DisOrient Players Debut

Some scenes lack dialogue, others are nearly motionless; at least one resonates with marital discord, and another, with the edgy voice of a ’50s radio advertisement. The DisOrient Players—Harvard’s Asian American theater group—will put up their debut play, Charles L. Mee’s “Under Construction,” in the Adams Pool Theatre tonight and tomorrow night. This collage-like show promises no saccharine love story or much of a narrative at all, but Mee’s experimental play, directed by Karoline K. Xu ’16, does offer a series of cultural clips—isolated portraits of real-life moments that make for a bold presentation of different conceptions of race and identity.

“Under Construction” ventures through time and setting, touring the vast halls of America’s collective memory with a focus on repression in the 1950s. As the show progresses, the play pitches questions about societal norms, romance, familial allegiances, and gender roles.

But answers are unlikely to be provided. “We hope the audience will be entertained, thoughtfully provoked, and even a bit confused,” Xu says. Producers Haemin Jee ’14 and Xu in part selected Mee’s “Under Construction” because it is so open to interpretation.

The DisOrient Players intend to realize the play’s title, “Under Construction,” not only in content, but also in form. Alternating scene order on successive nights, Harvard’s new theater troupe will strive to remain theatrically elastic.

“Playwright Charles Mee actively promotes diverse casting as well as uniquely interpreting and reworking his pieces, two issues we found important,” Xu says. Adopting Mee’s emphasis on daringly disjointed scenes, the DisOrient Players looks to debut this piece with a bang.