The cast of the Jungle Theater’s premiere production of Katie Ka Vang’s “Sixpack” features Pagnia Xiong (front) and, from left, Megan Kim, Dorothy Vang, Ashley Horiuchi, Phasoua Vang and Dexieng “Dae” Yang. It plays through June 29. (Courtesy Lauren B. Photography)
Fifty years ago, Hmong people first arrived in Minnesota as refugees from the wars of Southeast Asia. In their Laotian homeland, they were earmarked for destruction for having aided the U.S. side in the Vietnam War, and Minnesota became one of two states to help resettle the vast majority of those who escaped, California being the other.
Today, those of Hmong descent are an integral part of the Minnesota mosaic, but one of them, St. Paul-based playwright Katie Ka Vang, looked around and saw something missing. There were Hmong women with a certain style that never hit the pop culture radar: Tough, streetwise, cocksure and confident, deeply devoted to their families, friends and culture, but not the least bit demure or deferential.
Judging from her new play, “Sixpack,” which premiered this weekend at Minneapolis’ Jungle Theater, Vang knew just where to find them: the volleyball court. That’s where she saw these women’s aggressiveness, competitive fire and camaraderie come through. And she’s taking Twin Cities audiences there via a funny, absorbing and very rewarding 90-minute theater piece that chronicles the friendship of two St. Paul girls whose paths eventually diverged.
Deftly directed by Sara Pillatzki Warzeha, “Sixpack” entertainingly explores the ties that bind six women together, doing so with sharp-eared dialogue, vivid characterizations and an abundance of imagination in its design and choreography. On the latter account, Sandy Agustin has created some fascinating transitional interludes that blend volleyball movements with elements of religious ritual.
Pam (Ashley Horiuchi, left) and Auntie Windy (Phasoua Vang, center) make a plan to help their troubled volleyball teammate, Jou (Dorothy Vang), in the Jungle Theater’s premiere production of Katie Ka Vang’s “Sixpack,” playing through June 29. (Courtesy Lauren B. Photography)
When we first meet Pam and Jou, they seem strangers, but it soon becomes clear that they’re estranged friends. We’re then cast backward to their high school years, when they’re both starting to impress coaches and college recruiters as promising volleyball players. Pam feels ambivalent about leaving for college, while Jou desperately wants out, largely due to a troubled relationship with her mother.
They’re supported and sometimes antagonized by a colorful retinue of women, and each actor in the six-woman cast steps forward to steal at least one scene. Or several, in the case of Phasoua Vang as the comical Auntie Windy, most memorably when she proves the volleyball equivalent of a pool shark while crafting a con.
Pam is the engaging center of the story, and that’s thanks not only to the fine writing, but also to Ashley Horiuchi’s eminently believable portrayal. While Dorothy Vang could bring more of Jou’s exasperated restlessness to the surface, there’s little she can do to upstage what Dexieng “Dae” Yang does with her mother, Smiles, the most brassy, take-no-guff character in the show, a woman both fun-loving and bitter. It feels like a bold breakthrough performance for Yang, one of both force and subtlety.
They’re complemented very well by Megan Kim and Pagnia Xiong in multiple roles, the latter shining when this quite successful Hmong music artist breaks into a sweet-voiced song that no one recognizes until she fast-forwards to the chorus in funny fashion and it turns into an exuberant sing-along.
Four women share a song in the Jungle Theater’s premiere production of Katie Ka Vang’s “Sixpack,” which plays through June 29. From left are Megan Kim, Dexieng “Dae” Yang, Phasoua Vang and Pagnia Xiong. (Courtesy Lauren B. Photography)
Taking its title from the slang term for taking a spiked volleyball in the face, “Sixpack” deals with some jarring realities, but does so with a lot of humor and not a hint of melodrama. It’s a richly real and ultimately powerful production.
Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.
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‘Sixpack’
When: Through June 29
Where: Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls.
Tickets: $15-$45, available at 612-822-7063 or jungletheater.org
Capsule: A very well-crafted play and production about some very colorful Hmong women.
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