Commissioned and developed by South Coast Repertory, Vietgone by Qui Nguyen premiered October 4, 2015. The play explores characters’ inner conflicts through music and singing. Playwright Qui Nguyen, a television and film writer, cofounded New York City’s Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company. Another of his plays is She Kills Monsters, and he often uses pop culture and multimedia in his productions. Vietgone follows the story of his parents, who met as refugees in the American South after the fall of Saigon but initially went in different directions, one trying to return to Vietnam, the other hoping for a new life in the US. The play won the 2016 LA Drama Critics Circle Ted Schmitt Award and the 2016 ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award.

This study guide references the 2017 Acting Edition by Samuel French.

Content Warning: The source text contains scenes of anti-immigrant and anti-Vietnamese biases and limited use of racist terms toward Vietnamese characters.

Plot Summary

The Playwright, Qui Nguyen, introduces Tong and Quang, asserting that they don’t represent his parents, and explains that Vietgone is a love story between these two individuals whom the Vietnam War impacted. The play then opens on a scene in 1975 as Quang and his best friend, Nhan, ride a motorcycle through Arkansas. They’re heading to California and plan to return to Vietnam. Nhan asks Quang if the girl he’s dating back at the refugee camp is upset that he’s leaving, and Quang replies that it doesn’t matter because he must reunite with his family.

Four months earlier, Giai begs for Tong’s hand in marriage. She refuses, and Giai sobs, asking why she wouldn’t want a life with him. She says she’ll think about it but treasures her independence. At a Saigon military station, Nhan finds Quang waiting at the gates for someone and asks to borrow money for a sex worker, but Quang refuses. Quang is upset that Thu, his wife, didn’t bring their children; her concern is the approaching Viet Cong. Quang tells her of his gifts for the children, a teething giraffe and a knife, but Thu says that neither is appropriate for children their age. Quang laments not having more time with his children and promises Thu to get them out if the Viet Cong take Saigon. Three weeks later, the city falls, but Nhan convinces Quang to airlift refugees to a nearby ship before going to get his family.

At Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, Tong meets Bobby, an American who takes a liking to her. Her mother, Huong, warns her against becoming involved with an American and complains about life in the US; she wants to return to Vietnam, questioning why Tong brought her. Tong reminds her that the embassy gave her only two tickets and that Khue, her brother, refused to go.

On the ship, Quang meets with Captain Chambers and his Translator, requesting the helicopter retrieve his family. Chambers tells him that they pushed the helicopter off the ship to make room for planes and that Quang must go to the US.

In Oklahoma City, Redneck Biker nearly runs Nhan and Quang off the road, and only after Nhan hits him, making him fall, does the man stop chasing them. Quang explains that Americans don’t like them and, as a society, have deep issues rooted in racism. A month earlier, Tong pushes Huong to take English lessons and signs herself up for a foster family to take her in and help her find a job and learn English. Bobby offers to help Tong get better food, but again Huong disapproves of him. Nhan and Quang arrive at Fort Chaffee, and Quang goes to get food. He meets Huong, and they discuss their desire to return to Vietnam; she complains about Tong and asks to join Quang when he returns to Vietnam. He agrees.

In Amarillo, Texas, Hippie Dude and Flower Girl offer Quang and Nhan marijuana. Quang accepts it, hoping that it’ll help him forget his troubles. Before their trip, at Fort Chaffee, Tong has a nightmare: She sees Giai in the refugee camp, but he soon bleeds out from bullet wounds and tells her that, like him, her brother and father are dead. Quang, while searching for Huong, witnesses Tong having this nightmare and wakes her. He flirts with her and tells her he’s looking for Huong. Rattled by her dream, she asks him to stay, suggesting that they have sex.

While high with Quang, Hippie Dude says he never agreed with US involvement in the Vietnam War, telling Quang, “You’re welcome.” Quang is angry, saying that his opinion can’t match Quang’s experience fighting and living through it.

After sex, Quang tells Tong they made love; she says they just let out frustration. Seeing his wedding ring, she calls him an asshole. He doesn’t argue except when she complains about Huong, whose desire to reunite with family he relates to. He explains his plan to return, but Tong warns that no one knows what’s going on there and tells him not to die, as she likes sleeping with him. Huong arrives and, appalled, kicks him out, criticizing Tong since he’s married. Although Huong and Nhan try to keep them apart, Tong and Quang increasingly spend time together.

As Nhan and Quang stop to enjoy the scenery in Albuquerque, Nhan tries to convince Quang to stay in the US, citing all it offers. Quang agrees about the relative safety but says he can’t be complete without his family and has no true feelings for Tong. At camp, as Tong and Quang spend more time together, Tong warns him not to fall for her. He agrees but questions why it would be so bad. She says she wants to be independent, unconstrained by love.

When Nhan refuels the motorcycle in Flagstaff, Arizona, Redneck Biker reappears and attacks him, even calling for ninja reinforcements when Quang joins the fight. Quang and Nhan defeat Redneck Biker and leave.

Huong prays for Khue’s safety in Vietnam and, recalling how he urged her to go with Tong and guide her in starting a new life, she hugs Tong, promising not to return to Vietnam with Quang. Tong goes to tell Quang and invite him to eat at a local diner, but he’s working on a motorcycle and tells her that he’s returning to Vietnam soon. She’s upset but says that he can do whatever he wants and that she now has her foster family assignment. Later that day, Bobby asks her to the same diner she wanted to go to with Quang, and she joins him. Quang walks into the diner with flowers but leaves after finding Tong and Bobby kissing.

In Oceanside, California, Nhan finally convinces Quang not to return to Vietnam, where he’d be captured and forced into a work camp or even killed, which would hurt his family since they’d never move on from him. He convinces Quang that the best thing to do for them is to let them lead new lives. Three months later, in El Dorado, Arkansas, Bobby asks Tong to dinner, hinting at his plan to propose. She agrees to go. Huong begs her not to marry him, encouraging her to find a better man. Quang returns, saying that he wants to be with Tong and that she’s the only thing in the world that makes sense to him. Hesitant, she agrees to get food with him. When he kisses her, she kisses him back.

Decades later, the Playwright sits in a diner with Quang, interviewing him to write a play about his parents, Quang and Tong. Quang hesitates, wanting to discuss how he raised the Playwright and even trying to get him to sing. The Playwright says that US involvement in Vietnam was a mistake; Quang fervently disagrees, saying that the threat of the Viet Cong was very real and that he’s alive today because of the Americans. Quang laments how the entire war is now viewed as a mistake and hopes for greater respect for the Vietnamese perspective. The Playwright stops recording and instead sings with his father.