Bound @ Seattle Opera (Seattle Center)

Inspired by a true story, eleventh grade honor roll student Diane Tran is the child of two Vietnamese immigrants who are now divorced. With her father rarely around and her mother gone, Diane feels bound to help provide financially for her family, be both sister and parent to her siblings, and also keep up her honor roll studies. Despite her heroic efforts, a judge sends her to jail for truancy.

Through the lens of an exhausted dream, we follow Diane as she struggles with familial duties, her mother’s abandonment, and the injustices of a system lacking compassion or understanding. As Diane’s mother shares her own reasons for leaving family behind, Diane must make an impossible decision in this “land of laws.”

Music by Huang Ruo, libretto by Bao-Long Chu. Directed by Desdemona Chiang.

Run time: 60 minutes, no intermission. Presented in English.

Location: Tagney Jones Hall (Opera Center, next to McCaw Hall) (363 Mercer St)

NOTE: June 16 is Teen Night. Discounted tickets. Teens only, or groups including a teen.

Tickets here.