The Chinese & Dr Fish

The Chinese ~ The scene is the Chinese laundry which is also home for the Lee family - father, mother and son, Chester. The older Lees are quite obviously Asian while Chester (who is usually taken for Jewish) is not - but his questions as to the possibility of his "real biological parents" are invariably turned aside by the Lees

Chester asks his fiancee (a nice Jewish girl) to meet his family - without telling her they are Chinese - which results in a series of hilarious misunderstandings

The Lees, indignant at Chester's obvious reluctance to be Chinese, have other plans - in the form of Pu Ping Chow, a sweet little Chinese girl fresh from Hong Kong

In the end the burning question of Chester's identity is answered, but with such wry Asianl inscrutability that his future will most likely be as much a dilemma as his past

Cast of 2 men and 3 women

Produced on Broadway with Dr Fish, this offbeat and wonderfully funny play deals with the plight of an apparently Caucasian young man whose parents are, just as apparently, Chinese

" terribly funny and not unwise, wonderfully theatrical and altogether grand" ~ NY Times

Dr Fish ~ Anxious to make their sex life more "meaningful," a middle-aged couple consult the eminent Dr Fish, a sex expert whose doctorate happens to be in American history

The wife and the doctor get along swimmingly once she has overcome her reluctance to say certain forbidden words, but the husband, a down-to-earth type, remains unconvinced

The efforts of the eager young Dr Fish to overcome the doubts of this worthy lead to some enormously funny moments, but the one who finally wins over the husband is Dr Fish's slightly dotty grandmother - who keeps bustling in with unwanted advice and steaming bowls of homemade lentil soup

In the end the grandmother, the husband, and a tureen of soup depart together, leaving Dr. Fish and his patient to ponder the deeper mysteries of sexual malaise and its cures

Cast of 2 men and 2 women

Described by the New York Times as "a battle report from the barricades of the sexual revolution" this witty and antic play was presented on Broadway in tandem with The Chinese

"Murray Schisgal continues to amaze me with his constant originality of themes and his gift for comic dialogue and of warm and rich characterizations" ~ Newsday

" a playwright with a fresh and original sense of humor" ~ NY Post