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Overview

Synopsis

An American businessman named Daniel Cavanaugh travels to China in the hopes of scoring a contract for his family’s sign-making business. Ready to tackle the obvious struggles that can come from an American doing business in China (namely language barriers and culture shock), Daniel doesn’t realize that doing business in China is much more complex than he’d hoped. Daniel’s ‘consultant’, Peter, teaches him about Guanxi, the system of social networks and influential relationships that facilitate business in China, and the two of them get started trying to create a relationship with Minister Cai. However, Guanxi gets in Daniel’s way and he needs to find another way in...that’s when the Vice Minister Xi Yan steps in to save the day. Daniel forms a relationship with her and, as he follows her advice, he begins to fall in love. They learn to communicate in their own form of Chinglish, but so they learn that some things aren’t so easily translated.

Show Information

Category
Play
Age Guidance
Mature Audiences (M)
Number of Acts
2
First Produced
2011
Genres
Dark Comedy
Time & Place
The present. An American assembly room and the city of Guiyang, China
Cast Size
medium
Ideal For
Diverse Cast, Regional Theatre, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Young Adult Characters, Medium Cast

Context

Plot

Characters

Name Part Size Gender Vocal Part

Peter Timms

Lead

Male

Daniel Cavanaugh

Lead

Male

Xi Yan

Lead

Female

Cai Guoliang

Supporting

Male

Miss Qian

Supporting

Female

Judge Xu Geming

Supporting

Male

Bing

Featured

Male

Zhao

Featured

Female

Prosecutor Li

Featured

Female

Ensemble

Ensemble

Either Gender

Songs

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A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.

Monologues

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Scenes

All scenes are the property and copyright of their owners. Scenes are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. If you would like to give a public performance of this scene, please obtain authorization from the appropriate licensor.

Key Terms

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Videos

Quizzes

Themes, Symbols & Motifs

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Quote Analysis

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