As Los Angeles Burned
“Two Stop” weaves together the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the LA Uprising in a riveting family drama and comment on age-old racial struggles.
It’s late April 1992. The verdict acquitting the four officers who beat Rodney King senseless has just been announced. You’re trapped in a Korean market in Koreatown, on the edge of South Los Angeles, where the former owner was recently murdered. Police helicopters menace from above. The night sky glows with light from the flames consuming the city. And you’re Korean yourself.
What could go wrong?
Suzen Baraka, JuneSoo Ham, Tristina Lee
So begins the marvelously gripping world premiere performance of “Two Stop,” written by David Johann Kim and directed by Tracey A. Leigh, now playing at the Atwater Village Theatre.
Jong, played by JuneSoo Ham, has reluctantly taken over the family market after his older brother was gunned down during a robbery weeks earlier. Limping from decades-old shrapnel wounds from Vietnam, he’s restocking the shelves with candy bars and potato chips when someone pounds on the store’s locked front door.
Warily, Jong admits GG, a teenage Black girl from the neighborhood who pleads for shelter from the violent streets outside. Played by Tristina Lee (with Iyanna Jennaé alternating in the role), GG seemingly knows much more than she should about the market and its new owner.
Joon and GG strike up a combative relationship, starting when GG tries to shoplift a half dozen packages of baloney, of all things, and continuing when they play a spirited game of cat and mouse around the rows of shelves. Overhead, news from what some call the LA Riots and others the LA Uprising plays on silent television monitors.
The combativeness ratchets up significantly when GG’s mother, Sunny (played by Suzen Baraka), comes looking for her daughter. A sometime crack addict and full time adrenaline junkie, Sunny reveals the surprising depths of the relationships that bind the three of them together, dating back to the Vietnam War, before that to the Korean War, to wartime brothels and orphanages, to tangled friendships, and to even more tangled romantic relationships.
Kim’s intricate plot reveals one surprising new connection after another, while the three cast members are marvelously riveting throughout, unfolding the sometimes complex plot points around their frenetic action. Justin Huen’s recreation of a small corner market is a delight to behold.
It’s a don’t-miss performance. For some reason, I burst into tears when the lights came down. Vietnam. Shrapnel wounds. The LA Uprising. The state of race relations in America. My two play-going partners, wife and daughter, asked what was up with me. I struggled to explain.
Iyanna Jennaé and David Johann Kim
A production of EST/LA, “Two Stop” plays Thursdays through Sundays, until June 9th, at the Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles: 213.293.8607, online tickets.
“Two Stop” is presented in conjunction with Chalk Rep’s production of “Pang Spa,” also penned by David Johann Kim.
