Nice Nails
a full-length play
“[It’s] a gutsy move on Ricciardi’s part. Most playwrights capitalize on catering to the liberal leanings of the typical theater audience. Often in these cases, theater goers leave a bit dissatisfied and feeling like a play “preached to the choir” by presenting a moral or lesson tailored for a specific audience. Nice Nails refuses to do this; it challenges the audience, arguing that easy categories of right and wrong don’t work in this instance, and the implications are felt far beyond the nail salon.”
Photos from the 2018 Indiana University production:
Synopsis
In a nail salon on the outskirts of New York City, immigrant ladies spend their days toiling like servants over the fingers and toes of obnoxious customers. This modest shop is the livelihood of a Korean-American family, who dream of making it big in America—or, really, just scraping by, especially now that the new salon next to the Whole Foods down the street is siphoning off their customers. As word spreads of labor department crackdowns, the salon owners’ daughter fights to modernize this tired establishment, all while growing captivated by a new customer who is not like the others, forcing her to examine the value of identity, government regulations, and Disney movies.
Character Breakdown
5 women, 1 trans man, 1 man [7 total]
Production History
University, 2018: Indiana University, dir. Jonathan Michaelsen
Development History
Reading, 2017: NYC, dir. Seonjae Kim
Press
Click here to read some words from me about the play.