Shu-Hui, a Taiwanese young woman in her early 20s shares her story of triumph when her family moves from Taiwan to America. Her family is successful, wealthy, doing all of the things that they had hoped they would be able to do. The major setback for her begins when her father tells her and her sisters that they have to change their names to something, “American.” His hope is that this will stop his children from being seen as different. However, Shu-Hui doesn't want to change her name and she doesn't want to blend in she wants to be exactly who she has always been; a woman from Taiwan who now lives in America. Her story is one that could be told by many different people from many different backgrounds. The idea of being accepted in a country that is not your own. The concept of not wanting to leave behind who you were for the sake of who you are becoming. All she wants is to be loved and for people not to look at her and assume that she is from a country she is not from. It is not acceptable for her to allow people to put her in a box that she does not belong in. As she watches her older sister lose her identity within a relationship, she promises that she will never do the same. However, as life would have it the person that she falls in love with is not the person that she thought he was. When faced with the choice of being who she truly is or being who he has asked her to be Shu-Hui must make one of the most difficult decisions in her life; lie about her heritage that she loves so much or walk away knowing that exactly who she is should always be enough. *Character within this text is Taiwanese. They do not speak it and script could be adjusted to be from a different small Asian country.
Just Enough
(Scene opens with Shu-Hui, a Taiwanese young woman staring at her ring finger. She is in a complete trance. She smiles for a moment, that turns into a laugh, then sadness as she addresses the audience.)
When I was a little girl my favorite game to play was dress up. My sisters and I would sneak into our mothers’ room, and we would split up the duties. It was my responsibility to find the jewelry, my older sister would pick the outfit and my younger sister was responsible for the shoes. It was so funny because my little sister was so young, she didn’t understand that you don’t wear tennis shoes with a ball gown. To her she just thought it was pretty. As much as we were raised by the same people, we all saw life very differently. My younger sister had never lived in Taiwan as my older sister, and I had. It was an experience, definitely different than that of living in America… it was home. Living in America is the only reason my little sister knew tennis shoes with a ball gown was kind of something she had seen before. (Glancing at her finger) But for me it was always the jewelry. Trying to find the ring that sparkled the most. The necklace that said, (in a rich character talking down to everyone) “I am filthy rich darling do you really want to play with me?” (Laugh. Beat.) Wondering if I would ever wear one? Would someone ever love me the way that my father loves my mother? (Remembering) I fell in love once… I thought I had.