‘The Last Day’ Inspired by True Events
A play by Christina Joy Howard
A play by Christina Joy Howard
‘The Last Day’ invites us into the creative journey of playwright
Christina Joy Howard as she pens the last days of the fall of Saigon.
The source material Howard uses to transform her work from paper to
stage was acquired through 1975 audio recordings from her father, as
well as hard-fought conversations with him about his personal experience
of those final days.
Ms. Howard’s father, Bruce Howard, is a US civilian on assignment who
meets his future wife, and Christina’s Mother, a young Vietnamese
woman, a USA educated translator who has returned to Saigon to be with
her family only to be caught up in the war. ‘The Last Day’ characters
come alive as they are reveled in the recordings. The play digs deep
into the Viet Nam Era and the evacuation of 40,000 people from Saigon
back-up video projections, time captured sounds/music and dialog add an
effective counterpoint to the live action.
The father-daughter relationship is important here too. Fathers who
were steeped in 1950s male tradition are often annoyed by the directness
of young women’s ambition and caught in the transition of young women
with 1970s-1980s ambition and curiosity.
Noah Benjamin plays himself and Bruce Howard. Benjamin interacts with
Howard as she struggles to write the play and imagines Benjamin playing
her father. It works well.
‘The Last Day’ is presented by The Loft Ensemble a well oiled group,
and versatile as they answer to each actor playing several roles Through
May 27th.
The Loft Ensemble is located at 929 E. 2nd St/Vignes 213-680-0392 LOFTensemble.com
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