Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone, playing at Seattle Repertory Theatre through January 1, is a love story within a love story during wartime. Quang (James Ryen) is a cocky pilot in the South Vietnamese Army. When Saigon falls, he winds up in an American refugee camp with Tong (Jeena Yi), a skeptic of true love who’s constantly trying to fight back the advances of weepy men. She’s a self-described “bitch,” he’s a self-described “asshole,” and they’d be perfect for each other if not for their current relationship statuses—he’s got a wife and kids back home, and she may or may not be engaged.
The playwright includes himself in this story, framing the core romantic tale about his parents, Quang and Tong, with a familial, meta-theatrical one about the process of interviewing them and writing about it.
