King James

REGIONAL PREMIERE

Apr 2–27, 2025

SHOW HAS CLOSED – TICKETS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
By LLOYD SUH
Directed by JENNIFER CHANG
Watergate.
Soul Train.
Thanksgiving.
And a frozen turkey.
It’s 1973, shortly after the Hart-Celler Act abolishes immigration quotas in America and two immigrants, one Filipino, one Korean, meet by chance, strangers in a strange land. Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh tells the funny, deeply moving story of two isolated women sharing friendship and dreams as they navigate the backroads of the American Dream. Filled with heart and humor, this timely, touching play explores the paths we take to make a new home.

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Mines glistening jewels of humanity.
— SF Chronicle
Emotionally charged comedy.
— The Palo Alto Weekly
Loaded with heart.
— Mercury News

Photos: Allesandra Mello, 2025

Special Events & Accessible Performances

Join TheatreWorks for a pre-show discussion with TheatreWorks Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli and an artist from the production. In this free event, peer behind the scenes and learn more about the process of bringing The Heart Sellers to life.
  • Thursday, April 3, 2025 @ 6:30 – 7:15 pm (in the lobby)
  • Wednesday, April 9, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Wednesday, April 23, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Saturday, April 26, 2025 @ 8pm
  • Sunday, April 27, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, April 20, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, April 20, 2025 @ 7pm
  • Wednesday, April 23, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Tuesday, April 15, 2025 @ 7:30pm
  • Friday, April 11, 2025 @ 8pm
  • Saturday, April  12, 2025 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, April 20, 2025 @ 2pm
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania
One of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years.
— TheaterMania

Cast

NICOLE JAVIER

NICOLE JAVIER, she/her (Luna) returns to TheatreWorks after appearing in Mrs. Christie and tokyo fish story. She is reprising the role of Luna from the world premiere of The Heart Sellers at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. Regional work includes San Francisco Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company, Crowded Fire Theatre, Silicon Valley Shakespeare, New Conservatory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory, South Coast Repertory, Provincetown Playhouse, and Shakespeare Orange County. TV: Bosch Legacy, Film: We’re All Gonna Die, Sorority. Nicole earned her BFA from Chapman University and MFA from UC San Diego, and is a Resident Artist at A Noise Within in Pasadena, CA. nicolejavier.com, IG: @nicjavi. Maraming salamat sa aking pamilya at mga kaibigan <3

NAREA KANG

NAREA KANG, she/her (Jane) is a Korean American actor based in Los Angeles and New York City. Off Broadway/New York credits include Cymbeline (National Asian American Theatre Company), Madonna col Bambino (Ars Nova & New Ohio Theatre), and Salty (Lyra Theater). Select Regional credits include the world premiere of Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers (Milwaukee Rep), The Chinese Lady (Denver Center), White Pearl (Studio Theatre), and The Hard Problem (American Conservatory Theater). TV: Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Betty (HBO). Film: Jules. Training: MFA Acting, American Conservatory Theater.
nareakang.com @nareakang

NAREA KANG

NAREA KANG, she/her (Jane) is a Korean American actor based in Los Angeles and New York City. Off Broadway/New York credits include Cymbeline (National Asian American Theatre Company), Madonna col Bambino (Ars Nova & New Ohio Theatre), and Salty (Lyra Theater). Select Regional credits include the world premiere of Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers (Milwaukee Rep), The Chinese Lady (Denver Center), White Pearl (Studio Theatre), and The Hard Problem (American Conservatory Theater). TV: Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Betty (HBO). Film: Jules. Training: MFA Acting, American Conservatory Theater.
nareakang.com @nareakang

CREATIVE TEAM

LLOYD SUH, Playwright

LLOYD SUH is the author of plays including The Far Country (2023 Pulitzer Prize Finalist), The Heart Sellers, The Chinese Lady, Franklinland, Bina’s Six Apples, American Hwangap, and many others. His work has been produced across the country, including at Atlantic Theater Company, The Public, Alliance, Huntington, Berkeley Rep, and with Ma-Yi Theatre Company and Ensemble Studio Theatre among others, and internationally at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and with PCPA at the Guerilla Theatre in Seoul, Korea. Awards include the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, and the Guggenheim Fellowship. He was elected in 2016 to the Dramatists Guild Council, and serves as a Professor of the Practice at Princeton University.

JENNIFER CHANG, Director

JENNIFER CHANG is an award-winning director, writer, and actor. Upcoming: A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Pasadena Playhouse) and Yankee Dawg You Die (East West Players). Select recent directing: Primary Trust (Barrington Stage, BTCC award, and currently, TheaterWorks Hartford), What Became of Us (World Premiere at Atlantic Theater Company), The Far Country (West Coast Premiere at Berkeley Rep, SFBATCC Nom), King of the Yees (Signature Theatre DC, Helen Hayes Nom), On Gold Mountain with LA Opera, The Great Leap (Round House Theatre),Vietgone (LADCC AWARD for Direction). New Play/ Musical Development/ Residencies: Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, The Mercury Store, The Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Ashland New Plays Festival, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, Center Theatre Group, Sông Collective, Black and Latino Playwrights’ Conference, Theatre Mu, Chance Theater, Boston Court, PlayOn!, East West Players, Artists at Play. Playwriting: The Devil is a Lie at Quantum Theatre. Geffen Writers Room 23-24, Drama League Beatrice Terry Residency and collaborating on a few musicals with singer-songwriter Inara George. Member: SDC, AGMA, SAG-AFTRA, AEA. Drama League New York Fellowship, Classical Directing Fellow at The Old Globe. BFA – NYU, MFA – UCSD. Associate Professor UCLA. changinator.com.

REBS CHAN, Assistant Director

REBS CHAN is a multidisciplinary theatre artist based in the Bay Area. They have developed and presented original work through Yun Theatre, Festival Playhouse, Queer Theatre Kalamazoo, the Theatre Kalamazoo New Playfest, Taipei Shorts 6, and the Asian American Music Video Fest. They are currently the In Dialogue Coordinator at Berkeley Rep, Artistic Associate at Center REP, and Head of Dramaturgy and Audience Engagement at Bay Area Independent Chinese Dancers. Former Peter F. Sloss Artistic Fellow at Berkeley Rep and English Teaching Assistant through Fulbright Taiwan. Previous assistant directing credits include POTUS, The Far Country, and Mother Road at Berkeley Rep.

LISA MISAKO CLAYBAUGH, Costume Design

LISA MISAKO CLAYBAUGH (she/her) is TheatreWorks’ Assistant Costumer, and has more than 20 years’ experience in costumes. She also designs for many Bay Area theatres including Silicon Valley Shakespeare, Musical Theatre Works, Palo Alto Players, Santa Clara Players, Los Altos Stage, and Sunnyvale Community Players. She holds degrees in Dance and German Translation from Rutgers University. She is grateful for the support of her family, especially Marc, Aidan and Xander.

LAURA HICKS, Assistant Stage Manager

LAURA HICKS is a Bay Area Stage Manager originally from Alabama. In the Bay Area, she has been a Stage Manager for TheatreWorks New Works Festival, Aurora Theatre’s 1984, and ASM for TheatreWorks’ Being Alive, Steel Magnolias, and Tiger Style! She was the Resident Stage Manager with Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham for several years, where she was the stage manager for Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Holiday Spectacular, and their Performing Ensemble program. Additional Stage Manager credits include Die Fledermaus (Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Virginia Repertory Theatre), 1776 (Virginia Repertory Theatre), The Velveteen Rabbit (Virginia Repertory Theatre), Glory Denied (Opera Birmingham), and The Tragedy of Carmen (Opera Birmingham). Assistant Stage Manager credits include Dreamgirls (Virginia Repertory Theatre), Dreamgirls (Red Mountain Theatre), Elixir of Love (Opera Birmingham), Fiddler on the Roof (Red Mountain Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (Red Mountain Theatre), and The Nutcracker (Alabama Ballet).

ED LEE, Sound Design

ED LEE is a designer and engineer originally from San Jose and currently based in Sacramento. He is currently the resident sound designer for the Capital Stage. His theatrical credits include productions with Aurora Theatre, B Street Theater, Scaramento Theater Company, The Tabard Theatre Company, Sacramento Ballet, and Calcap Stuios, amongst others. Recent credits include Fairview and the animated series Zoonotic. This is his first production with TheatreWorks.

WEN-LING LIAO, Lighting Design

WEN-LING LIAO previously designed TheatreWorks productions of Mrs. Christie and Little Shop of Horrors. Selected credits: The Headlands, Gloria, and Vietgone with American Conservatory Theater; True West with People’s Light Theater; A Christmas Carol with Denver Center for the Performing Arts; Ah, Wilderness! at Hartford Stage; Quixote Nuevo, House of Joy, and The Winter’s Tale with California Shakespeare Theater; 44th Humana Festival; Are you There?, Nicole Clark is Having a Baby, and Flex with Actors Theatre of Louisville; The Catastrophist and The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley at Marin Theatre Company; Chinglish, Indecent, Dance Nation, Significant Other, and King of the Yees with San Francisco Playhouse; In the Heights and Native Gardens with Center REP. She earned her MFA from University of California, San Diego.

TAYLOR MCQUESTEN*, Stage Manager

TAYLOR MCQUESTEN (she/her) works internationally as a stage and tour manager, electrician, and stuntwoman. Select credits include 10+ seasons as TheatreWorks’ Resident Stage Manager, Production Stage Manager and Assistant Director for Lizard Boy, Tour Manager for Evan Rachel Wood and Zane Carney’s band EVAN+ZANE, SF Sketchfest (Assistant Technical Director / Associate Production Manager), Center Rep (Production Stage Manager / Electrician) California Shakespeare Theater (Production Electrician), Legion A/V (Head of Lighting), Playfaire Productions (Swordswoman), The Independent SF (Lighting Designer), Highlander Films (Production Assistant), American Conservatory Theater, Cabrillo Stage, Hillbarn Theatre, and Magic Theatre. She also trains historic mêlée weapons at Davenriche European Martial Arts School under master swordsman, Sir Steáphen Fick.

JUDITH NIHEI, Artist Counselor

JUDITH NIHEI is a San Francisco-based licensed psychotherapist in private practice. She consults for schools, nonprofits and community-based organizations, facilitating the incorporation of stress-reduction and cultural humility as an integral part of trauma-informed services. Clients have included Edgewood Center for Children and Families, Japanese Community Youth Council, and Theatre Communications Group, Inc. As a director, dramaturg, writer, actor, and administrator, she worked with Asian American theatre companies in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as The Seattle Rep, Cornish College of the Arts, Hillbarn Theatre and BRAVA. She began her career in improv with The Committee and currently performs as one of The Bad Aunties.

ARNEL SANCIANCO, Scenic Design

ARNEL SANCIANCO is an award-winning set designer with a nationally recognized portfolio. Previous TheatreWorks designs include Happy Pleasant Valley and Tiger Style! He’s currently the scenic design lecturer at UC Berkeley. His credits include productions at La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Muny, American Conservatory Theater, The Huntington, Goodman Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth, Writers Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Arizona Theatre Company, Court Theatre, American Players Theatre, Milwaukee Rep. For an in-depth look at his work visit ArnelDesigns.com or follow his work on Instagram @ArnelDesigns

AURORA THEATRE COMPANY

AURORA THEATRE COMPANY (Co-Production Partner) inspires new audiences and longtime theatre lovers alike with the visceral power of live theatre. Their Berkeley venues, the most intimate professional stages in the Bay Area, highlight great acting, nuanced language, and an immediacy that makes for exhilarating theatre. By telling deeply relevant stories, they’re building a new culture of theatregoing in the Bay Area and contributing to a revitalization of theatre nationwide, challenging all of us to think deeper, laugh louder, and engage more purposefully and profoundly with our neighbors and our world.

CAPITAL STAGE

CAPITAL STAGE (Co-Production Partner) is a professional nonprofit theatre company in Sacramento dedicated to creating transformative, thought-provoking theatre experiences that challenge, inspire, and connect. Founded in 2005, Capital Stage presents seven full-length live theatre productions each year, as well as various concerts and special events in its Midtown Sacramento home at 2215 J Street. Capital Stage also offers apprenticeships and internships to individuals seeking professional experience in theatre, performing arts classes to the public, and educational theatrical opportunities in association with CLARA, The Crocker Art Museum and McGeorge School of Law. Named by The Sacramento Bee as “One of the most respected arts organizations in the region,” Capital Stage is a leader of cutting-edge quality theatre in Northern California.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

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Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts

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Tue–Sun : 12pm–6pm