RATSKIN centers around Brook, the granddaughter of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants who settled in Tacoma. She has been born with a rat-tail - a mysterious appendage that has been passed down her family ever since Nu, on her way to the U.S. from China, grew a tail. Brook, at the request of Nu, has grown up with her tail with one condition: she may never leave the house and see the light of day. This tail, and its history, must be kept hidden.

The play ebbs in and out of each of the three generations, jumping in and out of time. Using traditions of magical realism, the play tries to engage an affective way of knowing, and uses physicalizations of memory, metaphors, violence, and stereotypes. This play is an attempt at grappling with the pride in the writer’s family’s immigrant history, while also acknowledging the cycles of trauma that my family has trapped itself in. Infusing personal histories and historical research, the play is an attempt in exploring an important question: “how can children of immigrants envision a future for themselves outside the trappings of violence that exist to destroy our ability to do so?”