'The Heart Sellers' invites viewers to consider an alternate American dream

What’s the opposite of the American dream? 

Is it abandoning your beloved family dog? Standing outside of Disneyland without the money to go inside? Having a communist sister? The death of said communist sister?

Perhaps it’s spending Thanksgiving with a stranger and a frozen turkey, contemplating the vast distance between you and your family back home. 

Jane (Bridget Kim) and Luna (Angeleia Ordoñez) of “The Heart Sellers,” which opened at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Oct. 25, ponder all of the above. On Thanksgiving Day, a chance encounter at the grocery store leads the two to become fast friends.

Both Jane and Luna are 23-year-old housewives who recently immigrated to the U.S. with their resident physician husbands. Jane, from Korea, and Luna, from the Philippines. The year is 1973, in a midsize American city that feels suspiciously like Cincinnati.  

In a media landscape marred by cheap caricatures, lazy stereotypes and the same tired conversation about representation, Korean American Lloyd Suh’s “The Heart Sellers” bears the handiwork of a playwright who knows the smallest details matter. 

The show is a humorous, achingly accurate portrayal of two weary immigrant women who’ve seen the shiny promise of a better life wear off quick. They’ve finally made it to the U.S., but the grass isn’t any greener here. 

Angeleia Ordoñez, who plays Luna in “The Heart Sellers”, sings a solo.

A tightly written script and excellent casting lends itself to the easy dialogue between the two women. Each actress nails the comedic timing – and the accented English that flows with the cadence of their mother tongues. 

A vibrant, terribly nervous Luna paces around the apartment, ping ponging between anxiety and excitement as she wonders – out loud – how to host her first guest in the U.S. She babbles, gets self-conscious, then babbles some more. 

Jane perches on the corner of a kitchen chair, replying succinctly to Luna’s long-winded questions as she’s offered an open box of Ritz, a can of Easy Cheese and a bag of Cheetos in rapid succession. 

Where Luna moves like a whirlwind, Jane sweeps up the crumbs. Luna is dreamy, while Jane is matter-of-fact, even about family tragedies. She’s not sure if her sister died in a bus accident or if she was assassinated. Either is possible, Jane says bluntly. 

With their husbands working night shifts and a frozen turkey that won’t thaw in time for dinner, the women uncork one bottle of wine, then another as they begin to discover the life experiences they share.

As the night progresses and the wine flows, the two friends discover how many similarities they share.

Both lived under dictatorships. Both had activist older sisters. Neither is convinced by Nixon’s denials of wrongdoing during Watergate. (When you’ve experienced a military coup, you know when a president is lying.) Both agree that even the rain, somehow, smells different in this country.    

Both dissolve into a fit of giggles when Luna asks: “Is it what you expected?” Jane pours another glass of wine.

“The Heart Sellers”, a play about Thanksgiving, friendship and the American Dream, runs at the Playhouse in the Park through Nov. 23.

After their schemes to escape the apartment – to the beach (it’s November), the night club (closed on Thanksgiving), a seedy adult theater (too risky) – are thwarted, they curl up on Luna’s twin-sized bed and turn their sights toward tomorrow.

Together, they plan an improbable day free of expectation, duties and danger. First, an adult film at the theater. They’ll hit the club after that (never mind that it’s still morning). Then, they'll taxi to lunch in the countryside, at a yellow barn that once piqued Luna’s interest. Then, the K-Mart where they first caught each other’s eyes. 

In the glow of company, they find just enough solace to confront tomorrow.