Family Devotions

Actors (L-R) Victor Wong, Jim Ishida, Michael Paul Chan, Helen Funai, Tina Chen, June Kim, Jodi Long, Lauren Tom and Marc Hayashi in a scene from the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Family Devotions. Photo by Martha Swope, Courtesy NYPL.

Family Devotions depicts a clash of West and East among three generations of an Americanized Chinese family in a Los Angeles suburb. Ama and Popo, two elderly and devoutly Christian Chinese sisters, live with their Americanized children in Bel Air. Their grandchildren Jenny and Chester seek to escape superficial world of their parents. The whole family eagerly awaits a visit from Di-Gou, the brother whom the sisters have not seen in over thirty years. When he arrives, it is clear he is not the man his sisters remember.

Family Devotions premiered at the Public Theater in 1981, directed by Robert Alan Ackerman. It received a 1982 Drama Desk Nomination for Best New Play.

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Actors (L-R) Jim Ishida, Tina Chen and June Kim. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actors (L-R) Jodi Long, Lauren Tom, Victor Wong, Marc Hayashi, June Kim, Tina Chen and Helen Funai. Photo by Martha Swope, for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actors (L-R) June Kim, Victor Wong and Tina Chen. Photo by Martha Swope, for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actors (L-R) Marc Hayashi and Victor Wong. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actors (L-R) Tina Chen, Victor Wong and June Kim. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

ctors (L-R) Tina Chen, Victor Wong, June Kim, Jodi Long and Helen Funai. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actors (L-R) Victor Wong and Marc Hayashi. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actors (L-R) Victor Wong and Marc Hayashi. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actresses (L-R) Lauren Tom, June Kim and Tina Chen. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL

Actresses (Top L-R) June Kim and Tina Chen; (Seated L-R) Helen Funai and Jodi Long. Photo by Martha Swope for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Courtesy NYPL