When a piece of writing enters the world, it is often a quiet birth. Whether published online or in print, it’s released into the wild to be experienced quietly by readers.
Not so the birth of a play, which comes into being surrounded by a cast of characters intent on pushing the work forward to opening night.
For playwright Min Kahng, that big night will be March 8, when TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will officially present the world premiere of Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical, after three nights of previews.
Directed by TheatreWorks regular Jeffrey Lo, the musical comedy/murder mystery follows the adventures of a grandmother, June (Emily Kuroda), who teams up with granddaughter Jade (Sophie Oda), a GenX vlogger and wannabe influencer, to find out who’s been killing the residents of the Happy Pleasant Valley Senior Apartments.
Since 2023, when the play was read at TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival, Kahng has been hard at work, first alternating between sessions with his laptop and piano, writing not only the book but also the music and lyrics. Then came the workshops, “with a bunch of people who are reading your script and learning your songs and putting it up on its feet.”
Kahng enjoys both phases. “I need that time away and I need that time sharing it with people … especially actors.” As they “inhabit these characters,” he says, they learn things about them “that I might not be privy to because I’m worried about the bigger picture.”
He says that working on Happy Pleasant Valley has been “a joy—a much-needed joy in the face of everything.” Director Jeffrey Lo sets “a generous tone” that encourages actors to contribute. It was important to Kahng, he says, to gain their perspective on the characters. “The two leads in the show are a grandmother and a granddaughter, so I’m actually writing about two generations I do not belong to.”
Through this back-and-forth with the actors, the characters become more complex. Kahng muses, “Audiences will be surprised. They might come in thinking that they’re in for a risque romp, which it absolutely is, but maybe they’ll be surprised that there’s some heart and depth to it that they didn’t expect.”
As opening night nears, his role in this production is coming to an end. “I try to write thank-you cards to everyone who’s involved. Because honestly, once the show’s open, in a way the production is no longer mine to work on.”
After the curtain rises, Kahng says, “I take a few days off. I don’t do any writing and I just kind of rest, recenter.”
This is Kahng’s second rodeo with TheatreWorks, having debuted his play The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga with the company in 2017. That production was a milestone for the budding playwright, who grew up in Danville. In his early 20s Kahng worked in marketing for Safeway, which is headquartered in Pleasanton, until he began moving toward a theater career in 2008, teaching voice lessons, working theater gigs and writing his own plays. But it wasn’t until the Four Immigrants premiere at Theatreworks that decided to go full time in theater.
It’s a decision he’s stuck to. “Even though we went through this really harrowing time for theater” during the pandemic, he says, “I can’t deny the fact that I just want to write something for the stage. … There’s just something about writing a piece for the theater that draws me in.”
After being asked if he’s seen any concern in the theater community about future cuts in government support for the arts—particularly on any initiatives involving DEI—Kahng says, “The sense that I get however is that the theater community is standing firm on its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. You can call it whatever you want to call it. It’s really, ‘Are the stories reflecting the community?’ That’s the priority. Are voices that haven’t been heard before being able to be amplified?
“And I think from what I can pick up from my colleagues and friends in the field, we’re committed to sticking with that,” he concludes. “Unfortunately, if that means the government isn’t going to fund that, we’re going to have to find other ways to make that happen. If anything, I think it lights more of a fire under us.”
Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical previews Mar 5-7 and opens Mar 8. Runs through Mar 30 with evening shows and matinees Wed., Sat and Sun. Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets: $34-$115. Visit theatreworks.org or call 877-662-8978
