A Comedic Crime Heist, with A Film Noir Aesthetic, That Delves Into A Family’s Dysfunctionality
FAST COMPANY
by CARLA CHING
directed by BRIAN BALCOM
The Guthrie Theater presents a Theater Mu production of Fast Company, the first production in Mu’s 2019/20 season. Mu welcomes Carla Ching back to the Twin Cities after her world premiere of The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up in 2016. Brian Balcom leads the Fast Company team as director, having previous work at Park Square Theatre, Gremlin Theatre, and Walking Shadow Theater Company. Mu has a longtime relationship with the Guthrie and previously produced Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, You For Me For You, and Circle Around the Island there.
SYNOPSIS
Mable Kwan is the best grifter that ever lived. She taught sons H and Francis to be the best roper and fixer around. When youngest daughter Blue puts together the con of the decade, will they all get in on the action together or will one of them walk away with it all? It’s a show of smoke and mirrors, but underneath the grifting and game theory is a provoking story about family, destiny, perseverance, and redemption.
Brian Balcom
Originally from the Twin Cities, now based in Chicago, Brian Balcom directs this comedic crime heist.
Every successful con is based on leveraging relationships. Establishing trust, exploiting vulnerabilities, and understanding the nature of human interaction. Carla Ching has deftly set this story inside an even more complex structure: a comically dysfunctional Asian American family. I’m naturally drawn to underdog stories. Though Blue’s got the least amount of natural talent in the family, she’s driven to work hard and succeed--finding her place as a leader and the respect of her family.
— Brian Balcom
It’s a story of the so-called “American Dream,” and Theater Mu plans to tell that story in an unstereotypical way. Part of Mu’s mission is to show audiences what it means to be Asian in American.
Lily Tung Crystal
But sometimes our race doesn’t have to be at the center of our story. Our season is inspired by the legendary Asian American civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, who urged her community, “Tomorrow’s world is yours to build.” We’re building that future by eschewing old clichés and letting our Asian American characters live in the totality of who they are—complicated, multifaceted, funny and flawed.
— Lily Tung Crystal, Mu Artistic Director
In Fast Company, Carla Ching honors that depth by placing Asian characters in the very American genre of the crime comedy. It’s a slick and sexy look into family dynamics and a refreshing Asian-but-not-about-BEING-Asian story.
Ming Montgomery
Ming Montgomery portrays Blue, joining a cast of established stage actors.
I’m so honored and humbled that my Twin Cities theater debut is with Mu where I’ve had the opportunity to learn from and work alongside welcoming and inspiring Mu veterans.
— Ming Montgomery
And bringing this production to life is a design team setting the world of Fast Company in the realm of film noir. Stark lighting, bouncy jazz, glitz and glam await audiences as they step into the Dowling Studio.