“140 Lbs: How Beauty Killed My Mother” Virtual Screening

Submitted by the Event Organizer

OACC is excited to bring 140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother to a broader API audience through a virtual screening event hosted on Saturday, November 14. The solo theater work is written and performed by Susan Lieu, a first-generation American born to Vietnamese refugees. The performance weaves together several through-lines: inter-generational trauma; parent-child relationships; body insecurity and shame; repression and healing from personal loss; lack of accountability in the medical system; Vietnamese folkloric practice of spirit channeling.

Two hours into surgery, Susan’s mother loses oxygen to her brain and the plastic surgeon deliberately does not call 9-1-1 for fourteen minutes. Five days later, while in a coma, she flatlines. The surgeon is charged with medical negligence and her family falls apart; no one talks about what happened. Nineteen years later on her wedding day, Susan’s mother’s seat sits empty and Susan realizes she can no longer ignore what she’s always wanted: to know who her mother was. Sifting through thousands of deposition pages and reaching out to the killer’s family, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself, and the impossible ideal of Vietnamese feminine beauty.

140 LBS speaks to a wide variety of communities as it lies at the intersection of different identities and lived experiences. The show brings forth questions of medical ethics, psychology, family narrative, and gender, and intersects with theater and performance, memory studies, Vietnamese language and culture, mental health and wellness, female empowerment, trauma and healing, and Asian American identity.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.