamped the program so that now it’s focus is completely on fostering plays by artists who have been historically “underrepresented”. Our reading is, in fact, the first play that’s being presented under this new mandate and the Playhouse has brought on East West Players, the nation’s oldest Asian American theater, to co-present the reading. So I feel honored that my play was the one selected to kick things off.

The reading is free but rsvps are required and it’s almost sold-out so you definitely want to rsvp. You can get all the info here: http://eastwestplayers.org/news/come-down-in-time/