Excerpt starts on Page 24 Esther Choi is your favorite all-American, overachieving-Asian teen except she has a ghost. Anthony Gibson is Esther’s best friend and (spoiler alert) he’s dead. Mr. Choi is Esther’s grandfather and he owns a haunted dry cleaner on Cheltenham Ave. In an (un)likely turn of events, Esther must grapple with grief, loneliness, and winning first chair in high school orchestra, all while living up to her grandfather’s new expectations.
Characters: Esther: A practical and driven high school student (but only because she knows she’s supposed to be). She’s tough on others, but tougher on herself. She is second generation. Asian-American, female, early 20s. Anthony: A brilliant and kind high school student. Musical genius that works at a fish supply store. A compelling gentleness lives inside him. African-American, male, early 20s. Mr. Choi: Esther’s grandfather and immigrant from Korea. He owns a dry cleaner. Asian/Asian-American, male, grandfather age (let’s not be insulting here)
Setting: Choi Dry Cleaner: Mr. Choi’s business on Cheltenham Ave. in Philadelphia, PA; worn and stood the test of time. Fins N Gills: an aquarium and fish supply store where Anthony works; this is a new (read: gentrified) business.
Key:
Pace: . = a blink - = the other side of a conversation / = interruption or continuation … = waiting
The play should feel like a dry cleaner conveyor belt, circling around. Some pieces come off. Some stay on for forever. It’s a cycle. But it stops and starts.
“We are all interwoven and create each other’s universes. When one person dies out of his time, it affects us all. We don’t live for ourselves; we are interconnected. We live for the earth, for Texas, for the chicken we ate last night that gave us its life, for our mother, for the highway and the ceiling and the trees. We have a responsibility to treat ourselves kindly; then we will treat the world the same way.” Writing Down The Bones - Natalie Goldberg