Vietgone

by Qui Nguyen, Mitchell Lindskoog (Editor), Tim Dang (Contributor)

Saigon has fallen, and two Vietnamese refugees meet in an Arkansas relocation camp before settling out on a rip-roaring road trip across America. Qui Nguyen tells the hilarious and only slightly not-true version of how his parents met and built a life for themselves in a new land.

NARRATORS:

Will Dao as Nhan and Khue

Desiree Mee Jung as Huong, Translator, and Redneck Biker

Greg Watanabe as Playwright, Bobby, Gial, Hippie Dude, and Captain Chambers

Paul Yen as Quang

Jeena Yi as Tong, Thu, and American Girl


EDITOR: Mitchell Lindskoog
FOLEY ARTIST: Jeff Gardner
Many Others



RUNNING TIME ⇒ 1hr. and 46mins.

©2017 Qui Nguyen (P)2020 L.A. Theatre Works

Genres: Plays, Historical Fiction, Drama, Theatre, Read For School, School, Asian American

Audible Audio

First published October 1, 2015

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

My politics put me in direct conflict with the perspective of Vietgone. I am a little too young to have been a hippy, but I was born and grew up during the Vietnam War. I grew up in a household that preached the righteousness of the war effort with a father in the US military who always wished he'd done a tour of duty but never got there -- and that man and I have always disagreed on almost everything.

My feelings about the Vietnam war are definitely sympathetic to the NLF, and my feelings about the U.S.A., both during the war and as a national entity (especially because I am a willing ex-patriot), are problematic at best, so the story of Qui Nguyen's family and their experiences of coming to the U.S. to escape the Viet Cong are difficult for me to sympathize with, yet with all my biases, I found something powerful, challenging and worth my time hiding in Vietgone's final scene.

I won't tell you what's waiting for you in that final scene, but I will tell you this: it asks the opposition to empathize with their opponents. And god damn do we need more of that today (and every day). Thanks, Qui Nguyen. You've crafted important and compelling stuff.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Vietgone was a really interesting and enjoyable play. This is the first thing I'm reading from playwright Qui Nguyen, although his work has been on my radar for a little while, but I'm glad I've finally gotten to it.

Vietgone is a loose retelling of how the playwright's parents met. Each of them was a Vietnamese refugee in Arkansas. The story shifts between their time in a refugee camp, time roadtripping to California to get back to Vietnam, and flashbacks to their individual lives in Vietnam. One of the protagonists was a soldier, and is forced to leave his family behind, but during the road trip portion and during a final scene set in the present he strongly defends US involvement in the Vietnam War. Honestly, I think some of the points he makes are really valid and I'm not discounting his experience, but it does kind of feel like it's presented in a way where it feels like the only reasons for USAmerican opposition to the war is that it put USAmerican lives on the line in a foreign conflict and that no Vietnamese person wanted US involvement, but I feel like it really glosses over that the US military did an awful lot of war crimes while there. I'm trying not to judge it too harshly for this because it is showing this one man's perspective on the war he personally fought in, which is obviously a valid perspective, but it's hard.

I listened to the audio production from LA Theatre Works, and although not a single description of the play gave me a heads up, it is, in fact, a musical. The audio production includes full performances of the hip hop numbers in the play. Some of the music is pretty fun, and there are a couple of moments where they can be quite emotional, but they did get kind of corny at times. It was still pretty enjoyable though, and the performances were really good.

Overall, despite its problems, the play is very funny, and the emotional scenes are quite poignant. I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend checking it out. I'm hoping to get the Qui Nguyen's She Kills Monsters sooner than later as well.

[Delaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been so long since I've finished a book in a day so I'm feeling pretty smug. Anyways, Vietgone definitely had fun with itself while having brief nuggets of great moments. It discusses the Vietnam war, being displaced and having to find a new home, with a romance and a sort of complexity that is left unexplored. It's sort of a mash-up of past and present, road trip, and musical. Qui Nguyen also broke the fourth wall multiple times, which was entertaining. Overall, it was readable; I can't say I was particularly in awe nor did I completely hate it, but it was easy to keep reading until the end.

[Kaion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot damn. Talk about dream productions.

[Steven D’Alterio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome piece right here! Very raw, honest, and pushes against mainstream conceptions about American intervention & militarization. The dialogue is incredible and I can only imagine the set design for a play like this would be truly a ball to watch. Didn’t realize it was a musical. On the page it reads like it is very Hamilton inspired which can be cool or can be really corny. Outside of the musical numbers this was a fun and insightful quick read!

[Mike Reiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, rich in distinctive characters and voice, the development of the kind of humor I see in Nguyen’s work for Disney (Strange World) though with a lot more swearing. At the end, one of the most insightful monologues or set of ideas on the nature of the Vietnam war, both as a particular struggle and a wider historical and political concept.

[Jordan Muschler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nguyen’s writing is way too on-the-nose for my taste. Most scenes are very direct without much subtext, and although the play is described as a “meet-cute” the two characters don’t actually meet-cute till the end of the 1st act. The most interesting piece of the play is the final scene, but it feels out of place with everything that came before, more about the romance than the effects of war and more about America than Vietnam.

The sense of humor doesn’t help, which is just crass for my taste and without much reason - I got a bad taste in my mouth from Quang’s opening line “Sup, bitches,” and while it gets easier from there I often found the raunchiness distracting rather than organic to the characters, more “how do you do, fellow kids” than genuine.

And the rap songs? While I’m sure it would play better actually being performed, the lyrics on the page weren’t great and the show never justified why it was rap specifically being used to tell the story. Plus, most of the songs were, again, VERY on-the- nose in having the characters tell you exactly how they were feeling, no matter how redundant or obvious the feeling is. There is an interesting story here, but it never felt like it was being properly told in my eyes.

[Olivia Spreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen and worked on She Kills Monsters, which I love, so I was very excited to read another play by this playwright. And lo and behold it was amazing, while the subject matter is very different in this than She Kills Monsters, it does the same amazing job of balancing grief, comedy, sadness, and love and making a beautiful real honest story. It was touching to see his writing about his parent's story which was heartbreaking and funny and real. It touched on serious subjects and it was really refreshing to hear about Vietnamese perspectives of the Vietnam war which is something that is not often talked about in American classrooms. I highly recommend this play to pretty much anyone.

[Lili Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved seeing "Poor Yella Rednecks" performed in NYC, and had to read this book (I wish I had seen this show when it was out)!

Notable lines:

"Regretting a life now full of 'coulda been's' / As we strive to be more than second class citizens / What's coming next is all feeling grim- / as we stare at all the shit we're not standing in."

"It must be nice fighting fights with just words and signs / But you're not the one next to me on the front line / So when ya tell me ya think it's all just bullshit / You're telling me that my family wasn't worth it / Every story, however gory, has another side / 'Cause you disagree don't mean your opinion's right."

[Nickel Colecio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this play, much more than I thought I would at the start. I loved the way it played with language. The play was surprisingly funny, and I think its comical tone helped emphasize the humans rather than the Vietnam war. Basically, the form matched the content and the themes. The human stories are forgotten and overshadowed by the war itself, and what better way to highlight individual stories than by focusing on their lives after the war rather than their lives during the war. Finally, I think the ending scene does an excellent job forcing readers to question their position on the war overall.

[Elizabeth Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published 2017–script. (Listened to audio of LA Theatre Works 2020 production.) Story of Vietnamese refugees who arrive in America after the fall of Saigon. Tong is a tough young woman whose highly critical mother has immigrated with her. Quang is a former South Vietnamese military pilot whose wife and small children are still in Viet Nam. Many years later Quang is interviewed by his now grown son, a playwright, who wants to tell his story. Script uses humor, and also rap, in the telling.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vietgone is a wonderful play in which the playwright tells the story of how his own parents met. But it is clearly much more than that. It challenges many modern assumptions about a difficult period in American history. Reframing the Vietnam War through the voice of a group of people who haven't been listened to in the mainstream, the Vietnamese who fought in the war and suffered greatly from it. The writing it is witty, irreverent, poignant, and tender.

[Aleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reminder that history is full of stories about regular people. And there are many Vietnamese perspectives from the war and post-war era unknown to Americans. It’s even harder to find refugee stories that have hope and humor, so I’m delighted that this exists. I listened to a recording of one of the performances and it’s a great way to enjoy it, though I didn’t expect the musical numbers, ha.

[Lauren Stripling]

Another play I read for my theatre appreciation class. I really enjoyed its take on a seemingly classic war tale. Making it seem really modern while taking place in 1975 was a great choice. I loved the epilogue and how it tied the story to its real life characters. I’m looking forward to creating my design project with this one.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed SHE KILLS MONSTERS so much, thought I’d check out this other play script too, so listened to a recorded reading of it and really enjoyed it. Funny, thoughtful, poignant and a surprising reframing of American involvement in the Viet Nam conflict. Some of the hip-hop lyrics could use more polish, though.

[Arwen-Vira Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

PLAYWRIGHT: No one cares about how you grounded me or how you couldn’t change my diaper. That’s boring everyday shit.

QUANG: It my boring everyday shit.

PLAYWRIGHT: Dad —

QUANG: My life is more than the eight year I fight.

[Dana Cordelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of seeing Vietgone performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2016. The script is (and that production was) simply outstanding. Five stars.

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would love to see a production!

[Alex Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious and heartwarming with an especially impactful epilogue.

[Victoria Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh it was okay, nothing really special about it

[Bearhands · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, provocative, whip-smart dialogue, adding a much more nuanced dimension to the American theatre, rips right through history. Really enjoyed this play.

[Sumaiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

the epilogue really carried it for me (more like a 3.5 stars)

[Kate Ly Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

That ending monologue!!!!!!!

[Theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

oh god...the blaccents, the weird rap monologues, the pro-american apologist bs, wtf was this like honestly.

[Quynh Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!

[Aileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to see this play so badly now!!!

[Kari]

I think it’ll be a compelling play to read

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing demonstration of the struggles of immigration into the united states.

[Mea Zamora · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve never been so happy to be finished reading something in my entire life

[Caroline Betz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mid