Absence as Presence: The Absent Mother/Wife in Julia Cho’s Durango

Unlike her previous family plays which focus mainly on mother-daughter relationships, Julia Cho’s Durango (2007) centers primarily on the father-son relationships of the Korean American Lee family. However, despite the play’s focused portrayal of the three male members of this family - the father and his two sons - the mother/wife figure is not completely absent. Although she never physically appears on stage, her non-physical presence follows the characters as they embark on their road trip to Durango, Colorado. While previous criticism on Durango has tended to focus on the male experience of Asian American families, Korean diaspora, and Asian American identity and sexuality, this essay aims to highlight how the absent mother and wife is not only as important as the male characters in the play, but also the many other mother figures that appear in other Cho plays. The absent mother and wife in Durango is imagined as a space in which realities can be reflected and constituted, and Cho shows how she influences the ways in which the Lee men construct themselves and their family in relation to their identities as Asian Americans. By manifesting her presence through their voices, bodies, and minds, the absent mother and wife plays an important role in revealing and shaping the hopes and anxieties that haunt the Lee men. This essay ultimately aims to prove the potency of absence, and how Julia Cho utilises this potency in her dramatic work.