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Theater review by Billy McEntee
Rating: ★★★ (three stars)
Where would the American theatre be without dead parents? Perhaps no event can bring estranged characters together more efficiently than a ritual about loss, and Jeena Yi’s Jesa explores one Korean mourning custom: a traditional feast that honors the anniversary of the passing of an ancestor—or, in Jesa’s case, two ancestors. Twice the death, twice the drama.
Presented by Ma-Yi at the Public Theater, this occasionally cutting dramedy reunites four American-born sisters: perfectionist Grace (Shannon Tyo), chipper Elizabeth (Laura Sohn), renegade Brenda (Christine Heesun Hwang) and brassy Tina (Tina Chilip, a standout). They’ve gathered to remember their late father, or at least that’s what Grace has told Brenda to lure her back to Orange County from the Big Apple. Grace revered her mother but thought less of her father; it’s vice versa for Brenda. But since their parents died at similar times of year, this jesa is intended to do double duty. Cut the pears, fry the shrimp and set out the (electric) candles: In Grace’s immaculate West Elm–ified home—the aptly soulless design is by You-Shin Chen—everything will flow smoothly, except maybe each sister’s grief.
RELATED: Buy tickets to Jesa at the Public Theater
In the play’s funnier moments, the women try to remember the ceremony’s order of operations: Do you bow and then sip, or sip and then bow? (Whatever, just keep the soju flowing.) Since this is 2026, there’s a jesa app to help them if they miss a step or two—but it’s all in Korean, so as the sisters try to honor their ancestry, they must also confront how removed they are from it. It’s amusing and poignant to watch them try to connect with a faraway relative who FaceTimes in, never speaking in English to the smiling, nodding, utterly confused sisters.
Otherwise, Yi’s play is more crowded than a jesa’s offering table. Secrets come to light in the wake of loss: marital strife, unplanned pregnancy, anger management, child abuse. The plot is overstuffed, but director Mei Ann Teo’s committed cast is palpably believable as a family; the actors easily flip between rage and compassion, fighting and forgiving as only sisterhood allows. It’s formulaic but comforting in that way: Some things never change.
Jesa. The Public Theater (Off Broadway). By Jeena Yi. Directed by Mei Ann Teo. With Tina Chilip, Christine Heesun Hwang, Laura Sohn, Shannon Tyo. Running time: 1hrs 30mins. No intermission.
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