People are talking about “Kim’s Convenience.”
The Westport Country Playhouse production has audiences buzzing. The acting, dialogue, casting; the up-front stereotypes and recognition of universal family themes — they love it all.
They particularly love the set.
Designed by You-Shin Chen, it recreates a Korean-owned convenience store in Toronto — right there on the 91-year-old Playhouse stage.
We’re not talking a shelf or two. This is aisle upon aisle of candy, chips, cigarettes, paper towels — exactly what you’d find in a store like that.
Plus fully stocked coolers, a sign demanding legal ID — even fluorescent lights and heating vents.
David Shih, Eric R. Williams, and the “Kim’s Convenience” set, at the Westport Country Playhouse. (Photo/CarolRoseggt
It’s a shame to think of striking the set when the show ends on Sunday.
Happily, it won’t be.
Instead, the fully stocked “store” will be packed up, and moved to California. In September, the entire set and most props will wow audiences at the Laguna Playhouse production of “Kim’s Convenience.”
The only items not going are the beverages in the coolers, and bread. The candy will be shipped separately, to avoid melting in the hot truck.
A professional transfer company is handling the arrangements. Chin will help.
RJ Romeo, the Playhouse’s technical director, heads to Laguna this fall. He’ll assist the production crew there with installation.
But that’s not the only rental. After the California run, the set will be shipped again — to TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas, for their January production.
Westport Country Playhouse is nationally known for the hundreds of famed actors who starred here.
Now we’ll be known — in Southern California and Arkansas, anyway — for the Toronto Korean convenience store that once graced our stage.
(“Kim’s Convenience” runs through this Sunday, July 17. Click here for tickets, and more information.)
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Great show, engaging start to finish! The set and especially the acting sold and told the story.