Loveboat, Taipei

From tea eggs to snake blood sake, the energy of Taipei in the summer provides a winning backdrop to this joyful debut about a young American dancer who finds love and freedom by exploring her Taiwanese roots. By the time Ever Wong’s conservative immigrant parents send her to Taiwan for a summer of cultural immersion, she has abandoned her dreams of Broadway for a career in medicine. What she finds instead is the friendship of glamorous Manhattanite Sophie Ha and the romantic attentions of both mercurial prodigy Rick Woo and playboy heir Xavier Yeh. While navigating humid nightclub rendezvous, terrible mistakes, and barely passed Mandarin lessons, Ever gloriously sheds her shame and insecurity and finds the courage to own her choices. Wen deftly conveys the less-explored experience of being an Asian-American in Asia and, importantly, her characters embody the diversity within Asian-American identity. Sobering subjects, including animal abuse and mental health challenges, add additional layers to the heady summer story, but Wen keeps the strongest focus on her characters’ freedom and evolution as they grow secure in their identities and desires. Ages 13–up. [em](Jan.) [/em]