Don X. Nguyen was three years old when his family fled Saigon during the war and moved to the United States. "We ended up in Nebraska of all places."
A Vietnamese child growing up in the middle of America had its challenges. "There weren’t that many people who looked like me. I kind of just learned to conform because that was a way to survive in a way, socially. My priority wasn’t to speak Vietnamese, it was to learn English. And actually my father kind of impressed that idea on me. He really felt in order to succeed in this country you must learn perfect English."
Problem was, his father still preferred to speak Vietnamese. He learned English but would rather speak in his native tongue. Over time, their failure to communicate applied to both language and their relationship.
Years later, Nguyen used this as a basis for his play
The World is Not Silent, now on stage at the Alley Theatre. Its a semi-autobiographical play — which the playwright said more closely reflected his own life the longer he worked on it.
"All of our lives we've had this communication gap. He speaks mostly Vietnamese and I speak mostly English. About 16 years ago my dad started losing his hearing. About the same time I was finishing a play about sign language. I didn't really think about this two things connecting until about five years ago."
Nguyen was commissioned to write another sign language play. "I pitched them this idea. What if my father and I agreed to learn sign language in order to communicate but instead of learning American Sign Language my father unbeknownst to me learned Vietnamese instead. So the communication gap would remain.
"So which of the two of us would have to cross that gap became the dramatic question for the play."
Tony Aidan Vo plays Don the son, Long Nguyen plays his father Dau and Mai Le plays Linh, who the playwright describes as "basically a surprise character." Marya Mazor directs. The father speaks English, but it's a bit broken.
"I would say about 85 percent of it is true much to my chagrin. I never set out to write a play where the main character is me. Actually what I found was the strength of the play lies in the personal life of my father and I and especially with my character where I actually found him quite dull.to begin with."
He then leaned into the fact that in real life his hobby is doing astro photography. "It really helped me finish the play. I was pretty stuck. But once I put that element of astro photography and star gazing into the mix it really strangely connected and jelled almost instantly."
This play was the second time Nguyen has taken part in the Alley's All New Festival, which helps playwrights work on their plays — as well as spots plays they might move to a full production. "I find the Houston audiences are just always so invested in new work. They're great listeners and great responders.
"I didn't know if the play was funny. I didn't know if the play was meaty. I didn't know if this play was heart warming and it was all those things and I discovered at the Festival. It was the single best playreading I've ever had in my life."
"Growing up in Nebraska both my parents worked full time and they were super busy. I hardly ever saw them. My image of my father growing up was that he was a very busy man, very serious tring to make ends meet. But every day he would come home and watch reruns of
Three's Company. I'd never ever heard my dad laugh laugh that way before. I thought to myself I could make my dad laugh like that someday that would be so great."
In college studying architecture, Nguyen decided to take a theater class. He thought an acting class would give him a little more confidence for public speaking. He auditioned and got cast in the Chekov play
The Bear. He invited his parents to see it. "I remember during the show and hearing my dad laugh and it was just like he was watching
Three’s Company.
"It changed the course of my like because I thought "OK, I think I’m going to study theater. I sat my parents down and I said 'Mom, Dad, I'm going to change my major and I'm going to study theater.' There was this long silence. And then my mom spoke up and she asked me: 'You’re going to work in a movie theater for the rest of your life?'"
From there he took his first playwriting class. When his dad saw him start writing, Nguyen said, his dad started to open up and tell him stories from Vietnam. "Things I'd never ever heard before. That was the moment when for my father and I, I started to understand him less as a serious businessman and more that he had this fascinating, adventurous life in Vietnam. That's what started me on the writing path in theater"
Over the course of his career Nguyen has been a small theater director, has done scenic design, acted and directed. But playwriting is what he's drawn to the most, he said.
"For me when I'm sitting in the audience as a playwright it's the most vulnerable and the most nervous I’ve ever been. These are words that literally come out of your soul. You just feel a lot more open. There's just something very rewarding for me about writing. and about recording the lives of people and my life as well. Making my mark in this world and making sure that everyone knows that I exist."
"This is unlike any show they'd ever seen before. It has spoken English, spoken Vietnamese, American Sign Language, Vietnamese Sign Language. It's all interwoven. The play is full of humor and warmth. And it's full of joy."
Performances of The World is Not Silent continue through April 14 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $43-$75.
