The engaging (and convenient) drama of ‘Kim’s Convenience’
Brandon McKnight (left) is Alex the cop, Ins Choi (center) is Appa (an expert in Hapkido) and Kelly Seo is Janet in Kim’s Convenience, a Soulpepper Production in association with American Conservatory Theater and Adam Blanshay Productions. Photo by Dahlia Katz
A lot happens to the Kim family on the fateful day depicted in Kim’s Convenience, the charming, funny, slightly frustrating play by Ins Choi, who also stars as the patriarch of a family whose business is a small convenience store in Toronto.
If the play’s title rings a bell, you may know it from the TV show of the same name the play inspired that eventually landed on Netflix and won a whole new world of fans. Choi’s one-act play, based on his and his family’s experiences as Korean Candadians, started it all in 2011, when it became a surprise hit for Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre. The play made the leap to the small screen in 2016 via the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and then to the streaming world of Netflix two years later.
Now that Kim’s is a well-established brand, Choi and Soulpepper revived the show (with Choi as the father rather than the son) and have launched the tour that has landed them in the season-opening slot for American Conservatory Theater.
Playwright Ins Choi also stars in Kim’s Convenience as the patriarch of a Korean Canadian family. Photo by Dahlia Katz
The 90-minute play feels like a super-sized sitcom epsiode with the advantage of having been well directed (by Weyni Mengesha), well acted (by Choi and a smart, funny cast of four other actors) and well designed (the realistic convenience store set is by Joanna Yu).
The laughter is warm and recognizable as we get to know the Kims: father Abba (Choi) is an astute business owner who works hard for his family; mother Umma (the under-used Esther Chung) has a contentious relationship with her 30-year-old daughter (Kelly Seo as Janet) ,who is single and still lives with her parents. Umma is also secretly in touch with son Jung (Ryan Jinn), who has been battling demons and struggling to make his own life away from his family
All the other people in the play, from a shoplifter to a cop to a real estate agent, are played by the charming and adaptable Brandon McKnight. He essentially represents some of the major forces in the world with the potential to bring great change to the Kim family.
Esther Chung is Umma and Ryan Jinn is Jung in Kim’s Convenience. Photo by Dahlia Katz
The play works both as a comedy and a drama because playwright Choi knows how to play cultural differences for laughs and bring up serious issues facing the lives of immigrants, small business owners and parents who struggle and strive so their children can have an easier life.
Funny and endearing, Kim’s Convenience is also implausible and content to stay mostly on the surface of things. It is, you might say, awfully convenient that so many momentous things happen to the Kims over the course of a day. This just happens to be the day Mr. Kim thinks for the first time about his “exit plan” or what life might be like outside the demands of the store, and it also happens to be the day that daughter Janet might finally see a path that will lead her out of her family’s home (and business).
There are also surprise offers and reconciliations, which, while lovely, happen too quickly and easily to make much emotional impact. Still, Choi’s play earns such good will that we’re happy for the family more than we are annoyed that this theatrical experience is more amiable live sitcom than complex Arthur Miller-like family drama.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience continues through Oct. 19 at American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Running time: 90 minutes (no intermission). Tickets $25-$130 (subject to change.) Call 415-749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org.
