Iowa WINs, with funding from Humanities Iowa will present award-winning author Mary Swander’s play, Vang, on Thursday, November 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the Heatilator Performing Arts Center. Vang is produced by Swander Woman Productions, a theatre company that creates and tours dramatic performances focused on food, farming, and the larger rural environment.
A Hmong family who fled Communist bullets and wild tigers through the jungle of Laos and across the Mekong River to the refugee camp in Thailand. A Sudanese man who was thrown into prison in Ethiopia for helping the Lost Boys and was left gasping for air through a crack under the door. A Mexican woman who taught herself English by looking up the meaning of the profane words that were hurled at her at her first job in a meat packing plant. A Dutch boy, dressed as a cowboy, who put the flag of the Netherlands through the paper shredder and declared, “I am an American.”These are some of the characters brought to life in Vang, a drama about recent immigrant farmers.
Vang is a collaboration between Mary Swander and Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Deni Chamberlin. Swander and Chamberlin documented interviews with the immigrant farmers to create Vang (meaning “garden” or “farm” in Hmong). Swander then wound their words together to form a verbatim play that captures their struggles, survival skills, and journeys to the U.S. While their experiences are unique—some escaping violence, others fleeing poverty, and others embarking on agri-business ventures—all of these immigrants grew up on farms and wanted to once again assume the livelihood that they had known in the past, the work that had formed the foundation of their cultural roots.
Vang will be performed by actors Rip Russell and Mt. Pleasant native, Amy Johnson Schaefer and features Chamberlin’s photographs.
Performance Date: November 18, 2021
Performance Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Heatilator Performing Arts Center, Mt. Pleasant Iowa
Admission: The event is free and open to the public. A free will offering will be accepted with proceeds going to Iowa WINs. MASKS REQUIRED
The performance will run under an hour and be followed by a brief talkback and Q & A led by author Mary Swander.
For more information, please contact Touring Director Janine Calsbeek at touringSWP@gmail.com (712.707.2010).