One scene from the box (to enter the heart) by Cha Mangan
A play about how masculinity is taught, featuring a Thai immigrant and her Thai-American son.
First published in Pandan Weekly in July 2024. Content warning: omestic violence, death, racism.
From the author:
This play, in its entirety, is about taught masculinity with respect to pain, how men are socialized via their mothers, and how cultural differences between these teachings can create conflict. In this scene, we are setting up the mother-son working dynamic that Nit, a Thai immigrant who moved to America, shares with her son, Kyle. Recently, Nit was involved in a conflict where she may-or-may-not have hit the child of her friend/co-worker, Cece. Consequently, Cece goes viral for being a “Karen,” which all the characters of the play have divided opinions on. Aside from relishing this glimpse into a Thai-American mother-son dynamic, I hope the readers will begin to anticipate incoming conflict between these two and their co-worker Cece, especially when the time comes to decide which worker will get the upcoming promotion: Cece or Nit.
Characters:
Kyle — 21, Thai-American man. Small. Worked at Organix for 6 years. Has never believed in ghosts until now. His chest hurts.
Nit — Late 40s, Thai woman. KYLE’s mother. Can command a room. Was hired three years ago. Hates the cold.
Setting:
A grocery store’s fridge stockroom in Upper Moreland, PA. 2021. (Aka: the box).
Scene 2: The “box,” or the back stockroom fridge of a grocery store in Upper Moreland, Pennsylvania. This space is very cramped and square—the characters often have to squeeze past each other. U-boats stack against the walls. They carry many different kinds of meat and milk. An intercom with speakers hangs from above. Protruding off of the wall is a big and clunky and old thermometer. In a corner, there’s a small desk with cardboard pieces and paint. There is a constant hum from the fridge fan. There’s a large metal door that’s closed. Inside, where the dream was, is THE HEART. On it, there is a spray-painted naked man/monster with a large member. There’s a nice hung portrait on the wall that says “Box Worker of the month: CECE.” The box, here and now. NIT is sitting on a crate, looking at her phone. KYLE exits from inside THE HEART. He is shivering. His phone buzzes. He anxiously looks at it for a moment.
NIT
Oy! Why aren’t you wearing the coat?
KYLE
No reason. (A long beat of NIT staring at him.) I don’t need it.
NIT
You don’t need it? Kyle! Come on. Hmmm. (A beat.) Look at this one comment. “I understand where she’s coming from. I can’t imagine.”
KYLE
Stop.
NIT
I can’t! Who do you think she’s talking about in that comment? Who does she understand?
KYLE
Probably you. Ninety percent of the comments actively like you?
NIT
How come everybody is treating me different?
KYLE
Who is? Who is treating you different, Mother? (A beat.) If anything, Ceese is the evil one here.
NIT
She’s not evil.
KYLE
She’s racist.
NIT
You weren’t there, she is not. (A beat, she looks at her phone.) This makes no sense. You “understand” but also you “cannot imagine?” Huh?
KYLE
It makes sense.
NIT
No it doesn’t! They’re opposites!
KYLE
I get it.
NIT
I don’t. English is stupid! (A beat.) I think I’m gonna comment back—
KYLE
NO! (KYLE takes NIT’s phone.) Do not comment! Do not do that!
NIT
Why?
KYLE
It’s permanent. Do not make permanent things.
NIT
But everybody’s got it all wrong. What? Like what, should I not play with my friend’s kid while he’s goofing off at the store? I mean, come on. This is a huge misunderstanding. I didn’t hit him! (A beat.) And hit is such a strong, sharp word. Things get hit all the time. Most of the families I’ve ever known, I ask, do you ever hit your kids? Not hard, of course, not hard hits, little ones, only now and then. But basically, it’s all yeses! That’s a part of family, of knowing, understanding another person. You remember how you were with your cousins and uncles. You all would just (imitating slapping playfully) bop bop bop bop. Can I have my phone back?
KYLE
No! Meh! Stop.
NIT
Tammai?
KYLE
Hitting. That word. Just… chill.
NIT
Your aunts and I would hit each other all the time. Family hits family.
KYLE’s finger slips as he’s putting a carton up, and he catches it with his chest. It hurts a lot.
NIT
Oh god, Ky.
KYLE
I’m fine, Mom.
NIT
Are you?
KYLE
My chest is sore, that’s all.
NIT
Oh. Take it easy at the gym, ’kay? (She grasps KYLE’s bicep.) Oh wowwwww.
KYLE
What?
NIT
Muscle wowwwww. I love your arm. I will cling to you, always. (She squeezes his arm once more. KYLE shakes NIT off in embarrassment.) Oh my god, have you seen how Declan’s turned out?!
KYLE
Yeah.
NIT
So big! Muscular! Too much! And his shirts are too small. Ugh. It’s scary how muscular he is. Does he have steroids? (Silent.) Oh god. He does steroids?
KYLE
I mean, look at him.
NIT
(A beat.) Cece is proposing she be promoted next week.
KYLE
And?
NIT
She’s gonna get it.
KYLE
(Lying, scoffs.) Mom. There’s no way.
NIT
You have to make sure Kyle.
KYLE
Mom, jai yen—
NIT
Ky, I am telling you, the looks they are giving me—
KYLE
Who?
NIT
All the upper staff! Cece chats up a storm to them, and you know her. They love her. You’ll speak up about me, right? At the group vote?
KYLE
They might not even let me speak up, Mer—
NIT
—Your uncle needs you to do this.
KYLE
What he needs, is to get off his ass and pick himself—
NIT
—This is what we do, you know? We are family. There is something beyond you and me, something in our blood, that links us. He understands you, he always has. Now you need to understand him.
KYLE
I barely know him—
NIT
—He is your family, that’s all you need to know. He might die, Kyle—
KYLE
—The only person who can help himself is him—
NIT
—Do you love him baw? (A beat.) You love him baw?
KYLE
Kap.
NIT
Oh-kay. And what is love? (A beat.) What is love, Kyle? (A long beat.) What, Kai?
KYLE
Endurance.
NIT
Endurance. Euh! That’s what we do. It’s what I do so you can go back to college, and yet. (A beat of putting up cartons.) Are you gonna get a haircut?
KYLE
Aw come on. It’s just starting to look good.
NIT
It does. But you will need one. Whenever you get a haircut, it isn’t until two months out that you start to love it again. How long since your last haircut?
KYLE
Like… two months.
NIT
You start calling yourself handsome. You push it back all the time with your hands, all sexy-manner, like you’re Brad Pitt, even though your face is not Bad Pritt. But before, you hate it. So you need to get one now for later.
This miffs Kyle.
KYLE
Why do I need it now?
NIT
You forgot.
KYLE
Forgot what?
NIT
Mia’s…
KYLE
Oh her funeral? No, I wouldn’t forget.
NIT
Mm. You’re gonna want to look handsome for her.
KYLE
I don’t need to look handsome for her. She’s dead.
NIT
Kyle.
KYLE
What?
NIT
I have a feeling she’s not dead. For you.
KYLE
What tells you that?
NIT
A mother knows her son. (A beat.) Aw, baby. (NIT comes up to KYLE and holds onto his arm.) God. You feel so cold. Did you wear the jacket?
KYLE
Yeah.
NIT
We need a better jacket.
KYLE
I’m fine.
NIT
Euh. That’s my boy. Strong. (NIT is still embracing KYLE’s arm.)
KYLE
What?
NIT
So strong, so handsome.
KYLE
What?
NIT
Your mother thinks you are handsome.
KYLE
Okay?
NIT
You are mad.
KYLE
I’m not mad.
NIT
What if they fire me?
KYLE
Why would they do that?
NIT
I don’t know. Gosh. This 9-year-old gay boy is causing me so much stress—
KYLE
Mom, you can’t just call him gay. And also, she.
NIT
He, she, they, why? Why not? What’s wrong with calling him what he is? He is gay, can I not call him the gay kid?
KYLE
No, you can’t. Not with English.
NIT
English is so stupid.
KYLE
You can call her Reese. Her name.
NIT
Ok. I will call him Reese and gay. And gay Reese. Why not?!
KYLE
Mom.
NIT
You cannot call him gay, so you and I have to remember that he is gay in our heads—we think it, baw? But cannot say it out loud?
KYLE
We can, just not like that.
NIT
Is anybody really listening when anybody talks? (A beat.) My mother’s nickname for me was—
KYLE
Mom—
NIT
—eek-ka-yao. Girl with long legs. You know why? (A beat.) Because /I had long legs!
KYLE
/because you had long legs.
NIT
She even called me that after she died. (KYLE tsks.) Jing!
KYLE
You always say that.
NIT
Kyle. I know you are an American, and you Americans are so… so scientific and by the book, but—
KYLE
Mom. Ghosts don’t exist—
She hits him against the back of his head. This doesn’t stress him out at all, really.
NIT
(A loud whisper.) KYLE! BE CAREFUL. They haven’t burned the body yet! I don’t get why more Americans don’t burn the bodies. Why do you want to lock them underground? Would you want to be stuck? Ugh. No body, no mess.
KYLE
What’s the difference between a ghost and just somebody you think about a lot?
NIT
Who are you thinking about, la? (A beat.) Well, the ghost is actually there. After khun yai died, before we were able to have the funeral, I saw her around the house. Il-eeyah! Jing! Really! I would see her around the house and she would ask me to do things for her.
KYLE
Like what?
NIT
Like clean the bathroom and do the dishes.
KYLE
Sounds… not bad.
NIT
You get used to it. “Nit, eh! Bpai bpoo tee nawn yoo!”
KYLE
But it was in your head.
NIT
In my head, not in my head, she might as well have been there! I saw her, right there and then! Jing! Not in my head! Anyways. We must take care of them. We have to.
KYLE
Or else?
NIT
Or else they can kill us. Eat us. Or convince us to kill ourselves. (A beat.) Or sometimes they’re good.
KYLE
Can’t you just ignore them?
NIT
Good luck.
KYLE
How do you take care of them? The ghosts?
A long beat. NIT becomes very scared.
NIT
Is it Mia?
KYLE
What do you mean?
NIT
It is! Why else would you bring it up? You never ask. Oh god!
KYLE
Why are you freaking out?
NIT
I’ve only listened to podcasts, news, never in person. Never personally!
KYLE
Mom, you’re being—
NIT
Kyle, I’ve never had a ghost! No less a white girl ghost! Imagine the havoc! We have to do something.
KYLE
No, Mom, we don’t need to do something—
NIT
Have you whistled when the lights have been out? Have you been whistling? Ooy yah! (She hits KYLE on the back of the head.) Spend your whole life not believing, calling me crazy, well now she’s after you! Ugh. This is not good. I haven’t seen her. Oh god. That means she’s honing in on you—
KYLE
Honing in on me—
NIT
We have to do something. (A beat.) Wait. How is she?
KYLE
What do you mean?
NIT
When you see her, how is she? Is she nice, Mia?
KYLE
What tells you it’s Mia?
NIT
(Giving KYLE a look: “Really? I’m your mother.”) Answer the question.
KYLE
Good. Mean.
NIT
Ohhhh so you are seeing her. We need to make her happy. You do what she wants Kyle. You do whatever she wants you to do ’til the funeral, Kyle. Okay? I should make her food. (A beat.) Ugh. Poor girl.
KYLE
What do you mean, poor girl?
NIT
(Very serious.) Kyle. Don’t start.
KYLE
Seriously! What do you mean poor girl? Seriously, every time I—
NIT
KYLE! Suck it up. You’re a boy. It’s what you’re good at. (A beat.) We have to make her happy. Build her a place to rest. Take care of her, let her know she’s loved.
KYLE
Take care of her?
NIT
Yeah. What you never did.
KYLE
I feel horrible enough. The last time I saw her, she said that she would die for me, that if we couldn’t be together that she would die—
NIT
—And what is love, Kyle? What is it? (A beat.) I would die for you, wouldn’t you die for me?
Cha (Charles) Mangan is a Thai-American playwright, performer, and educator from Jenkintown PA. In his newest play, The Box, he explores the ways that masculinity can be passed down from mother to son. Charlie’s first full length, Dragoness, premiered at Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theater in March 2022 to sold-out, standing ovation audiences, and won the Molly Thacher Kazan Memorial prize for distinguished work. In his free time, Cha enjoys reading, writing stage dialogue and action, playing video games, and taking cold showers. Based in Sukhothai, Thailand, he is currently completing a Fulbright Grant.
Instagram: @charlesemangan
Website: charliemangan.com
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