Friendship, identity and creativity go beyond the stage for star of “Heart Sellers”

Graphic by Easton Clark, Photo Editor

Much like the Thanksgiving turkey at the play’s center, the South Coast Repertory’s performance of “Heart Sellers” is a warm, fulfilling and tender 90 minutes of theater. And for Chapman alumni Nicole Javier, it has become so much more.

“The first time we did (the show), we weren't sure if we'd do it again because it's not really up to us,” Javier said. “So, to be able to come back for a fifth time, I'm like, ‘Oh, wow, this show really has my heart.’ Pun intended.”

Javier first joined the production at its worldwide premiere in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it was met with accolades. In her fifth production alongside director Jennifer Chang, and her third with co-star Narea Kang, Javier has witnessed the show evolve as it’s traveled across America for the past three years, most recently landing in Costa Mesa.

“Heart Sellers” follows two strangers, Luna (Nicole Javier) and Jane (Narea Kang), who meet at a supermarket on Thanksgiving in 1973. Luna, a Filipino immigrant, and Jane, a Korean immigrant, are initially distant and awkward, but form an unlikely friendship. As they make a Thanksgiving dinner for two, an electric dynamic arises between the two actresses. Tonally shifting between witty banter and dramatic soliloquies, the natural bond is at the heart of what has enabled the play to continue finding audiences outside Milwaukee.

“Lloyd (Suh) is the playwright, and he writes in such a musical way. It's kind of like jazz, where you can actually hear the rhythms, kind of like Shakespeare,” said Javier. “It all allows for equal parts of comedy and freestyle. We play with all of those colors, and it's really fun because I don't think the audience knows what's happening in the way that they're both laughing and crying.”

The play’s political background centers on Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 Hart-Celler Act, which ended the national immigration quota system and diminished judicial discrimination based on nationality or race. As both Luna and Jane form their friendship, they reflect on their isolation, revealing the imperfections of this system. For Javier, researching that emotionality was a key part of her performance.

“I am Filipino American, so I was very lucky that my family got to be my research (subjects). A lot of my relatives actually came through the Hart-Celler Act, and I have been able to ask them what their experience was like,” said Javier. “As far as my own personal experiences, I've never lived internationally, but I've moved a lot domestically, and this play is a lot about friendship. It's just hard to make friends as an adult, period.”

Since the play’s debut in 2023, the context of immigration in America has undergone rapid change. As the Trump administration has ramped up anti-immigration rhetoric, the caring and understanding focus on the immigrant experience in “Heart Sellers” is more relevant now than before.

“What I hope is that this play shows people that we are more similar than we are different,” Javier said. “Whatever is happening in the world is scary, but I hope that people find people who make their immediate world not as terrifying.”

Javier described how “Heart Sellers” has pushed her as an actress. In a rehearsal space that enabled intimate and vulnerable performances, Javier offered her advice to students entering the creative workplace.

“I think so often we hear ‘no’s’ as artists. This sounds so cliche, but do the thing that makes you say ‘yes’,” said Javier. “As long as there's something else in your life that's making you happy, along with all the other shit that you're trying to deal with, something's going to keep moving you forward. And I think I bring that up because in a lot of ways, this show is that for me.”

Touching, funny and poignant, “Heart Sellers” is a play that speaks deeply to the immigrant experience in America. As Javier has traveled with the show, she has witnessed it morph and grow into a celebrated piece that continues to reach the hearts of audiences across the country. The play just finished up its run at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa.