Studio Theatre presents The Heart Sellers

The season is underway at Studio Theatre with Lloyd Suh's heartfelt comedy The Heart Sellers coming to the Milton Stage this September. The two-woman cast, Francesca Fernandez and Jeena Yi, will assemble at Studio and production will be well underway as of next week.

The Heart Sellers at Studio Theatre

The Heart Sellers takes place on a chilly Thanksgiving evening in 1973. On the eve of Richard Nixon's dismissal from the Oval Office and at the height of Soul Train's popularity, The Heart Sellers chronicles the development of a friendship between two immigrant women who gather to celebrate their first major American holiday after meeting by chance in a sparsely-populated grocery store. The show will introduce Studio audiences to the intimate sometimes hilarious inner world of two characters as their story, a story about finding friendship, room for joy and one's place in the world, unfolds on stage.

"Lloyd's work is a very Studio mix of broad perspective and specific character-based observation," says Artistic Director David Muse. "Luna and Jane ring with the humor and emotional resonance of real people-these roles are gifts to actors, which we're always looking for in our programming. It's also a very human, anti-polemical look at the costs and opportunities of choosing to leave your home country for the United States at a time when immigration policy is again very much in the national conversation. Director Danilo Gambini is a great match for Lloyd's mix of heart and smarts, and I think our audiences will find a lot to love in here."

The show is directed by Studio Associate Artistic Director Danilo Gambini, himself an immigrant to the U.S. from Brazil, who noted: "Luna and Jane are facing challenges like language barriers, loneliness, xenophobia, but also one lesser-known frustration, one very known to immigrants ourselves: the loss of a sense of humor. It does feel like we lose our sense of humor when we need to adapt into a new language, into a new culture. This night, if they can make each other laugh, it means that everything might just be all right. In times of fear, with forces trying to oppress a very important part of our population, we join them as they dare to laugh, dance, dwell in joy, and just be."