LAFPI

A large, red digital clock counts down. A young woman living alone in a foreign country finds courage in her decision to leave her home. Her daughter, years later, finds her place in a changing world. “A Minor Inconvenience” tells two stories, woven and connected as one. 

A Minor Inconvenience is an original musical revolving around two teenagers experiencing the final minutes before their 18th birthday. The show explores the experience of being Asian American by finding the similarities between two young girls turning 18: one in Asia, planning a new life, and her daughter, in the United States, finding her place. 

The clock counting down makes obvious the ticking, ever-constant presence of time. The show, all perfectly timed to fit within a real clock’s constraints, explores the notion of fleeting time as our protagonists recognize their inhibitions about this anticipated moment of turning into an adult and the changes and responsibilities that await them. The clock, and time, acts as an exigent conductor of their lives. The show begins with the clock starting and ends at the moment time runs out and our protagonists turn 18.

Our protagonists grapple with their growing identities, experiencing the juxtaposition between the expectations of our Asian communities and the expectations to succeed as an American. Growing older brings the universal feelings of loss, identity shifts, and simple desires for connection and understanding. In the case of this immigrant mother and her child, these struggles are amplified by the difference in cultural expectations, values, and the challenges of harmonizing personal dreams with responsibilities. They work to understand how the meaning of home changes as we grow away from our parents and the community we grew up with and towards the lives and homes we create and find for ourselves.