Ping Chong’s Undesirable Elements

Over two decades, under the collective title “Undesirable Elements,” the veteran American theater artist and his company have put together what he describes as “seated opera of the spoken word.” Each original program features members of a marginalized group – Congolese refugees in Syracuse, Native Americans in Kansas, disabled people in New Mexico – telling their own stories in a theatrical setting.

Thomas Bradshaw Pushes Buttons Most Playwrights Wouldn’t Dare

His work “has been described as depicting ‘life with all the boring parts taken out.’ It might also be described as life with all the ghastly extremes – incest, pedophilia, rape, racially motivated murder – added back in, and depicted in a deadpan style that has prompted both big laughs and angry walkouts.” In a Q&A, he explains how and why.