The Last Tram Staged Reading

Theatre Diaspora and CoHo Productions present a staged reading of The Last Tram by Min Kahng, a genre-bending new work about grief, memory, and theme parks. Nostalgia devolves into nightmare for the five strangers aboard the final Canery Studios Tram Tour. Unearth the sinister secret behind the theme park in this dark comedy about commercialized memories and the price we pay to create our own happiness. This staged reading premieres a new draft of The Last Tram, and will be presented at CoHo Productions on December 6 at 7:30 PM.

The Canery Studios theme park is shutting down, but there is one last chance to ride the Canery Studio Tram Tour. Brian used to come to Canery Studios with his father, who died a month ago. Even if those visits were ones fraught with tension, it seems fitting to remember him on this final tram ride. Along with Brian are ride operator Chee, tour guide Anna, a plucky college journalist named Rosalie, and die-hard fan Sunny, who knows more about Canery Studios than meets the eye. But why is the last tram so empty? And why is everyone Asian? As the play unfolds, animatronics go haywire, the world starts to unravel, and Brian begins to hallucinate his dead father in other people’s bodies. Beneath the chaos, the play asks: how do we reconcile our fondest memories when they’re tied to pain we can’t resolve?

Playwright Min Kahng describes the play as “a dark comedy, part sci-fi, part memory play, that explores theme parks and the commercialization of nostalgia—all told through an Asian American playwright's lens. I wrote this play because I have my own complicated relationship to theme parks. I have a lot of fond memories of my dad taking me to Disneyland and Universal parks, that are also bound up with less-than-fond memories of my strained relationship with him. I believe that genre fiction is a great way to explore complex ideas, and that we are still only at the beginning of looking at how these genres—which have been dominated by white narratives—can intersect with our ethnicities.”

The Last Tram is the winner of Theatre Diaspora’s first People’s Choice Reading campaign, a new community engagement initiative where the Portland community chooses the final play reading of Theatre Diaspora’s season. Over the summer, Theatre Diaspora invited those in the Portland Metro Area—as well as AANHPI artists more broadly—to submit proposals for a play that they would like to see as a staged reading. Four finalists were chosen from the submissions, and in September the finalists presented their plays at Theatre Diaspora’s first annual Pitch Party. Hosted in partnership with Artists Repertory Theatre, the Pitch Party featured “pitches” from each finalist and excerpt readings from each play. At the end of the event, the audience voted for the play that most wanted to see, and Kahng’s The Last Tram was the crowd favorite.

The Last Tram had its first reading in 2023 at the Playwrights Foundation in partnership with Crowded Fire Theater in San Francisco. Since then, Kahng has made revisions to the piece but has not yet found the play’s next development opportunity. Theatre Diaspora’s staged reading provides that opportunity, allowing Kahng to be in residence workshopping the piece and getting it world-premiere-ready. “In his pitch, Min spoke about how valuable having the chance to develop this play would be, and that really appealed to folks,” says Theatre Diaspora Co-Director Justine Nakase. “Audience members were excited by the idea of being part of the development process for new work, and it’s an amazing opportunity for Theatre Diaspora to support AANHPI playwrights. On top of that, the play is weird and dark and funny in a way that really connected with the Pitch Party audiences, and that fits Portland perfectly.”