Review: KIM'S CONVENIENCE at The Old Globe
Playing through June 14th at The Old Globe
“Kim’s Convenience,” now playing at The Old Globe through June 14, delivers a warm and funny portrait of family, community, and the complicated push and pull between tradition and change. Written by and starring Ins Choi, whose award-winning play later inspired the popular Netflix series, this brisk one-act comedy finds humor in everyday life while quietly exploring larger conversations about immigration, generational differences, and what happens when both families and neighborhoods evolve faster than people are ready for.
This approximately 80-minute one-act offers a glimpse into the Kim family, who live and work at their Toronto convenience store while the world around them keeps shifting. New condos are rising. A Walmart is moving in. The neighborhood is changing, and with it come questions about community, identity, and what happens when familiar places slowly disappear. Through brief interactions with customers and neighbors, it is evident how the store and Mr. Kim have grown and settled into this neighborhood landscape.
At the center is Appa, Mr. Kim (Ins Choi), who built both the store and the life surrounding it. Proud, stubborn, and deeply set in his ways, Appa does not understand why his daughter Janet (Kelly J. Seo) does not want to take over the family business. Janet is building a career as a professional photographer, a path her father struggles to see as practical. Appa tries to give quick lessons to Janet as customers come and go, all portrayed by Brandon McKnight in rapid succession, but she is not as interested in that as she is the neighborhood police officer (also McKnight), who responds to a call. Meanwhile, Umma (Esther Chung) quietly carries worries of her own — concern over Janet’s future, sadness over the family’s estranged son Jung (Ryan Jinn), and the ongoing tension between father and son that has left years of distance between them.
Choi’s Appa feels both lovable and frustrating. He has a temper, he can be controlling, and he stubbornly clings to tradition. Yet Choi also reveals Appa’s softer edges, his mischievous humor, his pride in what he has built, and the fear of what the future holds.
Kelly J. Seo brings warmth and sincerity to Janet, creating an easy and believable dynamic with Choi of two equally stubborn people trying to make themselves understood. Brandon McKnight proves endlessly entertaining, shifting rapidly between neighborhood personalities while bringing comic energy throughout the evening. He also shares an easy chemistry with Seo that adds charm to Janet’s storyline.
Esther Chung brings sweetness and emotional steadiness to Umma, though the script unfortunately gives her less to do than some of the other characters. As Jung, Ryan Jinn’s scenes carry emotional weight, and his quiet longing for reconciliation creates some of the production’s strongest moments. One leaves wishing the script had spent a bit more time with both of them.
Directed by Weyni Mengesha with brisk pacing and energy, the production moves smoothly without ever dragging. Joanna Yu’s detailed convenience store set creates a fully lived-in world that feels authentic, while Nicole Eun-Ju Bell’s projections subtly support the storytelling.
The show does introduce one major point of conflict that feels more difficult to move past than the script fully acknowledges. Certain storylines arrive at resolutions that feel a bit neat, in their sitcom-like simplicity. Maybe the Netflix show is where those storylines and plot points are fleshed out more fully.
Yet beneath the laughs and family squabbles sits something familiar: parents trying to understand children who grew up differently than they did, children trying to honor where they came from while becoming who they want to be, and a community trying to hold on to itself while the world changes around it.
How To Get Tickets
“Kim’s Convenience” is playing at The Old Globe through June 14th. For ticket and showtime information, go to theoldglobe.org
Photo Credit: Ins Choi. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
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