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140 LBS + OVER 140 LBS: A Virtual Double-Feature
May 7, 2021
6:00 pmMay 9, 2021
7:30 pm
$15 – $35
Showtimes & Details
All virtual screenings will be accompanied with an opportunity for reflection and Q&A with playwright and actor Susan Lieu. Each Q&A session after the screening will have a curated focus addressing a particular theme from the productions. Click on the links below to buy tickets, and view more details.
| Date | Time (PDT) | Production – Topic & Guests |
| Friday, May 7th | 5:30-7:30 PM | 140 LBS – “The Feminine Mystique: Navigating Body Images in Motherhood” with Sarah LaFleur, Founder & CEO of M.M.LaFleur |
| Saturday, May 8th | 4:00-6:00 PM | 140 LBS – “Honor Her: Holding Remembrance and Grief with our own Mental Health” with Alica Forneret, creator of The Mourning Herald and Holly Chan & Elizabeth Wong, co-creators of Death Over Dim Sum |
| Saturday, May 8th | 7:00-9:30 PM | OVER 140 LBS – “Reclaiming Our Bodies: Deconstructing & Disowning Female Beauty Standards” with Sophia Sun and Da Eun Kim, co-hosts of bamboo & glass & Elizabeth Scott, Co-Founder & Director of Training for The Body Positive |
| Sunday, May 9th | 2:00-4:00 PM | 140 LBS – “Parent-Child Relationships: Processing Trauma & Healing through Artistic Expression” with Melanie Elvena, Programs Manager of Asian American Women Artists Association |
| Sunday, May 9th | 5:00-7:30 PM | OVER 140 LBS – “Preserving the Matriarchy: Bridging Intergenerational and Cross-Cultural Tension” with Philip Nguyen, President of the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations & Christine Tran, Managing Director for the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association |
Family is complicated. Whether your mother is alive or gone, close or distant, join us Mother’s Day weekend for Susan’s comedy-dramas about grief, family dynamics, spirituality, beauty, and Vietnamese culture. Following a successful virtual program last November, OACC is excited to once again present 140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother along with its sequel, OVER 140 LBS, for a special Mother’s Day double-feature presentation! These solo theater works were written and performed by Susan Lieu, a first-generation American born to Vietnamese refugees. Susan’s performances 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. These plays speak to a wide variety of communities as it lies at the intersection of different identities and lived experiences. Her work has been featured in the L.A. Times, NPR, The Washington Post (The Lily), NBC News, American Theatre, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Seattle Times.
About 140 LBS
Production length: 65 min | Total event length: 2 hours
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.
Watch the 140 LBS Trailer: https://youtu.be/
About OVER 140 LBS
Production length: 84 min | Total event length: 2.5 hours
Almost 9 months pregnant, Susan is terrified of becoming a mother when she didn’t know her own. Stifled by the shame and silence of her mother’s early death, Susan needs to figure out how to deal with the intergenerational trauma she’s inherited before the baby is born.
The sequel to 140 LBS with some overlapping content.
Eat & Watch Together
Food is one of our love languages. Give the gift of chocolates and a show to honor or remember your favorite nurturer out there. Susan Lieu is also the co-founder of Socola Chocolatier, an artisanal chocolate company in San Francisco. She’s teaming up with her co-founder sister Wendy to offer Mother Day Edition: The Little Saigon Box which will feature a “Má Nhớ Con” chocolate which means “mother remembers and misses you, child” in Vietnamese. This line is significant in the 140 LBS show and we hope you find out why.
The Little Saigon Box features nine of Socola’s most iconic Vietnamese flavors presented as a four-course meal including Vietnamese Coffee, Phở, Sriracha, Durian, Passion Fruit, Lychee, and more. Order by 4/30 for guaranteed Mother’s Day delivery. All orders will ship out the week of May 3rd so they can be enjoyed with the show! Order HERE
Thank you to our Key Sponsors!
Naja Pham Lockwood, Founder and CEO of RYSE Media which is dedicated to funding and producing independent storytelling that is engaging with social impact. And of late, supporting stories that conveys the richness and diverse stories of Asian Americans as a deep part of the American fabric.
M.M.LaFleur is the premiere women’s clothing brand for modern working women, founded in 2013 by Sarah LaFleur, a former management consultant, and Miyako Nakamura, the former head designer of Zac Posen. M.M.’s goal is to take the work out of getting dressed by offering versatile, easy to care for luxury-quality pieces. Built on the core belief that when women succeed, the world becomes a better place, the company is committed to using its products and platform to partner on empowerment-based initiatives with organizations including Bottomless Closet, She Should Run, The Girl Scouts, and IRC. The brand’s award-winning digital magazine, The M Dash, offers readers wardrobe advice and career tips, as well as features interviews with inspirational women.
Marketing Sponsors
Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA)
Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA)
