Cyndy Fujikawa (right) as Kitty and Nell Yukiye Murphy as Vivie in Pacific Resident Theatre’s production of “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.”
More than a century after George Bernard Shaw challenged Victorian conventions with “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” two Asian American actresses — and real-life mother and daughter — bring new resonance to the roles of Kitty Warren and her daughter Vivie.
Directed by Michael Rothhaar, the play will be performed through Nov. 15 at Pacific Resident Theatre. 707 Venice Blvd. in Venice. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday (with some exceptions; check website).
Cyndy Fujikawa and Nell Yukiye Murphy star as the formidable mother and fiercely independent daughter in Shaw’s provocative classic, a play that continues to ask urgent questions about money, sexuality, women’s freedom, and the choices available to women when society gives them few.
In Victorian England, where women enjoy few legal rights, Kitty Warren has built an international business empire. When her daughter Vivie graduates from Cambridge, she begins pressing her mother for answers about their family history. The truth of how Kitty survived poverty is difficult for Vivie to hear — but it is only the beginning of a deeper reckoning.
Shaw’s 1893 play offers a surprisingly modern examination of the compromises women make when opportunity is restricted by class, gender, and economics. At its heart are two women at very different points in their lives, both determined to choose their own destinies.
For Fujikawa and Murphy, the production is also the continuation of a creative partnership that began long before they stepped into Shaw’s world together.
“I gave my daughter Nell a copy of the script in her second year of college at Carnegie Mellon University, in the hopes that when she graduated, this project would be fitting …. This is our fourth collaboration, and our second one as mother and daughter,” Fujikawa said.
Their casting adds another important dimension to a classic work. Asian American actors remain underrepresented in leading roles in American theatre, particularly in productions of the Western canon. Bringing two Asian American women to the center of Shaw’s play offers an opportunity not only to see these complex female characters through a different cultural lens, but also to expand who gets to inhabit — and redefine — the canonical stories that have shaped the theatrical tradition.
That significance is especially powerful in a play so concerned with women claiming ownership over their own lives. Kitty and Vivie are not passive figures waiting for permission to determine their futures; each has constructed her own definition of independence, even when those definitions collide.
As a real-life mother and daughter, Fujikawa and Murphy bring an additional intimacy to that collision. Their relationship adds emotional stakes to Shaw’s examination of generational difference, sacrifice, ambition, and the complicated ways mothers and daughters understand one another.
More than a historical drama, “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” remains a confrontation between two women who refuse to surrender their agency. Kitty and Vivie stand opposed to one another, equally intelligent, equally determined, and equally armored. Neither is willing to accept the life the other has chosen.
And more than 130 years after Shaw wrote it, the questions remain strikingly contemporary: Who gets to choose? What does economic freedom really cost? And how much has actually changed for women seeking to define their own lives?
With Fujikawa and Murphy at its center, “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” invites audiences to discover how little some of Shaw’s underlying arguments have changed — and how much more there is to see when familiar stories are entrusted to voices that have historically been underrepresented onstage.
The cast also includes Geoffrey Wade, Stuart W. Howard, Will Rothhaar, and Richard Eden.
Run time is approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $45 general, $35 for ages 55+ and veterans; $12 for students. Reservations: (310) 822-8392, https://pacificresidenttheatre.org/
Cyndy Fujikawa previously appeared in “The Spy Who Went Into Rehab” and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” at PRT. She has also worked with East West Players, Theatre West, Encore Theatre Co. (which she co-founded), New Victory Theatre, Mabou Mines, and New York Theatre workshop. She has been a production accountant for several films, and her acting credits include the TV series “Chops” and the movie “The Intervention.” “Old Man River,” her one-woman show about her father, actor Jerry Fujikawa, became a feature-length documentary.
Nell Yukiye Murphy, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama; appeared in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” at PRT and made her regional theatre debut at City Theatre in Pittsburgh as Amy in Lauren Gunderson’s “Little Women.” Her film credits include “Freakier Friday, “Bullies Anonymous,” and “Odd Thomas.”
PRT is nationally recognized as one of the top regional theaters on the West Coast. The company presents works of the highest quality in order to entertain, inform and educate its multicultural community.
In addition to the company’s commitment to rediscover the rarely performed classics, PRT is focused on fostering and developing new works through the collaboration of an artistic ensemble influenced by societal relevance, past, present and future. PRT promotes the theatre arts by providing opportunities for artists and craftsmen to develop and enrich their skills.