Suddenly out of nowhere, two different Asian American theater groups have sprouted in the Washington, D.C. area, each with their own visions of how to present the Asian American experience to the play-going masses. Tsunami Theatre presented David Henry Hwang's "F.O.B" last fall, unfortunately faltering in its presentation and further exhibiting the hackneyed Orientalism that plagues many literary works heralded by the mainstream.

"F.O.B." is about a young man, Steve, who comes to America from China and tries to win the affections of Grace, who came from China at a young age. Their relationship is complicated by a visit from Dale, Grace's American-born cousin with a rabid dislike of F.O.B.s. Dale obsesses about Steve’s presence, disparaging F.O.B.s as all wearing thick glasses, "horny," and "like Lenny in Of Mice and Men." What shortchanged the authenticity of the story was that Dale, contrary to the original script, was played by a woman. It is plausible that an American-born Asian man would feel his masculinity threatened by the presence of a clumsy, stereotypical immigrant. Or at the very least, he might feel embarrassed by the "F.O.B." for reinforcing stereotypes that he tries to combat. But it was entirely incongruous for a female Dale to possess the hatred and vitriol toward Steve.

The audience was furthermore distracted by the selection of a very Pilipino-looking actor to play Steve. No doubt Flordelino Lagundino is a talented actor, but he looked, sounded, and dressed nothing like an "F.O.B." from China would. His character constantly asked for "bing," (Chinese pastry), and each time he said the word in a flat tone, the audience was reminded that they were just at a play, not transcended into the playwright's world. Perhaps the costume director could have looked to Dale's lines in the script to prepare a more authentic-looking outfit for the F.O.B. to wear; instead of wearing thick glasses, having a bowl haircut, and out-of-style clothes, Lagundino was strangely dressed in a mock cowboy outfit with a bandana.

Similarly, Dale was dressed in a bad costume choice-- a red-white-and-blue "screaming allegory" shirt and jeans so tacky that she could have been mistaken for the F.O.B. character. To further emphasize Dale's Americanness, Dale (played by a Korean American actress who also did not look too Chinese) groped and pawed at her cousin so much that it invoked queasiness. The actors did what they could with Hwang's script, which seemed well-intentioned but once again, a la Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan, succumbed to cryptic symbolism and Orientalist psycho-babble about warriors and Chinese legends. Steve constantly asserts that he is a historical figure named Gwan Gung, and Grace prances around the stage with a sword, envisioning herself as a warrior.

With the production of "Big Hunk of Burning Love" by Asian Stories in America (ASIA), I was hoping to see an Asian American play more translatable to modern-day realism. "Big Hunk" was a big hit with the audience of about 100 people. The play, written by Prince Gomolvilas, a relatively unknown playwright, focuses on the universal themes of dating, parental expectations, and love. Winston is a Thai American, almost 30 and faced with a family curse that he either marry by the time he turns 30 or else he will burn to death. The play was whimsical with first-rate acting by all of the cast, particularly by Miyuki Williams and Al Twanso as Winston's goofy, conniving parents.

The only disjuncture was the insertion of a melodramatic crisis between Winston's friend Nick, a Chinese American married to a white woman, Sylvia. Their crumbling marriage was not fully developed into the plot and thus seemed like a hastily tacked-on subplot to Winston's mad rush to find someone to marry. Like "F.O.B.," "Big Hunk" was slightly affected by a casting mismatch in the pairing of Samantha Kearney (Sylvia) with Edu. Bernardino (Winston). In the play, Winston and Sylvia were once an item, and their past romance was supposed to resonate throughout the performance. Unfortunately, their romance was a bit unbelievable because Edu. Bernardino looked and acted like an inept teenage boy, while Samantha Kearney appeared to be a confident woman over 30. Still, overall, "Big Hunk of Burning Love" entertained the audience as a subtly humorous story with enough depth and unexpected intricacies to keep the storyline compelling.

ASIA director Stan Kang remarked after the show that while ASIA and Tsunami Theatre are separate entities with different visions (ASIA wants to showcase more contemporary, unknown plays), they are open to collaboration, and he believes there is room for more than one Asian American acting group in the D.C. area. Washington D.C., never known as a hotbed of Asian American artistic expression like NYC and San Francisco, is in for a treat.