140 LBS/OVER 140 LBS
OAKLAND ASIAN CULTURAL CENTER PRESENTS SUSAN LIEU’S “140 LBS”/“OVER 140 LBS” DOUBLE-FEATURE FOR MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND!
Friday, May 7, 2021 – Sunday, May 9, 2021
Family is complicated. Whether your mother is alive or gone, close or distant, join us Mother’s Day weekend for Susan’s comedy-dramas about grief, family dynamics, spirituality, beauty, and Vietnamese culture. OACC is excited to present “140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother” along with its sequel “OVER 140 LBS” for a special Mother’s Day double-feature presentation! These solo theater works are written and performed by Susan Lieu, a first-generation American born to Vietnamese refugees, whose story focuses on how her mother died from plastic surgery malpractice when Lieu was 11 and her search to know her mother. Susan’s performances weaves together several through-lines: inter-generational trauma; parent-child relationships; body insecurity and shame; repression and healing from personal loss; lack of accountability in the medical system; Vietnamese folkloric practice of spirit channeling. These plays speak to a wide variety of communities as it lies at the intersection of different identities and lived experiences. Her work has been featured in the L.A. Times, NPR, The Washington Post (The Lily), NBC News, American Theatre, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Seattle Times.
All virtual screenings will be accompanied with an opportunity for reflection and Q&A with Susan and a different guest speaker each night! Confirmed guests include: Sarah LaFleur (CEO of M.M.LaFleur), Alica Forneret (creator of The Mourning Herald), Melanie Elvena, (Programs Manager of the Asian American Women Artists Association), Philip Nguyen (Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations), the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association, Sophia Sun and Da Eun Kim, hosts of the bamboo & glass podcast, Holly Tran and Elizabeth Wong (co-creators of Death Over Dim Sum) and more! View details and purchase tickets at https://oacc.cc/event/140lbs-double-feature/.
About 140 LBS (Production length: 65 min | Total event length: 2 hours): Two hours into surgery, Susan’s mother loses oxygen to her brain and the plastic surgeon deliberately does not call 9-1-1 for fourteen minutes. Five days later, while in a coma, she flatlines. The surgeon is charged with medical negligence and her family falls apart; no one talks about what happened. Nineteen years later on her wedding day, Susan’s mother’s seat sits empty and Susan realizes she can no longer ignore what she’s always wanted: to know who her mother was. Sifting through thousands of deposition pages and reaching out to the killer’s family, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself, and the impossible ideal of Vietnamese feminine beauty.
About OVER 140 LBS (Production length: 84 min | Total event length: 2.5 hours): Almost 9 months pregnant, Susan is terrified of becoming a mother when she didn’t know her own. Stifled by the shame and silence of her mother’s early death, Susan needs to figure out how to deal with the intergenerational trauma she’s inherited before the baby is born. This is the sequel to 140 LBS with some overlapping content.
This event is sponsored in part by Naja Pham Lockwood of RYSE Media Ventures and M.M.LaFleur.
The Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) builds vibrant communities through Asian and Pacific Islander (API) arts and cultural programs that foster intergenerational and cross-cultural dialogue, understanding, collaboration, and social justice. For more information visit www.oacc.cc.