Review: SUPREME LEADER at Mile Square Theatre

What does it mean to inherit absolute power before you’ve even figured out who you are? Don X. Nguyen’s Supreme Leader, now playing at Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken under Sarah Shin’s incisive direction, transforms a slice of geopolitical absurdity into something deeply personal, funny, and unexpectedly moving. It asks what happens when a boy destined to become one of the world’s most feared dictators still just wants to paint, ski, and maybe fall in love.

The play’s premise is irresistible: in the 1990s, a teenage Kim Jong-Un—nicknamed “Oony” by his classmates—is sent to boarding school in Switzerland under an assumed identity. There, amid the polite collisions of international privilege and cultural curiosity, he learns that he is next in line for his father’s regime. But that knowledge doesn’t arrive in the thunderous voice of destiny. It seeps in through the cracks: a phone call from his father, a watchful minder, a growing understanding that the carefree world around him is never truly his.

Jonon Gansukh delivers a magnetic and fully committed performance as Kim Jong-Un, capturing the almost tragic duality of a young man torn between artistic yearning and political inheritance. At times, however, Gansukh’s portrayal edges into excess—his “Oony” occasionally lapses into whining, almost babyish tones that slightly undercut the character’s emotional gravity. Even so, the performance remains compelling, an engrossing study of a boy rehearsing the gestures of a tyrant before understanding the meaning of power.

As Sophie, Oony’s classmate and emotional counterpart, Pimprenelle Noël is luminous. She radiates warmth, intelligence, and an understated confidence that anchors the play’s emotional center. Noël’s performance is a marvel of naturalism—her Sophie never feels like a foil, but a fully realized young woman whose kindness, curiosity, and quiet strength bring out Oony’s most human impulses. Their scenes together, particularly their tentative flirtations and cultural misunderstandings, shimmer with vulnerability and truth.

Kurt Uy imbues Oony’s minder with a calm precision that is both comic and quietly menacing. His watchful presence functions as a living reminder of the system Oony can never truly escape. Nathan Malin, as Onny's hapless would-be-nemesis Roger Farington, provides bursts of humor that ground the story in recognizable adolescent absurdity, giving the audience a brief respite from the play’s creeping sense of inevitability.

Director Sarah Shin orchestrates Nguyen’s world with a sure and sensitive hand. Supreme Leader could easily tip into parody, but Shin handles the absurdity with care, allowing humor to emerge organically from character rather than caricature. The minimalist set balances Alpine serenity with political claustrophobia. Lighting shifts subtly between warmth and chill, suggesting how every moment of joy is shadowed by watchful control.

Nguyen’s script deftly blends satire and empathy. He refuses to treat Kim Jong-Un as a one-dimensional villain-in-training; instead, he invites us to see a boy whose desires and fears might have once resembled our own (who didn't love Michael Jordan in the 1990's?). The result is a haunting portrait of innocence curdling under pressure, of art and idealism smothered by inherited power.

The production reaches its emotional apex when Oony must choose between art and authority—his paintbrush, a symbol of fleeting freedom, becomes almost sacred. In that moment, Nguyen’s question resonates deeply: Could it ever have gone differently?

Despite a few overextended monologues, Supreme Leader never loses its bite or heart. The humor remains sharp, the performances grounded, and the political critique deeply human.

Mile Square Theatre and Chris Cragin-Day its new Artistic Director, have a winner on their hands.   This new production finds something rarely seen in stories about tyranny—the fragile, fleeting humanity that precedes it. Kudos to artistic director Chris Cragin-Day and her team at Mile Square.  Hoboken has a small treasure in Mile Square Theatre and more Hobokenites should know about it!  We look forward with great anticipation to what they will present next!