Stuck Elevator

Stuck Elevator tells the story of Guang, a Chinese food deliveryman struggling for freedom from debt, human smugglers, loud-mouthed coworkers, and the temptations of General Tso. Based on the true story of an undocumented immigrant who survived 81 hours in a Bronx elevator, this comic-rap-scrap-metal-music-theatre work follows Guang’s increasingly fantastic attempts to escape a 4′ by 6′ by 8′ metal box.

Stuck Elevator is a sung-through hybrid of musical theatre, opera, and solo performance born of the disparate theatrical worlds of its two authors. A scrap-metal percussionist, violinist, and cellist create a mongrel sound that reflects the shifting world in which Guang lives: part American, part Chinese, part Bronx, part shipping container, part heart, part elevator. Bowed bicycle wheels and other found metal objects evoke the ominous sounds of the elevator and apartment building. Guang sings lyrical melodies and screams metallic noise. Though one actor plays Guang throughout his solo ordeal, others drift in and out of the elevator, manifesting the characters populating Guang’s memories, dreams, and imaginings.