With Kim’s Convenience coming to Northern Stage in April, we explored the creative process of the show in an interview with writer and cast member Ins Choi. Now a global smash hit, find out more about the production of this heartwarming drama.
Q: What prompted you to first write Kim’s Convenience for the stage?
A: At the time, there weren’t many plays in Canada written by people from Asian descent. Not only that, but I didn’t see many Asians on stage. When Miss Saigon came to Toronto, that was huge. So, when I graduated from acting school, and hit a wall of casting, it was very frustrating. There weren’t any specifically Asian parts and people weren’t casting in non-traditional ways. Then, fu-GEN, the Asian Canadian theatre company formed, and the founding artistic director, Nina Lee Aquino (who’s the current AD at the National Theatre in Canada) wanted to nurture new Asian Canadian playwrights. She knew I wrote poetry and songs, so, she invited me to join their playwriting unit and said to come with an idea. Write what you know. Write from your experience. So, I thought of a Korean family who went to church and ran a convenience store, because most of my Korean friends’ parents did and I’d call it Kim’s Convenience. Kim is the most popular Korean last name, so, I thought, even if all the Kims in Toronto came to see it, it would do okay. I knew I wanted it to be contemporary and funny. I think humour has the power to disarm and communicate a lot more than jokes. But it took a long time to finish it.
Q: How does it feel to have had Kim’s Convenience become a worldwide sensation after it was televised?
A: It’s odd. I’ve never been good with being known in one way or another. I’m still trying to navigate social media. I’m learning and getting better with it but I’m a complete introvert who acts extroverted from time to time but do highly value my privacy and just being a regular person.
Q: Are you excited for the show to be reprised once more?
A: Yeah. We had such a great time last time. London audiences were incredible. So fortunate to be doing this again. Last time we were in a thrust configuration, this time, at Riverside Studios, we’re in a proscenium or an “End On” so, it’s a little different but another opportunity to deepen the moments and further clarify the performance.
Q: How do you feel audiences respond to the show and its themes when they see it on stage?
A: I think audiences see themselves or members of their family in the play. They laugh a lot, and some shed a tear or two. At its core, it’s about a broken family in transition. It’s complicated and I think audiences relate to the subtleties of that. Family is not easy. Audiences who only know the TV show enjoy the familiar characters, the setting and the humour, but are pleasantly surprised at the more dramatic threads in the play and some of the underlying serious issues at play in the context of an immigrant family trying to fit in, survive in a new country. But yeah, audiences have a good time.
Q: As the playwright of ‘Kim’s Convenience,’ what messages are you hoping audiences will take away with them when they leave the theatre?
A: I hope people have a great time. I hope they come to the theatre, laugh along with others, feel the feels with a group of people and feel less alone. I hope they see themselves or their family in the Kim family and better understand those in their communities that don’t necessarily look like them or are from another country.
Q: Are parts of Ins Choi found in any of the characters?
A: I relate to all the characters. I was single, unsettled, into my thirties pursuing an artistic career like Janet much to my parents’ dismay. Much like Jung, I’ve felt like a failure many times in my life envious of those who look like they’re further along. Like Umma, I tend to keep it all in frustrated at perhaps my in-action and mostly just trying to get through the day. And like Appa, I now have two children who don’t listen to me. Kidding. Sort of.
Q: The actors shared that it meant so much for them to be in a play featuring Asian characters. Any thoughts on that?
A: Stories are powerful. They disarm, nudge empathy and have the power to unite an audience regardless of who they are individually. And I think for a while, regardless of intent, what was received across Canadian theatre, film and television was that only a certain kind of story was worth telling, told by a certain kind of Canadian based on who was on stage or the screen, inadvertently sending the message that only certain stories were legitimate. We all know how it feels to be excluded. Things have changed for sure, and things are changing. Representation is important because it broadens the invitation to be part of the story, the story telling and what it means to be Canadian.
Take a stroll down this humorous aisle with Ins Choi and indulge yourself into a heartwarming play about a family-run Korean store that inspired the Netflix phenomenon.
