Francesca Fernandez McKenzie, left, and Jennifer Lim play sisters grieving their late mother as they struggle to repair their relationship in Steppenwolf Theatre’s premiere of “Bald Sisters.”
“Bald Sisters” – ★ ★ ½
Women who have sisters will likely recognize the sibling dynamic that underscores “Bald Sisters,” Vichet Chum’s domestic dramedy about a family of Cambodian immigrants confronting loss, unresolved trauma and their own identity.
There’s older sister Him (Jennifer Lim): married, responsible, deliberate, efficient, a bit critical, she harbors some resentment toward younger sister Sophea (Francesca Fernandez McKenzie). Careless and a bit selfish from being coddled as a child, Sophea is single, reckless, emotional and messy.
Apart for four years, they reunite following the death of their immigrant mother Ma (Wai Ching Ho), a Cambodian refugee who — while caring for Him and pregnant with Sophea — survived the Khmer Rouge, the Communist regime that murdered more than 1.5 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.
Sophea, a budding Buddhist who shaved her head as an expression of mourning, prefers cremating their mother.
While undergoing chemotherapy, Him (Jennifer Lim), right, talks with her mother Ma (Wai Ching Ho) in Vichet Chum’s domestic drama “Bald Sisters” at Steppenwolf Theatre. – Courtesy of Michael Brosilow
“Light her up and let her go,” she says, insisting that’s what their Buddhist mother would have wanted.
Him, a Christian living in Texas and married to a pastor (Coburn Goss), disagrees. She favors burial.
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Of course the death of their mother — who appears in flashbacks — is not the only issue the sisters confront. The financially unstable Sophea is pregnant by her married boss and attracted to Him’s lawn boy, college student Seth (Nima Rakhshanifar), a Syrian refugee and an insightful observer of family dynamics.
Him is dealing with the aftermath of her husband Nate’s infidelity while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. In addition to the death of their mother, the sisters are attempting to reconcile their cultural heritage, which Sophea claims, much to Him’s frustration.
“I am Cambodian. I was born there,” she says. “You are Cambodian Lite. You get to learn about the culture as an interesting artifact because you never lived it.”
Nate Goss and Jennifer Lim co-star in Steppenwolf Theatre’s premiere of “Bald Sisters,” Vichet Chum’s domestic drama about identity, immigration and sibling squabbles running through Jan. 15 at Steppenwolf Theatre. – Courtesy of Michael Brosilow
They’re also reconciling past trauma, which Him experienced firsthand (having survived with Ma the Khmer Rouge’s terror campaign). Born in the U.S., Sophea experienced that suffering indirectly as a kind of persistent sadness, a smog that “hovers over me and blocks out the light.”
Those are compelling subjects and Chum is to be commended for examining them through the eyes of female immigrants. But they are also familiar subjects, as are the squabbles and longtime resentments that persist between these siblings. In that respect, Chum’s play, directed by Jesca Prudencio, breaks no new ground.
Moreover, some of the characters are underwritten. Nate, for example, seems to exist mostly to discourse on sin. Neither his extramarital affair nor his reconciliation with his wife is fully explained.
Also, the addition of a karaoke-inspired coda diminished a moving and rather satisfying penultimate scene between Him and Sophea.
In one of several flashbacks, photographer Sophea (Francesca Fernandez McKenzie), right, recalls a conversation with her mother (Wai Ching Ho) in Steppenwolf Theatre’s “Bald Sisters.” – Courtesy of Michael Brosilow
The acting is solid throughout. Ho is engaging as the wise, funny, karaoke-loving Ma whose age and experience affords her the privilege of expressing unvarnished assessments of her daughters’ behavior, which is preceded by her signature phrase: “I’m ashamed to say this, I probably shouldn’t say it, but I’m going to say it.”
Ultimately, however, it’s Lim’s deeply felt, deeply resonant performance as Him, Chum’s best-developed, most compelling character, that grounds this play. Hers is the story we most want to hear and the one that sustains “Bald Sisters.”
