trace

By Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)

"I support you when you need, so that you support me when I need."

An elegant and sweeping story of a Chinese family’s history, trace follows the footsteps of four generations as their homes and identities are challenged. Jeff Ho brings life to his great grandmother, grandmother, and mother through considerate storytelling as they recount their pasts, leading to a paralleled present.

Great Grandmother fled the Japanese during World War II by escaping China into Hong Kong, a traumatic event that’s rippled down the family line. Grandmother married into the family after a childhood of poverty that will always stay with her. Mother decided to leave Hong Kong for Canada with her two sons, pursuing more opportunities, though dissatisfied with her son’s desire to focus on the piano rather than math. Though pain is a constant, there are plenty of wisecracks, games of mah jong, and familiar family anecdotes swirling through Ho’s genealogical journey of survival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: Dec 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9780369100580

Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)

Jeff Ho is a theatre artist, originally from Hong Kong. As an actor, he has toured as Ophelia in Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet across Canada and the US for over five years.  As a playwright, his works include cockroach (曱甴), Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land), Antigone: 方, and trace. Jeff is a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Drama, the Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award for Best New Canadian Play, the Jon Kaplan Legacy Fund Award, has been a finalist for the Playwright’s Guild of Canada Drama Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award, and has been nominated for four Dora Mavor Moore Awards. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and currently lives in Toronto.

Book preview

9780369100566.jpg

trace

jeff ho

Playwrights Canada Press

Toronto

trace © Copyright

2019

by Jeff Ho

First edition: December

2019

Jacket art and design by Jeremy Leung

Author photo © Dahlia Katz

Playwrights Canada Press

202-269

Richmond St. W., Toronto, ON M

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416.703.0013

:: [e-mail] :: www.playwrightscanada.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca.

For professional or amateur production rights, please contact:

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Trace / Jeff Ho.

Names: Ho, Jeff, author.

Description: First edition. | A play.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print)

20190192747

| Canadiana (ebook)

20190192755

| ISBN

9780369100566

(softcover) | ISBN

9780369100573

(PDF) | ISBN

9780369100580

(EPUB) | ISBN

9780369100597

(Kindle)

Classification: LCC PS

8615

.O

155

T

73

2019

| DDC C

812

/.

6

 — dc

23

Playwrights Canada Press acknowledges that we operate on land, which, for thousands of years, has been the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe, Métis, and Haudenosaunee peoples. Today, this meeting place is home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and play here.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts — which last year invested $

153

million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country — the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada for our publishing activities.

The Canada Council for the ArtsThe Government of CanadaOntario CreatesThe Ontario Arts Council

For all the immigrant families who have shared a similar story — I see you, thank you, and love you.

For all my ancestors — Great Grandma, Grandma, Ma — thank you all for what you’ve given me.

For Julianna, my darling niece, the first Canadian born of our family — this is the story of our family, of all that came before you, and all the hopes and dreams we carry in our blood. I love you, now and forever.

For Iris and Nina — my theatre moms, this play would not have been possible without you.

For Pierre — I would not be possible without you. Thank you.

Contents

notes

characters

trace

prelude: moderato

movement one: allegro

movement two: andante/grave

movement three: scherzo

movement four: largo

movement five: maestoso

coda

acknowledgements

about the author

Landmarks

Cover

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Start of Text

Table of Contents

characters

prelude: moderato

movement one: allegro

movement two: andante/grave

movement three: scherzo

movement four: largo

movement five: maestoso

coda

acknowledgements

about the author

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notes

There are two pianos in the playing space, serving as voice(s),