Paper Son

Paper Son takes an alternately funny and poignant look at the subjects of immigration and personal heritage as it tells the story of Oklahoma born-and-bred Chinese/American Byron Yee, who moves to California to start a career in stand-up comedy. A disastrous audition for a movie role as a stereotypical, Pidgin-English-speaking Chinese restaurant owner prompts Yee to investigate his own long-ignored heritage. Along the way he learns about the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law which restricted Chinese immigration to the children of current U.S. residents, and that many people claimed fictive relationships and faked documents to get around the law–hence the term “paper son.” A trip to the National Archives reveals the startling truth: Yee’s own father was one such Paper Son.

Part of the FringeNYC Encores series.