Tiananmen Annie

I was very captivated by the characters and events in Tiananmen Annie. I felt as if I were living through Ann's year in Beijing along with her - felt her embrace the Chinese culture and felt her sadness at having to leave the people she'd come to know and stand up for prior to the Tiananmen uprising. I'm really glad I was able to share in Ann's experience. It was unusual, funny, dangerous and complex - history made intimate. ... full review

Not entirely sure what to expect from an American's one-woman show about the Tiananmen uprising, I was seriously impressed with this play and Ann Starbuck's performance. The play is autobiographical, covering her year abroad in Beijing as a junior in college, then being recruited by CNN to assist reporters and producers covering the protests. The show has plenty of humor - her experience changing money on the black market, her Chinese professor whose favorite movie was Ferris Bueller - as well as insight into Chinese culture, such as her learning about guan shi (sp?) and how to earn it. The show also has suspense - escorting a hunger striker to and from Tiananmen Square for an interview with Bernard Shaw - and sorrow - her Chinese friends fo... full review

This was a great show. A fascinating look at a historical event we rarely hear about, especially because China has done a very good job of encouraging/forcing people not to learn about this event. And Annie, the actor, does a great job of bringing the various characters to life. I really could see everyone she met during her time in China. A very enjoyable evening.... full review

Such a wonderful show! Ann Starbuck is honest, entertaining, funny and heartbreaking as she tells the riveting tale of her involvement with the Tiananmen Square massacre during her year abroad in China. I loved it, and recommend it heartily.... full review

Tiananmen Annie is a genuine treasure of a one-woman show. Ann Starbuck masterfully guides the audience on a journey through her personal experience as a college student living in Beijing at the time of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Her heartfelt stories reflect her great love and respect for the people she met while in China. As a young woman close to the age Ann was when she studied abroad, I would recommend this show to anyone contemplating their purpose in life or anyone looking for a transportive night of storytelling!... full review

I'm blown away by last night's Tiananmen Annie show! The one woman performance was a treasured inside glimpse of the days during the Tiananmen uprising. Written and performed in an unassuming and culturally respectful yet brave and honest first person account of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. I definitely recommend Annie Starbuck's show to anyone interested in learning more about this important historical event. It will make you cry, laugh, and think about it for days!... full review

Ann Starbuck gives a lively and energetic performance. Her staged memoir about her time in China as a young woman studying abroad during the Tiananmen uprising is sad and touching, but is also peppered with generous doses of humor, which is a very good thing. She introduces us to an ancient land on the other side of the world. It's well worth listening to someone who was a witness to one of the most fascinating, earth-shaking political movements of our time. I thoroughly enjoyed her performance.... full review

Tiananmen Annie was a great performance. At first when I read that it was 75 minutes long for a one woman show, I was put off. However, the play was engaging the entire time - and the acting was phenomenal. Ann Starbuck is an amazing storyteller. She uses different voices for each of the characters, and I really could imagine them on stage with her. It was hard to believe that there had only been one woman on stage. ... full review

Tianamen Annie is truly an amazing show. Ann Starbuck tells her autobiographical story dymanically, her characters are compelling and convincing and her Chinese, to my American non speaking ear, is great! Ann transports the audience back to a historical time that even we have been conditioned to forget, the uprising in Tianamen Square. She reminds us of how her courageous friends in China sacrificed everything for their beliefs. The story is inspriational and reminds us to never forget. This really SHOULD NOT be missed. Worth so much more than the price of the ticket. I will see the show again, and next time, bring my 10 year old. She will love it! ... full review

An excellent production! I recommend it highly. This show is what Fringe (and good theatre in general) is all about: a good story, well told. I was completely enthralled. This play epitomizes the power of theatre as a vehicle to unite humanity in a common emotional experience. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think. It opened my empathy to people I'd never met, in a part of the word I'd never even attempted to fathom. You don't have to be a politico or history buff to appreciate the human drama that Anne Starbuck brings to life from her personal experience as a student in Beijing in the months and days leading up to the Tiananmen Square uprising. And if you are, you'll learn exciting, not-seen-on-the-nightly-news tidbits of insid... full review