Chinese Play Reading of Adeline Yen Mah's "Falling Leaves"

South Coast Repertory presents a staged reading of Chinese American author Adeline Yen Mah’s best-selling book entitled Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter.

11/17/2009 7:30PM

Julianne Argyros Stage, South Coast Repertory, Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Phone: (714) 708-5555
Website: www.scr.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=3135

South Coast Repertory will present a staged reading of Chinese American author Adeline Yen Mah’s best-selling book entitled Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Falling Leaves recounts the story of the author’s life in China and the tragedies that had overshadowed her life. A compelling, painful, and ultimately triumphant story of a girl's journey into adulthood, Adeline's story is a testament to the most basic of human needs: acceptance, love, and understanding.

Adeline Yen Mah was born in Tianjin, China. Her mother died two weeks after her birth and Adeline was considered to be a source of bad luck by her family. Her father remarried a beautiful Eurasian woman one year later. She was half French and half Chinese and divided the Yen family into two different classes. Adeline's father, stepmother and their two children were the upper class, whereas Adeline and the four other step-children by the first wife were considered second class. Falling Leaves recounts the story of Adeline's life. At fourteen, she won a writing competition which convinced her father to send her to study in England. She attended medical school, graduated as a physician and established a thriving medical practice in California. After the death of her millionaire father, Adeline's stepmother prevented all the children from reading his will. Falling Leaves relates the dramatic events following the death of Adeline's stepmother two years later. After the publication of Falling Leaves, which sold over one million copies world-wide, Adeline gave up medicine to write full-time. Chinese Cinderella is her autobiography written for children. Her third book Watching the Tree is a book of Chinese philosophy. Adeline is happily married to Robert A. Mah. They have two children and live in California and London.

Sponsor(s): South Coast Repertory