For all the barking and grunting Appa does, he proves time and again that his hardened heart can be soft and tender.
He bounces around his convenience store with a wisdom that is built from being a neighborhood pillar for years. He obsesses over illegally parked cars, gives away snacks that are relegated to the bottom shelf, and has an entirely cringy line of hilarious ideas as to the hierarchy of thieves.
In “Kim’s Convenience,” presented at American Conservatory Theater in a co-production with Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto and London’s Adam Blanshay Productions, Appa oscillates between being a societal fossil and the warmest and kindest human in all of Canada.
The play by Ins Choi, which debuted in Toronto in 2011, launched a hit Canadian TV series and then a popular Netflix series. At ACT, the production’s power comes from how much heart is infused by director Weyni Mengesha into the story of a Korean immigrant’s dilemma, his familial world that is in constant motion, and the constant battle for necessary redemption. While the script, like many sitcoms, introduces and solves problems with too much inorganic rapidity, it is a wonderful story loaded with belly laughs and poignant tears. And Mengesha’s flowing staging brings it all together well — most of the time.
Appa (who’s played by playwright Choi) kicks off his day with a common routine — instant coffee with an inordinate amount of sugar. The play presents one day in the life of Appa and his store, but you get the sense it’s pretty much like every other day.
Appa’s work outfit spells comfort — faded jeans, puffy vest, a comfy pair of rubber sandals and a pronounced tussle of bedhead. Many variations of a customer (Brandon McKnight) make their way into the store for all sorts of needs, like snacks or Vaseline, but on this day, Appa is being presented with an offer he might not be able to refuse. When an identity is built in one’s workplace, and every dime earned is for the benefit of everything and everyone else, the choice to move on is agonizing.
Appa’s most compelling battle is the one he wages is with his daughter Janet (Kelly Seo), a single woman who has inherited her father’s stubbornness, and who is struggling with two major dynamics, affairs of both career and heart.
But Appa has another battle that is a bit more shadowed — with his estranged son Jung (Ryan Jinn). Their interactions are both awkward and born from unspoken trauma, with a special heirloom that awaits Jung in the denouement.
That is where Choi’s script doesn’t do itself any favors. Appa may have the sensibilities as an immigrant, but some of the harm and impositions he has caused cannot simply be waved away with a charming anecdote (and boy can he deliver those) or a gift that seems to indicate that everything is OK. It could be the result of the script’s length, which settles in around 85 minutes, when an emphasis on more truthful reactions and extra time it takes to resolve them would serve the arc of the story better.
Despite its shortcomings, “Kim’s Convenience” is a true treat on Joanna Yu’s detailed set design with all the corner store fixings adorning each faded shelf. The store is its own character, a remnant of a neighborhood where personality is greater than any convenience that a chain store can provide. The performances are also wonderfully solid. Even Appa’s wife Umma (Esther Chung) speaks to Appa’s soul despite being a character that is in need of more development. The moments where they connect through their personal history in Korean are magical.
Despite Janet’s complete unawareness of what her parent’s did for her, Seo’s abilities to process through listening inform every critical and truthful choice she makes. As the absent son, Jinn’s skillset infuses Jung with an awkward sensibility, seeking a home that is no longer his. But he is willing to learn and grow while yearning for what a family, however flawed, can offer.
Make no mistake, this show belongs to Choi for good reason, thanks to his gift of delivering morsels of hilarity all over the stage. But within that hilarity, real hurt and regret fuel each interaction. Choi’s performance is a scintillating exercise in variance, he understands the needs of each critical moment and delivers each time.
It is any good parent’s aim to ensure their children are given a better world than they had. Appa is not perfect — far from it. But with years of sacrifice and love, and his ability to trudge into work everyday, Appa proves one thing in his store will never be for sale — the immigrant dream that built his family.
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social.
‘KIM’S CONVENIENCE’
By Ins Choi, presented by American Conservatory Theater
Through: Oct. 19
Where: Clear shore Theateter, 415 Geary St., St. Francis
Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $25-$130; act-sf.org