Overview
Jane and Luna run into each other in the grocery store on Thanksgiving in 1973 and discover they have much in common: they’re both 23, recent Asian immigrants, homesick and lonely with hardworking absentee husbands, and adjusting to a new country surprisingly filled with as much political uncertainty as the places they’ve left. Over a bottle of wine (or two) and a questionable frozen turkey, they dream of Disneyland, learning to drive, and an unknowable future as they share their hopes and fears in making a new home in a new reality.
Casting & Production
Casting
CHARACTERS (2F)
LUNA — Luningning Ignacia Mangahas de la Rosario Bustos, 23, Filipina, female
JANE — Hong Jae Ha, 23, Korean, female
Casting Note:
The characters are to be performed by actors of Asian or Pacific Island descent only. Further to this, because language of origin is a critical component of the play, it is essential to cast actors with specific understanding and lived or inherited experience with the respective dialects of the characters.
Setting
Place:
Luna’s apartment, in a mid-sized U.S. city.
Time:
Early evening, Thanksgiving Day.
November 22, 1973
Reviews
“Beautiful… Politically astute and filled with subtly devastating lines, THE HEART SELLERS is about intelligent, curious, creative women who find themselves bereft in a new country — where they recognize something in each other, and cheer each other on.”
—The New York Times
“A stunning comedy… I would sign up for a whole season of shows about Luna and Jane… Breathtaking.”
—The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
