Dragon Lady: Being Anna May Wong

Despite being one of the most famous actresses of the 1920s and 30s, Anna May Wong is little remembered by many film fans today. Dragon Lady: Being Anna May Wong, written and performed by Alice Lee, seeks to rectify this injustice of history. Setting up alternating scenes between her public and private lives, the play attempts to draw a picture of the Chinese-American actress’ rise to fame, exploring her inner conflict over racial stereotyping and her need to survive in the movie industry in both the United States and Europe.

The juxtaposition of Wong’s calm public face and her personal anguish is brought to life in blistering detail by Lee, who tackles quick scene changes with alacrity. A particularly grief-stricken scene in which Wong laments the death of her mother appears to invoke real tears; two minutes later, she has become the unflappable performer again, perfecting an obsequious smile and ignoring the black mascara trickling down her cheek.

In parts, however, these quick scene changes can cause confusion. At one point, Wong re-enacts her part as Lotus Flower in the 1922 film The Toll of the Sea, and it soon becomes hard to keep track of the three parallel sets of action that occur in Dragon Lady. Nevertheless, the play paints an engaging portrait of a starlet who defied the conventions of both white supremacists and the traditional Chinese community to become a transatlantic superstar, and will leave you wanting to discover—or rediscover—her vast filmography.