On Friday, Dec. 8, more than 30 AABANY members and friends came out for a theater outing to see “A Deal,” at Urban Stages Theater on West 30th Street. Among the attendees were Margaret Ling, Co-Chair of the Asia Practice Committee and Real Estate Committee, Judge Peggy Kuo, EDNY, and Sylvia Chin, Partner/Of Counsel at White & Case.

The play is a dark comedy about a young Chinese actress in New York and her parents from China who experience a series of misadventures in their attempts to buy an apartment for her in 2015, at a time when real estate investment in New York by Chinese buyers hit a historic high.

AABANY filled about half the theater. The other half included high school students from New Hyde Park in Long Island. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the play, written by Zhu Yi, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who received her MFA from Columbia.

After the play, Issues Committee Co-Chair Chris Kwok moderated a talkback that included Zhu Yi and Margaret Ling discussing the pertinent and timely issues raised in the play about the realities of the New York real estate market and the implications of increased wealth from China coming into the US.

Several of the theater-goers continued their conversations at Molly Wee Pub around the corner from the theater. They got to meet and speak with Zhu Yi, who joined us.

“A Deal” closed its New York run on December 10 but it is currently playing in China, in a Chinese language version.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see “A Deal.”