ABOUT THIS WORK
PAPER DAUGHTER tells the story of a family in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the 1900 Bubonic Plague. Our story begins on Lunar New Year as a Grandson lights incense for his Mother. Grandfather tells the tale as he remembers it— beginning with patient zero through the quid pro quo shook on in the Oval Office to suppress the news and blame the Chinese. This play provides insight into the arduous immigration process the paper sons and paper daughters had to go through to get in through Angel Island. PAPER DAUGHTER provides an insight into the timelessness of family relationships, prejudice and violence, politicians and oppression and of course, illness.
The tradition of community oral storytelling has aided in the remembrance of events past, and serves as foreshadowing events future.These three stories dissect the power of fear mongering in three separate times and locations. Echoes of current day issues of racism, capitalism, and consumerism are prevalent in each of these three narratives.
