Mother and Daughter Duet in Multi-Disciplinary ‘flowers and fog’ Show

For most of Melissa Lewis Wong’s adult life, no news was good news in their family – it was normal for Wong and their parents to go several weeks without talking. But when Covid hit, the dance and drag artist felt an urge to connect more frequently, and deeply, with their parents.

“The fear of them passing or having complications from Covid was really, really present for me,” Wong says. “It made me realize, especially with my mom, how much I felt that I didn’t know yet – that I hadn’t really asked, that I just wanted more information and connection around.”

Wong decided to funnel that fear and desire into a short film project in collaboration with their mother, Joy ChenYu Lewis, who is a singer and performer. They shot it remotely during the pandemic. Now, Wong and Lewis have adapted the project, titled flowers and fog, for the stage; a two-weekend run opens with a preview on Friday, May 17 at the Gateway Theatre in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

The experimental show meditates on the relationship between parent and child – and the ups and downs it can go through – with contemporary dance, classical Chinese song, video projection, drag performance and a communal Mahjong game. Up to 12 people can also opt to attend a pre-performance picnic at Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square that includes Dim Sum, tea and storytelling. A different drag artist, including local favorites like LOTUS BOY and Hennessy Williams, will open each show.

“I do feel like looking at our own personal lives and histories and relationships with our family or loved ones [is] like a very precious creative truth,” Wong says.

Wong recalled learning during this reconnection phase that Lewis, who fled to Inner Mongolia during China’s Cultural Revolution before immigrating to the U.S. in 1980, had written a memoir about her life in Inner Mongolia. “It felt so cinematic to me,” Wong says of the revelation. (Lewis’ memoir will be published in 2025.)

Wong also has their own memories of not feeling understood by their parents or peers, growing up as a queer, mixed Chinese and white kid in small-town Massachusetts. That lent to the distance Wong felt between themselves and their parents for much of their life.

While pulling from stories and experiences of their pasts, though, Wong and Lewis are fully embracing the present. The title flowers and fog is inspired by the poem “Flower No Flower” by ancient Chinese musician and poet Bai JuYi that is about seizing the moment.

“The explanation of that poetry is to catch the spirit or the inspiration right away otherwise it disappears,” Lewis says. “And a flower can wilt and the fog will disappear, but when they appear, that’s the time to catch it.”

Lewis, who recalled audience members coming up to her in tears after past previews and saying they want to know more about their parents or grandparents after seeing the show, says she hopes more audience members walk away feeling that impulse.

“We were a little late to start [our] interest in each other,” Lewis says of herself and her daughter. “But you’re never too late. Catch it and then you will never feel sorry about it.”

‘flowers and fog’ runs weekends, May 17–26, at the Gateway Theatre in San Francisco. Details here.