A Middle Passage
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Yide
WEBSITE
newplayexchange.org/yidejohn-cai
SYNOPSIS
In an isolated drive-thru suspended from the outside world, three generations of an immigrant family work tirelessly to fulfill orders no one sees. As Grandma recounts memories from a lost homeland, language and time begin to blur, unsettling the rhythm of their lives. When strange frozen items appear and the temperature plummets, they must huddle together to survive. A surreal and haunting exploration of cultural memory, familial love and survival, A Middle Passage captures the quiet ache of being in-between.
PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO
Yide Cai is a poet, translator and award-winning playwright from Shenzhen, China. His work has been featured at the OOB Festival, La MaMa, The Tank, Kanini Fest and more. He is currently under commission from Theatre of Others and will have a play produced off-Broadway this summer. He is a fellow of the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, a member of TPOC Producing Cohort, and a scholar at Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Yide also works internationally as a producer, director and dramaturg, with credits including German National Theater Weimar, Prague Shakespeare Company and Chinese premieres of Dead Poets Society, The Book of Will and Lydia & The Troll. He is an MFA in Playwriting candidate at Boston University and holds a BA in Playwriting & German Studies from Emory University.
A BIT ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
When did you start writing plays? If you had a moment where you realized you wanted to write, what was it?
It may be a bit unusual, but I’ve been interested in philosophy since middle school in China, and my earliest “play-like” writings were actually philosophical dialogues – modeled after the conversations of Plato and Socrates. I was fascinated by the form’s ability to hold multiple perspectives in tension, rather than advocate for a single one. It felt more dynamic, more honest, and often more convincing. So, in a way, I began writing plays as imaginary conversations between famous philosophers, long before I realized I was writing theatre.
How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?
A Middle Passage emerged from both a spontaneous impulse and long-held reflections on my experiences and thoughts. For years, I’ve been engaging with immigration narratives in American theater – how they’ve evolved and how different demographic groups like African American and Asian American theatre often end up reinventing the wheel. Each wants to tell their own stories, but in doing so, they sometimes miss how much their stories have in common. I’ve long wanted to create a piece that speaks to this collective experience.
What are five words that describe who you are as a playwright?
Poetic, Expansive, Provocative, Layered, Ensemble-Driven.
What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?
My work is shaped by modernist literature from both Europe and China, with deep inspiration from figures like Bertolt Brecht, Gao Xingjian, Bei Dao, Wang Xiaobo, Georg Büchner, Paula Vogel, Kafka and Kierkegaard. Václav Havel, especially, is a personal role model; my dream is to become a figure like “China’s Havel,” blending art, political conscience and cultural impact. I’m also incredibly grateful to the mentors who have shaped my path: at Emory, Michael Evenden, Kimberly Belflower, Megan Tabaque, Donald McManus, Caitlin Hargraves and Lauren Gunderson; at Boston University, Nathan Davis and Hansol Jung; and at La MaMa Umbria, Martyna Majok and Kenneth Prestininzi. I also continue to be deeply influenced by my playwright mentor in China, Yang Qian, and my friend Michael Hollinger at Villanova.
What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?
I’ve been into tennis since I was 13. I play with a single-handed backhand (like the old-school folks), and I’m a huge Djokovic fan. It’s my favorite way to clear my head and just move.
What are some of your favorite plays?
Some of my favorite plays include Mother Courage and Her Children, Peony Pavilion, Danton’s Death, Pirandello’s Henry IV, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, The Visit, The Other Shore, How I Learned to Drive and The Baltimore Waltz. Each of these works challenged my perception of what theatre can do – politically, emotionally, and formally.
Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?
My play The Rice Eaters, a cross-cultural story about artistic authenticity, globalization and the myth of conformity in contemporary China, is getting an off-Broadway production at AMT Theater in New York, running August 7–10. I’m also working on a commissioned audio play with The Theatre of Others in response to this year’s prompt: “Borders and Belonging: The Rise of Nationalism and the Future of the Others.” It’s an exciting challenge to explore themes of identity, exclusion and resistance through the medium of sound.
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