Food is so much more than just food. It is how babies bond with their mothers, how we woo our sweethearts, and how we comfort the bereaved. We serve special foods to show respect or to ask for forgiveness.

Kenneth Lin’s Po’ Boy Tango is a new play that shows how food can do all that and much, much more. There are three characters: Richie Po, an immigrant from Taiwan, who wants to prepare his Mother’s “Great Banquet” for his daughter’s upcoming wedding. Gloria B, an African American woman who Po hires to cook the feast. And Po’s mother, who is the star of “Po Mama’s” cooking show on TV back in Taiwan.

We discover there are many other layers, old grievances and new grudges. Gloria was the caregiver when Richie Po’s daughter was threatened by cancer. Richie Po mentored Gloria’s son. Then they spent 10 years estranged until they reunited to make the Great Banquet. Gloria tries Shark Fin soup and learns how poverty and politics shaped Richie Po’s childhood in occupied Taiwan. Richie Po tries spoon bread and leans how poverty and politics shaped Gloria’s childhood in Jim Crow Alabama.

Director Chay Yew got great performances out of all three actors. Ken Narasaki as Richie Po made us weep with his frustrations. Jacqueline Williams as Gloria B had us jack-knifed with laughter learning to cook fish that was still alive! They had a gale storm argument that had us clutching our seats in terror. You honestly believed these characters were real people with real anger.

Jeanne Sakata turns in a virtuoso performance as Po Mama. She reveals the realities of survival as a widow in a war zone, at the same time teaching us how to make Chinese broth.

The strength of the play is showing how the working poor struggle to raise their families, do their jobs, and face their fears of the unknown, including people raised with different prejudices and superstitions.

Northlight Theatre in Skokie, IL, presented the World Premier of Po Boy Tango. It is the first installment of a three-year American Experience Series, underwritten by the Lehman Family. This Series will present work that integrates both contemporary and historically significant events. Social justice, tolerance, inclusion, and freedom, both religious and political, are the key factors in selecting works.

Po Boy Tango by Kenneth Lin received the Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, which enabled Northlight Theatre to extend the rehearsal period to strengthen the first production. If you are looking for a thought provoking play for the next season of your college, community, or commercial theatre, check out Po Boy Tango.

Photo credits: Northlight Theatre, www.northlight.org