(Water drum music)

The year: 1918. The place: rural China, where a wealthy lord has come home after years overseas. He presents each of his three wives with a gift . . . including a wind-up RCA Victrola, playing exotic European music that sounds pretty strange to Chinese ears… 

(excerpt)

But the husband has brought home more than souvenirs. He’s picked up Western ideas about individualism, and Christianity. The three Chinese wives debate how to handle this challenge to tradition. Things get really dicey when an Anglican priest arrives, shaking the household to the core. 

Through it all, this wise play keeps asking a difficult question: “How do you sustain your culture, and your family, and still adapt in a world that’s changing -- fast?”  This show looks traditional, with Chinese pavilions supported by stately red columns, and shimmering silk garments reflecting Asian styles from long ago. But the saga of a family in transition is fresh and compelling.

Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra (CATS) presents "Golden Child" through February 9th in Nevada City.