Seng's Hair Salon

(Photo credit to Ashley Smith with Wide Eyed Studios)

One of the most important things that we carry with us is our ancestry.  Our families that go back and back and back…where they came from, what we don’t know, and what we do know.  Looking at America, some of our families have been here for a very long time, but some of our families are newer to this country.  Seng’s Hair Salon is a play that looks at a family that falls into that latter category.  We see a family made up of an immigrant, a first generation American, and a second generation American.  And as a second generation person myself, I was hit pretty hard right off the bat.

Seng’s Hair Salon is based on a true story of a Laotian immigrant’s salon in south Philly.  Seng, her daughter Vimala, and Vimala’s son Prince run this salon, even though it’s not doing too well.  There are bills, and issues, and big companies wanting to buy up the neighborhood, but through this family, we see life brought to the stage.  We get to watch a world that is horrifying.  It’s horrifying because, of course, we want to root for the underdogs, but also because these are real things happening in our world right now.  This play really brought attention to those things.

Looking at this family, we really get a snapshot of what’s important to them.  There’s an alter to Seng’s deceased husband in the corner, where characters regularly pray and give offerings.  There’s the need to move, but also to stay and continue telling stories.  There’s family, in Seng, Vimala, and Prince.  There’s the fight to keep the salon going, to keep the neighborhood from being completely bought out.  There’s friendship, which we see clearly through Vimala and her oldest friend Sareoun.  With each picture, we are more and more engrained in these people’s lives.

I loved all of the characters in Seng’s Hair Salon.  They were so beautifully fleshed out.  And I really felt like I related to all of them in one way or another.  Everyone brought something beautiful to the table, from Seng’s vigilance in keeping her family and business going, to Prince, the only male character in a cast of women, who wants to take over the business of the salon.  These characters all touched me, and it was amazing how intensely they carried the show.  This play could not have been presented in a better way.  The actors worked together so flawlessly.

No one had it easy in Seng’s Hair Salon.  They were all fighting for one thing or another.  Seng and Prince want to keep the business afloat.  Vimala is going back to art school, and tried desperately to keep that a secret from pretty much everyone in her life.  Anh is so desperate to get home, even though she’ll be alone in a huge house.  Sareoun is desperately fighting for their neighborhood to remain as it is, even as large companies are buying up all the businesses and homes.  There is so much struggle in every step of this play, but the characters are all there for each other.  They’re struggling, but they’re not struggling alone.

Of course, you can’t really have a show like this without some degree of superstition.  I feel like we’ve all heard stories and myths passed down from generation to generation.  One of my favorite parts of Seng’s Hair Salon is the use of superstition.  I mentioned the alter before, which really did play a large role, but there was so much more than that, including a character called The Entity.  Throughout the show, Seng speaks of a dark spirit, and at the end, we get to hear the story behind this spirit.  I thought it was a really beautiful spin to see what haunts this character.

This was one of those plays where you really can’t be too sure what happened at the end.  It was absolutely jaw dropping, because it definitely wasn’t what I expected, and I absolutely loved it.  We were left in a place where we got to decide on our own what actually happened.  I’m sure I’ve said this at some point, but I love plays like that.  They really make me think, and I feel like they do that for most people.  I’m sure that everyone would have their own opinion on that…and that makes for a damn special play.

There is so much passed down from generation to generation.  Seng’s Hair Salon taught us that lesson with crystal clarity, and it also showed us how important it is that that happens.  It doesn’t matter what community you’re looking at…southeast Asian, Jewish, Latinx…our ancestors have so much to teach us, and we absolutely must listen.  I really feel like when everything came to light in this play, it was a true call to this fact.  In the end, I think that’s really how every character in Seng’s Hair Salon ended on a very inspiring note.