Show Info
New Year's Eve Dinner
Location: Off-Off Broadway (Gene Frankel Theatre)
Dates: January 17–19, 2025
Showtimes: 5 performances x 60 seats per show
On Chinese New Year's Eve 2023, a northern Chinese family gathers to celebrate, but tension and silence fill the air. The story takes place in a small, cluttered apartment, where each object represents unresolved family issues. The older sister narrates, revealing how traditional values limit the children, how the younger brother’s insecurity shapes his choices, and how she feels distant from the family.
The foldable bed symbolizes an identity that can "disappear at any time." The mother’s repression is shown through a broken vanity, the father’s obsession with books and supplements, and the brother’s cramped room with shoe boxes and a Cecilia Cheung poster. The New Year's dinner exposes the emotional distance between family members.
菜单 Menu
私厨限量特供中国节/结套餐：
（拔丝地瓜）扎心，（蘸酱菜）凑合，（饺子）憋屈。（鸡尾酒）将就（酒）。
拔丝地瓜：谁能穿越，丝丝缕缕的掩饰，层层叠叠的回避，刺骨却脆弱的防线，触碰那深藏心底的甜
蘸酱菜：它们就酱紫，毫无征兆地聚在一起，原始而随意，仿佛今天只是命运随手的拼凑
饺子：憋得肚子发胀，嘴唇泛青，却依旧沉默，直到开膛破肚，才露出满腹的委屈
鸡尾酒：要想知道梨子的滋味，惟有亲口尝一尝，是讲究，还是将就，酸甜苦辣，冷暖自知
Limited Private Kitchen Special "Chinese Knot" Set Menu:
(Caramelized Sweet Potatoes) Heartache
(Veggies with Dipping Sauce) Compromise
(Dumplings) Suppressed
(Cocktail) Settling (for the drink)
Caramelized Sweet Potatoes:
Who can break through the delicate web of concealment, the layered walls of evasion, the sharp yet fragile defenses, to taste the sweetness buried deep within?
Veggies with Dipping Sauce:
Thrown together without warning, raw and unpolished, as if today's gathering were a random twist of fate.
Dumplings:
Stuffed to bursting, lips turning green, yet still silent. Only when split open do they reveal their burdened secrets.
Cocktail:
To truly know the taste of a pear, one must bite into it. Is it refined or resigned? The answer lies in the bittersweet and the warmth, known only to those who try.