In his new work Chinese Republicans, now in its world premiere for a limited Off-Broadway engagement with Roundabout Theatre Company, playwright Alex Lin considers an American story of cultural assimilation, sexual politics, and clashing intergenerational perspectives while navigating capitalism and climbing the ladder of corporate finance, as a young newcomer joins three established businesswomen who meet for an “affinity group” lunch each month at a Chinese restaurant, attempt to steer her budding career, and examine the realities of their own, as tempers flare, truths are exposed, and their ambitions, triumphs, and sacrifices come into question.
Set in NYC in 2019 – the year before the pandemic shutdown and the last year of Trump’s first presidency – the narrative, under the direction of Chay Yew, combines over-the-top laughs with seething tension, explosive confrontations, cutthroat competition, and revealing disclosures about the work environment and its impact on their personal lives, delivered at a rapid-fire pace with full-out emotion by the four Chinese American women of different ages and background experiences, intent on breaking the glass ceiling in the white-male-dominated world of finance at Friedman Wallace.
The characters – all diehard Republicans and capitalists, driven by money and position (until they aren’t) – hurl politically incorrect insults, drop non-stop f-bombs, yell and talk over each other, engage in brutal in-fighting (fight direction by UnkleDave’s Fight-House), criticize each other’s knowledge and delivery of the Chinese language (dialect coaching by Ka-Ling Cheung), and offer their tough-as-nails advice on how to get ahead in a world that has traditionally denied them access based on gender and ethnicity. But with the firm’s expansion in China, opportunities have opened up for them, if they buy into the expectations and attitudes of the status quo, look and dress the part, and turn a blind eye and remain silent about the continuing discrimination and exploitation.
An all-in cast of four delivers the extreme personalities with razor-sharp wit and scathing insights into American business and finance and the behavior they engender. Jodi Long is the no-holds-barred 65-year-old Phyllis, who aggressively criticizes everyone (including herself for being half-Filipino) and holds firm to the old dictums that “you can’t help others if you can’t help yourself” and “early is on time, on time is late,” complaining repeatedly that “she’s late” when the 24-year-old pescatarian Katie, who is the newest hire and up for another promotion, arrives just shortly before the appointed hour. Katie, played by Anna Zavelson, is excited about her prospects, uses the more contemporary language and advances of her generation (she’s studying Chinese on the Duolingo digital platform to advance herself), and is willing to leave quickly whenever her unseen male friend Casey calls (which proves to be an unwise decision, for both her sought-after advancement and with the other women, who have chosen career over personal relationships and family). She is mentored by the less confrontational and initially more sympathetic Ellen, who, at 48, has also lent her support with the corporation’s management to Phyllis (arranging for a lateral “promotion”), and envisions becoming, along with Katie, a partner in the firm. And Jully Lee plays Iris, a 31-year-old Chinese immigrant in the US on a soon-to-expire work visa, awaiting her green-card application, and especially critical of the others’ less-than-impressive linguistic skills in the Mandarin dialect and minimal knowledge of her native country and their ancestral homeland, as the self-proclaimed “expert on Chinese people.” Rounding out the cast is Ben Langhorst in the supporting role of the waiter, an average white guy who speaks four Chinese dialects better than any of them and is subjected to their constant complaints and criticism of the restaurant, its food, and his service.
The wild ride also contains flashbacks to the earlier careers of the Young Phyllis and Ailin (also portrayed by Long and Ikeda), the latter advised by Phyllis to use the Americanized name Ellen, and her surreal “WORST STRESS NIGHTMARE” in the format of a game show she might not be able to win. Will the relentless stress on the women, combined with a long-held secret that is exposed to the public, trigger a dramatic change in the trajectory of their lives and beliefs? Or will they remain hell bent on advancement at all costs?
A top-notch artistic design gives a pitch-perfect tone to the locales, the characters, and their states of mind. The rotating set (by Wilson Chin), on a turntable stage, easily transitions from the well-appointed Chinese restaurant to the Friedman Wallace office and into the psychological distress of Ellen’s zany dream, all enhanced with projections (by Hana Kim), lighting (by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew), and original music and sound (by Fabian Obispo) that accentuate their moods and transport us into their situations. And costumes (by Anita Yavich) range from the women’s power suits and high heels to the more youthful denim and tee-shirt of the off-work Katie and the dazzling traditional Chinese outfit in which Lee appears in Ellen’s mind, with well-matched hair and wigs (by Tom Watson), that define the figures and their quest for being seen, heard, and accepted in the world and the profession they’ve pursued.
Though set in 2019, Chinese Republicans is a timely send-up of our current socio-economic climate, with the crackdown on immigration, the rise of racially motivated attacks, the reversal of previously enacted women’s rights, the lack of accountability of sexual predators, the aspiration for money and power trumping humanity, and the necessity of the #MeToo movement and active protests to rectify the inequities that persist in our country. It’s a show and a cast that are both funny and spot-on.
Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes, without intermission.
Chinese Republicans plays through Sunday, April 5, 2026, at Roundabout Theatre Company, performing at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $69-102, including fees), go online, or find discount tickets at TodayTix.
