Written by orange• November 8, 2025• 7:30 pm• Costa Mesa, Review, South Coast Repertory, Theater, Uncategorized

The Heart Sellers @ South Coast Repertory – Review

photo credit: Robert Huskey/SCR

Written by Patrick Chavis

The Heart Sellers is playing now at South Coast Repertory, October 26 – November 16, 2025.

This deeply heartbreaking two-hander is a dramatic comedy about friendship, the effects of xenophobia on Asian immigrants in the 1970s, and the good and bad of the country and circumstances that brought them together. It’s The Odd Couple from a whole other angle.

This is a thoughtful, patient production with punchlines that are just as good as the resonant asides. The tight, resonant writing from playwright Lloyd Suh will break your heart.

Story:

The play follows Luna (Nicole Javier), a Filipino immigrant, and Jane (Narea Kang), a Korean immigrant, who meet serendipitously at a supermarket on Thanksgiving Day in 1973. They bond and form a friendship in Luna’s apartment. At the same time, their spouses work through the holiday season.

Direction/Acting/Lighting:

This play is equal parts comedy and drama. The playwright finds a good balance. When you think the play is getting into some dark places, one of the characters reels you back in with a funny moment. Theatrically, it mimics how sometimes we use humor to cope with difficult situations and feelings.

They really capture this dynamic with the asides and the careful lighting applied to the actors, courtesy of the lighting design team of Brian Sutow and Rose Bochner.

While there is a language barrier —given that Jane’s english is limited compared to Luna’s, who is definitely a yapper —these two find a way to make things work and understand each other in humorous and sweet ways. You can see how genuine friendships can develop when the effort is made to make them work.

Narea Kang (Jane) is delightful and expresses so much with only a few words.

Nicole Javier (Luna), fast-talking and often anxious performance, delivers the fireworks the show needed to keep the play moving.

This play has so much subtext. It explores loneliness and a part of American history that isn’t particularly exciting. Still, it was a time that was incredibly impactful for the Asian American community and, thus, for America as well.

Heart Sellers is as much about what they don’t show as about what they do. The fact that I felt cheated in some aspect shows how effective the story development was.

Heart Sellers is an 8.5 out of 10! It’s a great show!