Flora Le is a storyteller based in Washington DC. She is a lawyer by day, though she has always had the soul of an artist.

I recently connected with Flora, whose one-person show, Sadec 1965: A Love Story, is currently onstage at this year’s Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival. Sadec 1965 is Flora’s first full-length solo storytelling show. One theme is common to Flora’s work: the transformation of pain into beauty.

In lieu of a ‘sit down’ interview, Flora graciously put together 5 Reasons to See Sadec 1965…

1 – It is a true story.

My one-woman show Sadec 1965 tells the story of my 6-week solo motorcycle journey through Vietnam, during which I attempt to make sense of my difficult relationship with my father. Sadec is about the road trip of a lifetime, but also about my inner journey to heal my relationship with my estranged father.

Think of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild but on a motorcycle on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The story is entirely true. In 2013, I motorcycled solo across Vietnam with my father’s ashes. I was on a quest to realize his last wish of bringing his ashes back to his hometown of Sadec in the Mekong Delta.

I’ve been wanting to tell the story ever since I completed the motorcycle trip in 2013, but I didn’t know how. For the longest time, I thought I would write a book, but that never happened. Then in 2016, I discovered the art form of storytelling in Washington, DC, where I now live. I trained in the genre and performed short stories at various events in DC. But it soon became clear that Sadec would need to become its own one-hour storytelling show.

Although ten years seems like a long while to write a show, it is the time I needed to bring a mature story to the stage.

2 – It’s a roadmap for healing.

On the surface, my show is an adventure story, telling the trials and tribulations of my road-trip across Vietnam. But it doesn’t take long for audience members to realize that the show is also about universal themes such as love, loss and family.

Above all, Sadec 1965 is a story of healing and resilience.

My creative process is about turning my own painful life experiences into beautiful stories of resilience, forgiveness, personal transcendence, and love. If I can inspire just one audience member to do the same – to find beauty, to make something beautiful out of their own trauma – I feel like the effort I’ve put into the show has paid off.

3 – It’s a story about old love letters.

After my father passed away in 2013, I found the love correspondence from 1965 to 1971 that he exchanged with his high school sweetheart, whom he left behind in Vietnam.

The problem was that when I found the letters, I couldn’t read Vietnamese. But something about the way they had been kept intact all through the years told me that they were precious to my father. I would later find out that they contained his correspondence with Hien, the woman he promised to marry after completing his engineering degree in Canada.

Over the span of six years, they exchanged over 600 letters. It took me five years and a team of thirteen translators to translate the voluminous correspondence. Of course, I could not tell the whole story of the letters in the show – that’s for a future book. But I do read some excerpts from the letters, all written by Hien, in my show. Their content tells a heartbreaking story of love and longing.

4 – It’s storytelling at its best.

The show is performed by a single actor, myself. During the show, I switch between three storylines: the story of my motorcycle trip across Vietnam; the story of my difficult relationship with my father and its consequences on my relationships with men; and the story of my father’s young adult life in Vietnam, followed by his immigration to Canada during the Vietnam War.

For the entirety of the show, I speak directly to the audience. There is no decor and no props. The only scenic element is a subtle lighting change that occurs between each scene to help the audience keep track of the various storylines. Otherwise, it’s just me and a darn good story! The show has been acclaimed for its simplicity and for the strength of the story arc.

5 – It’s a raw and vulnerable show.

Don’t take it from me! Instead, check out Martin’s testimonial. He saw my show in Ottawa this past June and wrote the following: “I saw your show on Thursday night and I’m still thinking about it. It was raw, it was authentic, it was brave and engaging and most especially, it was thought-provoking, and has had me thinking about my own relationship with my dad (while certainly different from your story, mine shares some distant similarities to yours). So, yeah – thank you. This is exactly the kind of show I want to get out of the Fringe and I wish in general theater had more visceral and stimulating shows like yours.”

While most Fringe artists make people laugh, I make them cry. Every night after the performance, people come to see me with tears in their eyes, visibly moved by the story. We hug and they tell me their stories about Vietnam, or about their difficult parents. The show is not for everyone, but when it does resonate with people’s own story, it seems to touch them deeply.

I have three shows left in Toronto at Tarragon Theatre, Mainspace:
● July 13 @ 10:00 pm
● July 14 @ 4:15 pm
● July 15 @ 10:00 pm

I’m also appearing at the Hamilton Fringe Festival next week and that’s not too far away!
● July 20 @ 6:00 pm
● July 21 @ 7:00 pm & 10:00 pm
● July 22 @ 3:00 pm & 8:30 pm
● July 23 @ 12:00 pm
● July 24 @ 6:30 pm

Photos courtesy of Flora Le