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Patch Entertainment EVENT SCR Presents World Premiere of Fast Company A Play by Carla Ching

Now available @ the SCR..  Super South Coast Rep               

Fast Company -- Developed in 2013 Pacific Playwrights Festival: A Tale Of Mom & Three Young Adults - Family of Fine Grifters-(OhMy)

Review by: Joseph Sirota

Carla Ching's New Play FAST COMPANY, may not be easiest to follow at final curtain, (she's smart, fast & tricky.. cute too!), but her story, dialogs and character interactions are great fun, challenging and ultimately thought-provoking and exciting to follow. First, what kind of family would make it a "Must" Daily Lesson/Exercise to play "Paper-Rock-Scissors"? It's Mama Mable Kwan's family style. Mable's young-adult offsprings are amazing (albeit sociopathic) & must prove they're each razor sharp in reading the eyes, hands, facial flinches before making any decision with any family member. Why? You ask. So when out in the "BUSINESS-World" they'll be sharper yet, & NEVER-Let-ANYONE you make a deal with(from a decision of who pays 75 cents for the coffee machine this morning -- all the way up to "Who to trust in a $1.5 Million Dollar Ultra-Rare, Work-of-Art deal that may be the true Antique, or (ouch), be fooled by a very clever Phony! You see, Mable is the Mother (& Empress) of the gift of "con-ing" (i.e. ... fooling, cheating, outsmarting) people, in clever, challenging, very lucrative ways to make tons o' money if you're a "Master". One... caveat!, as in Paper-Rock... "stick out the wrong hand? & you get smacked"; But play with $million-plus phony artifacts, and get caught, and you get 10-20 years jail from an Attorney General ... or, from a street lord, ... a "cap-in-your Butt"!

In comparative "facts" this play appears to center on a combination of Family-Relationships, especially a family brought up in Living-By-Con-Man Skills, that bend how families Use, or could Use parallel individual strengths. This alone, could lead us to compare Emily Kuroda, here memorably & unfailingly portraying her strength as mother Mable, imparting her skills & values to her sons Lawrence Kao & Nelson Lee while Anjelica Huston's powerful performance emanates a self-acceptance of her own individual grifter life as the mother of a son portrayed by John Cusack (all in the well-received film, The Grifters. Playwright Ching's views are quite different, voicing a far more expectation that family will be undeniably impacted, shaped and steered by the parental head of the household (even if this is powerful mother Mable, rather than a missing father. Blue, the daughter of the family is superbly, played by Jackie Chung-- who also holds together the "FASTLY/Complex" plotline (which is no easy matter, given the speed, rumbling dialogs and exchanges of Time, Place, Sets (and lively unclosed doors).  The Grifters film & other such films were built mainly on emotions and inner feelings psychology, while Ching builds on smart/wise logic & mores.

My try to note Ms Ching's Questions in her meaningful frame for FAST COMPANY: Here's some keys she offered. Carla centers on her own "core" penetrating wise issues:  We each find a key way to fit in our Family; Though we are worthy people, we all have our personal bit of a Con-Man within us we use to get through life-- especially Family-Life".  In style, Ching is quite sharp, clever and "fast-indeed" in writing, she captivatingly examines how "Each character's Unique Inner Coping Ways" shapes us as WHO we are, and HOW we are (also in Family/ Life!)  Ching reveals via each life scene(& personal "con") we show each family character's Unfold answers to Ching's  key questions. Ching's pondering is done in funny, yet serious ways: "What is This Family all about?" ...  "How Does each Find Their Own Talent Within The Family?"... "How Does each Use Particular Talent Within , connective he Family?" Is using Our Talent For Good?" (Our Own Good.. Or Family's Good?) We witness "How each Uses their Own Con-Tricks To Get What They Want, & to Steer others To Do What's Needed".

Each Actor is a family role with important place and style in the tale. Jackie Chung as sister BLUE can be logical, mathematical & pretty but armed with a wise look for any real smart role. She "sees" all the role choices, can pick out key connections & can narrate A+, too. Emily Kuroda as Mable has an energetic range to be extremely full of life and joy, despite dealing with challenges. Yet, almost like a human turtle, she can pull in her use of energy, to rest and let anger or sadness, drift by until storms are gone. She's a powerful Mother Figure to keep up with, so don't argue with Mom. Lawrence Kao portrays Francis with a physicality that along with good verbal range, also has a gift of dance, acrobatics, & stage fighting, than can surely land him many a role as good guy, bad guy, or any guy for a wide range of films, TV roles or lively stage roles. In a world of lately hard to find jobs, Mr Kao's resume & range may put a true smile on his face even when he's playing a scary menace. Nelson Lee is quite a convincing actor, I say with proof. Even though I realized he ain't carrying a $1.5 Mill First edition super drawing in his bag, he somehow convinces me when he says he's the Best artist(I believe him). Handles loss just as well too !!

Saturday-Sunday: 2 and 7:45 p.m.  Closes: Oct 27 (No eve show Oct. 27)     Length: 2Hrs... Suitability: Adults & Teens

Tkts: $21-$72 (Call For Specials)  Call For Tickets: 714-708-5555    Online Site:  scr.org