Strangers in a Familiar Land
Anyone with a tight budget and a hankering to see Chinglish, David Henry Hwangs Broadway comedy about how radicallyand hilariouslydifferent American and Chinese cultures are, should head to the Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre, where a scaled-down version of Chinglish called Outside People is being performed.
Of course, its not playwright Zayd Dohrns fault that his 90-minute play was produced the same season as Hwangs two-act, but the two plays do speak to a certain lowest common denominator writing style that is popular right now.
In both plays, American men who have traveled to China for business purposes are shockedshocked!at how difficult the language is. Both shows feature a sexy Chinese woman (an archetype that goes at least as far back as Anna May Wong in Hollywood) who enters into a far-from-placid affair with the American. And, of course, there are plenty of cultural differences to play for laughs.
Chinglish at least had a circuitous way of getting there, not to mention a fabulous performance by Jennifer Lim. In Outside People, the plays finale is visible in its opening scene, and all were left with is endurance. Brought to China by a college buddy, Malcolm (Matt Dellapina, playing the obvious inarticulate Jewish neuroses of his character) meets Xiao Mei (Li Jun Li) his first night in Beijing. From there, they fumble their way through an affair, as Malcolm casts her in a romantic peasant light and Mei seems to simply enjoy being with him. Tension rears its head thanks to Malcolms college buddy and now employer, David (Nelson Lee), who throws a wrench into the burgeoning relationship.
Theres not much else to Dohrns story, and director Evan Cabnet cant make it seem like anything more than a pleasant distraction. Is the beautiful Xiao Mei taking advantage of Malcolm for a visa, as David claims? Is David as nice as he was in college? Will Malcolm ever tell his new girlfriend that he has herpes?
Scenes come and go, necessitating quick changes to the puzzle box of a set from Takeshi Kata, but they never add up. Mei has lunch with Davids girlfriend Samanya (a quite good Sonequa Martin-Green), but their relationship, as unlikely and somehow touching as it is, stops there. Malcolms job is rarely discussed until it becomes an important plot point in regards to Davids true nature, and Mei is never really anything but a blank canvas, used by Dohrn as a litmus test for the characters of the other three. Culture clashes arent new, but surely theres a fresher way of discussing them than that of Outside People. Outside People Through Feb. 4, The Vineyard, 108 E. 15th St. (betw. Irving Pl. & Park Ave.), [www.vineyardtheatre.org](http://www.vineyardtheatre.org/); $70.