First published 1999, Wonderland is a play by Chay Yew, a gay, Singapore-born American writer of Chinese descent. Along with Porcelain and A Language of Their Own, Wonderland is part of Yew's "Whitelands Trilogy." It was also published in a four-play compilation titled The Hyphenated American--a reference to how Asian immigrants and their children are often referred to as "Asian-American", suggesting a fractured national and cultural identity.
Wonderland is a partial revision of Yew's earlier work, Half Lives (1996), which was the original third component of the Whitelands Trilogy. Wonderland maintains Half Lives's key plot points and themes of cultural and sexual identity. Yew has noted that his works reflect "how [he] see[s] [him]self in America, living on the periphery and longing to be in the midst of it."
According to Jan Breslauer of the L.A. Times, "while 'Whitelands' received praise, critics and others noticed a difference in theme between Half Lives and the other two plays, both of which are more specifically focused on gay life and issues." Wonderland brings the LGBT themes to the forefront through the main character, the son of an Asian-American couple who is kicked out of his house by his parents for being gay. Even still, some critics were still dissatisfied with Wonderland's treatment of LGBT issues--Michael Phillips, also of the L.A. Times, wrote that "The playwright has written far better plays than this one, but here he hasn't found a way to put his unresolved feelings toward his parents to effective theatrical use. The play lacks the thorny, troubling texture of thorny, troubling memories."
Wonderland opened at La Jolla Playhouse in southern California in October 1999. It starred Asian-American actors of diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Sab Shimono, Tsai Chin, Alec Mapa, and Joel De La Fuente. Mapa, who plays the protagonist, and De La Fuente, who plays the older version of the protagonist, are both themselves gay. Sab Shimono, who plays the protagonist's homophobic father, is also gay.
