“The Magnificent Ms. Pham,” the first Vietnamese American water puppet show, is returning to the water where it was born. The perpetual motion puppet show will be at TurnPark Art Space in West Stockbridge, Mass., Aug. 28 and 29, following a sold-out New York City premiere earlier this year. The production was originally developed at TurnPark, where its puppets first danced across the surface of the quarry lake.
Created by Vietnamese American artist Tommy Nguyen and director and designer Doug Fitch, the production tells the story of Nguyen’s mother, Kim Pham, and her journey from Vietnam to the United States. The story moves between memory, Vietnamese history and mythology, and the realities of immigration, following Kim from her childhood in Vietnam through her escape as a “boat person” and eventual life in Houston, Texas.
But this is hardly a conventional historical drama. The story unfolds as a country-western musical, with original music by MUR and additional music by Vietnamese American composer Hao Le. Puppets, shadow theater, songs and water combine to bring figures from Vietnamese history and literature into Kim’s story, including the legendary warrior Lady Trieu and Lady Kieu, the literary heroine who becomes one of Kim’s guides.
The production draws on a Vietnamese theatrical tradition that dates back at least to the 11th century, when water puppetry emerged in the rice-growing communities of the Red River Delta. Traditionally performed on ponds or flooded rice fields, the form uses the water itself as a stage, concealing the mechanisms that allow puppeteers to make wooden figures dance, swim and interact with one another.
For Nguyen and Fitch, the quarry lake adds another dimension to the story. The production was first conceived and developed at TurnPark, including a 2024 workshop and a 2025 festival presentation that featured a giant dragon carrying a Vietnamese village on its back.
The result is a theatrical hybrid: part family history, part mythology, part musical and part visual spectacle. And with the puppets once again moving across TurnPark’s natural quarry lake, the setting is not simply a backdrop — it is part of the show.
“The Magnificent Ms. Pham” will be presented Aug. 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. at TurnPark Art Space, 2 Moscow Road, West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Tickets and information are available at turnpark.com
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