‘The Heart Sellers’: A Review

“The Heart Sellers” is at the Guthrie until January 25. This sweet story follows Luna and Jane, a Filipina and a Korean woman who have both recently immigrated to the United States and are now trying to figure out their first American Thanksgiving. Their friendship slowly blossoms over the course of the show as these two apparent opposites get to know each other.

“The Heart Sellers” is a timely, thoughtful meditation on friendship, womanhood and what immigration takes away from a person. The title “The Heart Sellers” is a play on the 1965 Hart-Celler Act. This act — named for the two men who sponsored it — repealed quotas on immigration that had prioritized European immigration to the detriment of people from other countries.

The play’s title is further explored in a monologue beautifully performed by Jenna Agbayani as Luna. In this monologue, Luna imagines that the fee immigrants must pay to enter America is their hearts. This fee renders them heartbroken and unable to fully relate to the people they left behind or the people they encounter in their new country — including their own children.

In addition to dealing with the unique hardships of immigrants, “The Heart Sellers” is also a beautiful character study of two women and their fledgling friendship. Over and over again, I was struck by how different these two women were and how perfect those differences made them for each other.

Costume Designer Junghyun Georgia Lee highlights both women’s personalities with carefully curated clothing. Luna, dressed in a cropped denim vest and bell bottoms, wears her hair loose. She is gregarious and loud and laughs after nearly every sentence. Jane, dressed in a long, modest dress and a cozy sweater, wears her hair pulled back. She is shy, reserved and soft-spoken. Once the ice between the two of them begins to melt, however, we see the sadness lurking under Luna’s extroversion and the hilarity that Jane keeps under lock and key.

“The Heart Sellers” strikes a very specific visual note. Everything — from furniture to clothing to kitchen utensils — adheres to the muted rainbow of the 1970s: mustard, pea green, burnt orange, dusty purple and earthy brown. Vintage packaging and Tupperware populate the shelves of the kitchen and a crocheted quilt drapes over the back of the couch. Perhaps most delightfully of all, Scenic Designer Wilson Chin made the inspired decision to cover the bulk of the stage with a tan carpet.

Although “The Heart Sellers” is short enough to run without an intermission, being a two-person show, it is a heavy lift that both Agbayani and Juyeon Song (Jane) carry gracefully. The script oscillates abruptly from silly to serious and back again, and those tonal shifts were always handled deftly by Agbayani and Song. Some of the silences (both awkward and pained) felt a little too manufactured for me, but overall, watching Song’s Jane slowly come out of her shell as she warms up to Luna and watching Luna’s mask fall as she warms up to Jane is an extraordinary pleasure.

I recommend “The Heart Sellers” for people who like stories about friendship, family and finding your place in this world. “The Heart Sellers” is a beautiful work with a unique point of view. See it before it’s gone.

You still have about a month to see “The Heat Sellers” at the Guthrie. Tickets start at $29. There are a couple of special evenings over the run of the show, which include BIPOC Community Night on January 10, Asian Artists Pop-Up Market on January 18 and several facilitated post-play discussions. You can find those details on the Guthrie website, listed below.

www.guthrietheater.org