HOME IS WHERE THE PHO IS

Looking for a real life
amidst the demands of AI

Christina R. Chan

Directed by cara hinh and written by Minna Lee, this East Coast premiere is alternately hilarious and joyous and, at other times, a sobering and touching look at the effects of gentrification, the threats of AI, and the ongoing trauma of war on a very specific pair of people trying to keep a struggling pho restaurant alive.

Emma Na-yun Downs, Belle Le, Jenny S. Lee, Lee Baladejo

Rewritten and reimagined for a Massachusetts setting, My Home on the Moon premiered in Seattle, where playwright Lee witnessed the destruction of family-owned businesses and familiar neighborhoods resulting from the growth of big tech. Lee later spent time in Boston, where they observed the effects of rising rents, noise and air pollution, and Massachusetts data centers on surrounding neighborhoods in order to adapt the script for this production.

Emma Na-yun Downs and Belle Le

Christina R. Chan is Lan, the owner of a Vietnamese pho restaurant and the survivor of a war that left her homeland so cratered and alien that she and her sister comforted themselves by imagining they had a new home on the moon. Belle Le plays Mai, the restaurant’s chef, who has graduated from “a fancy cooking school.” Mai’s culinary creations are delicious, despite barely functioning equipment, but the restaurant’s clientele dwindles as the neighborhood that once sought her pho is destroyed by bulldozers.

Lan regularly prays to her ancestors for customers and money, and it seems as though her prayers are answered when Vera (Emma Na-yun Downs) arrives with the news that Pho Lan has been awarded a grant providing unlimited funds for marketing and renovations.

The Cast

What follows is the realization of all Lan and Mai’s dreams—though Mai is initially suspicious of the corporate entity behind the grant. An erotically charged advertising campaign by Qingan Zhang (scenic and projection design) brings appreciative customers through the door. A Michelin star and opportunities to introduce more sophisticated Vietnamese cuisine soon follow.

My Home on the Moon at The Plaza Theatre

Lee Baladejo delivers a hilarious star turn as an over-the-top food critic, while the intimate Plaza Theatre provides a rare opportunity to experience a well-executed dragon dance up close.

Emma Na-yun Downs

All of this good fortune, of course, is too good to be true. Not only is it not true—it is artificial. The play ultimately raises questions not only about happiness, but also about love, and the extent to which these emotions depend upon disappointment and pain in order to be fully realized.

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photos by Ken Yotsukura

My Home on the Moon
CHUANG Stage
The Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts
90 minutes, no intermission
ends on June 13, 2026
for tickets ($0–$85), visit Chuang Stage

for more shows, visit Theatre in Boston

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BIO: Lynne Weiss is a member of the Boston Theater Critics Association. Her reviews, travel tales, and progressively optimistic opinions are on her substack.