Kim's Convenience

Ins Choi

• Publisher: House of Anansi Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781487002244
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

A brand new edition of the smash-hit play, now a wildly popular CBC TV series.

Mr. Kim is a first-generation Korean immigrant and the proud owner of Kim's Convenience, a variety store located in the heart of downtown Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood. As the neighbourhood quickly gentrifies, Mr. Kim is offered a generous sum of money to sell — enough to allow him and his wife to finally retire. But Kim's Convenience is more than just his livelihood — it is his legacy. As Mr. Kim tries desperately, and hilariously, to convince his daughter Janet, a budding photographer, to take over the store, his wife sneaks out to meet their estranged son Jung, who has not seen or spoken to his father in sixteen years and who has now become a father himself.

Wholly original, hysterically funny, and deeply moving, Kim's Convenience tells the story of one Korean family struggling to face the future amidst the bitter memories of their past.

KIM’S CONVENIENCE

김씨네 편의점

Kim’s Convenience made its debut at the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was first performed on July 6, 2011, at the Bathurst Street Theatre. The play was revived in Toronto on January 19, 2012, by the Soulpepper Theatre Company at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. The original cast members are:

APPA Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
UMMA Jean Yoon
JUNG Ins Choi
JANET Esther Jun

RICH, MR. LEE, Andre Sills (Fringe Festival production)
MIKE, and ALEX Clé Bennett (Soulpepper Theatre production)

Fringe Festival production directed by Ins Choi
Soulpepper Theatre production directed by Weyni Mengesha

CHARACTERS

APPA
A 59-year-old first-generation Korean-Canadian man, and owner of Kim’s Convenience store. Speaks with a thick Korean-Canadian accent.

UMMA
A 56-year-old first-generation Korean-Canadian woman. APPA’s wife. Speaks with a thick Korean-Canadian accent.

JUNG
A 32-year-old second-generation Korean-Canadian man. APPA and UMMA’s son.

JANET
A 30-year-old second-generation Korean-Canadian woman. APPA and UMMA’s daughter.

The following characters are played by one actor:

RICH
A young black man

MR. LEE
A successful black real estate agent and a friend of APPA

MIKE
A black man with a thick Jamaican accent

ALEX
A 32‒year-old black police officer and a childhood friend of JUNG

SCENE

A convenience store in Toronto’s Regent Park, a low- to middle-income neighbourhood made up mainly of recent immigrants.

1. Open

Autumn. Morning. Inside a convenience store.

APPA is heard humming a medley of hymns as he enters from the back of the store with a pocketful of money, a mug of coffee in hand, and scratch-and-win card trays. He puts the coffee mug on the counter, inserts the money in the cash register, and slides in the scratch-and-win trays. He turns on the lights, then goes to the window and flips the CLOSED sign to OPEN. He unlocks the front door. He returns to the counter, pours sugar in his coffee, and stirs. As he looks out the window, he sips. He sighs. He turns on the radio and begins pricing a case of cans with a price gun.

2. I am Korean

Early afternoon. Bell. RICH enters.

APPA: Hi.

RICH: Hey, wassup?

APPA: Nice day.

RICH: Yeah. Hook me up with a scratch-and-win card, please? (APPA pulls out the tray and RICH chooses a card.) Thanks.

APPA: Is that one you car?

RICH: Sorry?

APPA: Pointing to a car outside. Is that one you car?

RICH: Is that one my car?

APPA: Yah.

RICH: Which one?

APPA: White Honda in no-parking zone. Is that one you car?

RICH: No, man, I don’t even have a car.

APPA: Oh.

RICH: And a du Maurier Balanced, please.

APPA: Large or small?

RICH: Small.

APPA: King size or regular?

RICH: King size.

APPA: If you don’t have car, why you ask, “Which one?” when I ask, “Is that one you car?”

RICH: I don’t know. Didn’t know what you were talking about.

APPA: Indicating the case of cans on the counter. Insam Energy Beverage?

RICH: What?

APPA: It’s Insam Energy Beverage. It’s new one, very good from Korea. Made from —

RICH: Ginseng.

APPA: No, insam.

RICH: No, like what it’s made from, looks li...