The Ritz-Diamond

The Ritz-Diamond, inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Diamond as Big as The Ritz, is a solo show set in Shangri-La, where the Ritz-Diamond was secretly discovered by the Grandfather decades ago.

The story centers on a pair of 21-year-old twin sisters from the third generation, Kismine the little church girl and Jasmine the habitual rule-breaker. Each summer three teenage boys are recruited so that the first girl to get married can earn the Diamond, as the rule of the game goes. One midsummer night Kismine encounters the only boy she has ever loved, John, with whom she begins a strictly platonic romance. While Kismine clutches John into her household with her piano-playing claws, Jasmine plots to destroy their marriage for fear of losing her welfare…

Joining forces with her mafia godfather as well as grandfather in the heaven, Jasmine gradually finds her way out of sibling rivalry and familial cruelty – for a generation that likes to hate neighbors and isolate from others.