Drama Masks: ‘Kim’s Convenience’ bags the laughs with intriguing drama

This is Drama Masks, a Bay Area performing arts column from a born San Franciscan and longtime theatre artist in an N95 mask. I talk venue safety and dramatic substance, or the lack thereof.

This morning, I sent a birthday e-mail to a local theatre personality. It’s been a rough year for their troupe, but I was happy to emphasize the great work this person and their troupe have done.

Shortly after, I thought about our blue jean-scion mayor. A small part of me would love to say this guy at least believes he’s acting in SF’s best interests. Then again, there’s a reason why my idealist side whispers while my realistic side shouts: Denim Danny is upzoning and displacing long-time residents and natives, all on the advice of the techie rats that are helping the White House wipe its ass with the Constitution. Even if Mayor 501s does think unabated capitalism will magically solve everything, it’s doesn’t change the fact that he’s wrong and real people are suffering for it.

The reason I thought about our stonewashed city official after speaking with a theatre artist is because I’m one thousand percent sure the mayor doesn’t even know there is a local theatre scene. I’m not kidding: I’m convinced he doesn’t know San Francisco even has live theatre, let alone struggling indie theatre. The last two mayors at least took photo ops at the late, great PianoFight, and the most recent one frequently appeared at clubs and medium-to-large houses (even if it was just to mock us all). But not Denim Danny.

Before the pedantic folks say he’s too busy to attend something trivial, allow me to point out that 1) his nine months in office have been 2% wooing Big Tech, 98% ribbon-cuttings; 2) he was happy to show up at the Trans March in June (where we mercilessly jeered him so bad that he ran back to his mansion); and 3) appearances at events like indie theatre send a message. Danny’s predecessors made cuts to the very lifelines supporting independent art, but they at least had enough media savvy to put up appearances. They (or rather, their PR staff) knew that non-corporate local art is truly representative of the constituency: It’s where the people have their voices heard and see their own stories reflected. The predecessors at least paid lip service to that fact.

Meanwhile, the mayor doesn’t even show up to the War Memorial Opera House. At least there, he’d be amongst his fellow blue-bloods, but he’s a constant no-show for SF’s Opera, Ballet, or the Symphony across the street. (Except for opening galas, of course.) Nevermind smaller productions from less-monied institutions that could use a boost. He’s shown about as much interest in actual art as he has for his own law-abiding, tax-paying citizens being snatched up by ICE agents in broad daylight.

That’s why the e-mail to theatre artist made me think of Mayor Dockers: it was nice to be in contact with someone who, like me, witnesses The City’s priorities from the bottom-up; someone who knows that the only sure-fire way to save local arts and culture is for someone like the mayor to start taxing the very 1%-ers he’s been courting. It was a relief to be in contact with someone whose very work breaks away from the hegemony that has an anti-DEI Starbucks and Well Fargo on every street corner.

Unlike our arts-allergic mayor, this was someone who knows the importance of actually showing up.

KIM’S CONVENIENCE AT ACT

And yes, that long-winded anecdote does tie into the most-recent show I saw. Not just because the last time I saw the previous mayor in-person was at an ACT show, nor because shows like this are why ACT’s output is barely removed from that of BroadwaySF. Actually, it’s because this show is about gentrification.

Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience (through October 19 at ACT’s Toni Rembe Theater, SF) is, apparently, the basis for a Canadian sitcom of the same name. The last time I saw one of those was when I binged Schitt’s Creek during the winter of 2020, so I can’t say how much the show hews to its source material. Yet, the play has all the makings of a TV pilot. Between its walk-in character intros and open-ended conclusion, one half expects executive producer credits to roll over a laugh track.

The titular convenience store is run by Korean immigrant Mr. Kim (Choi himself), a man with such an Archie Bunker-style disdain for the Japanese that the mere sight of a Japanese car is enough for him to have it towed. He seems to be located in a primarily-Black neighborhood, as that accounts for all the customers we see (all played by Brandon McKnight).

He mostly runs the store by himself, but occasionally gets help from his daughter Janet (Kelly J. Seo), whose dreams of being a photographer clash with her father’s wish that she take over the store, both as a personal legacy and to hold off a greedy real estate man (also played by McKnight). This wouldn’t be much of a concern if Janet’s estranged brother Jung (Ryan Jinn) were still around, but he and Mr. Kim haven’t spoken in years.

I know, that description sounds pretty heavy, and there are indeed several quiet moments of pathos. Yet Choi is ever conscious of his zinger quota. One suspects the script was written as a pilot first, play second, as each gag is specifically designed to broadly appeal to a raucous studio audience. It’s not that they’re bad jokes, mind you, but Mr. Kim referring to real estate man Mr. Lee “my Black friend with a Korean name” is the sort of one-liner you could easily imagine being pitched in writers’ room rather than in someone’s bedroom. What’s more, Janet’s “will they-won’t they” romance with Alex the cop (McKnight again) is such an intentionally wacky circumstance that it’s no surprise that it eventually devolves into outright slapstick.

Again, the jokes aren’t bad (for the most part), but the drama of the play works so much better. Mr. Kim and Jung last saw one another after an argument about the latter’s addictions lead to a physical brawl and Jung running away. Years later, the responsible new person he’s become has no interest in seeing his stuck-in-his-ways father. Jung’s only contact with family is regularly attending church to see his mother (Esther Chung, who only appears sparsely) and tell her about life. Her meeting him as an adult is juxtaposed with a scene of her pregnant with him, and it’s the most gripping scene in the entire play.

Even Mr. Kim’s dynamic with Janet plays better as straight drama. His openly-racist ranking system for customers of color is cringe-inducing, but at least makes a twisted bit of sense when you know he’s trying to groom Janet to be his successor. It doesn’t make it less racist, but one gets his crooked logic. Similarly, Janet is the classic unpaid artist trying to be taken seriously by her hard-working parents. Mr. Kim sees her as falling down a path that will leave her broke, but she has to listen to her muse.

As a fan of comedy as art, I’m not about to tell anyone not to add comedy to their dramatic story. What keeps Kim’s Convenience from true greatness is that all the jokes overwhelm the drama rather than simply relieve from it. It’s pretty consistent, but there are still some tonal clashes that are jarring to sit through. Were it not for Choi and his collaborators, this could have easily veered off-track.

Most notable amongst those collaborators are set designer Joanna Yu and projection designer Nicole Eun-Ju Bell. The amount of detail Yu put into each and every corner of the store is visible even from the back rows. The set has no roof, allowing us to see the brick apartment buildings that surround the store. Before the start of the show, I personally became fixated on Bell’s projection of a cat silhouette in one of the windows. As someone currently living with two cats, I was almost convinced a real feline had snuck onstage. 

As usual, what few other masked patrons there were seemed to mask up after seeing me walk in wearing my Flo Mask. CO² levels in the Rembe stayed steady, with my Aranet4 peaking around 1,577ppm by the final bow of the one-act show.

Kim’s Convenience is a great drama trapped inside an “OK” broad comedy. It’s well-acted (with McKnight and Seo playing particularly well off one another) and easily fulfills its goal of audience-pleasing. In fact, I may just seek out the spin-off sitcom for comparison. Yet, if it took itself just a smidge more seriously, it would be a near-masterpiece instead of cute distraction.

KIM’S CONVENIENCE runs through October 19 at ACT’s Toni Rembe Theater, SF. Tickets and further info here.