“Kim’s Convenience” at The Taper

It seems puzzling to me why the Taper is currently housing a musical (Here Lies Love), while the much bigger Ahmanson is showcasing Kim’s Convenience, which is essentially a small comedy/drama that clocks in at an hour and fifteen minutes. Is it Backwards Day, and memo the get didn’t I? Or maybe Center Theatre Group knows what it’s doing, and wanted to put a genuine crowd-pleaser (a work that spawned a five-season TV show on Netflix) in a space where it could get the biggest audience? The current revival of this 2011 play is well-acted and compellingly spotlights the experience of Korean immigrants (to Canada, in this case), but a couple of elements keep me from fully recommending it.

Mr. Kim (Ins Choi) owns and runs his eponymous convenience store in Toronto, as he has done for many years. He’s getting on in years and would like to give the store to his adult daughter, Janet (Kelly Seo), who’d rather become a professional photographer. Kim would’ve bestowed the store to his son, Jung (Ryan Jinn), but for a long-time estrangement. Condominiums and a Walmart are arriving in the neighborhood, and Kim has received a decent offer to sell the store, but he resists the idea. The shop, he thinks, is his story, and he wants his story to end correctly.

Choi (who is also the playwright) seems completely comfortable with his character and delivers a funny, charming performance. Seo is very good as Janet, who loves her father but is also frustrated with him and some of his long-held beliefs (he’s not fond of the Japanese due to that country’s invasion and colonization of Korea in 1904, for example). Her scenes with Brandon McKnight, who plays prospective boyfriend Alex (among many other roles) sparkle with comedic awkwardness. Jinn does a lot with her somewhat underwritten role of Jung, and Esther Chung is similarly good as Kim’s wife, Umma.

Weyni Mengesha’s direction is efficient and effective, hitting every laugh and emotional moment, and Joanna Yu’s set design converts the spacious Ahmanson stage into a convincing convenience store. Choi’s writing is undeniably amusing and touching, and his focus on the Korean immigrant experience over a couple of generations is welcome. It’s so short, however, that I wished for more time to spend with these characters. There’s also a “humorous” scene in which Kim explains to Janet which races or genders are more likely to be shoplifters, which is clearly meant to show that Kim has some old prejudices that Janet doesn’t share, but then Choi has Kim be correct in identifying a shoplifter, which muddies the water in a somewhat distasteful way.

Most audiences will likely enjoy this show as the well-crafted sitcom that it is, but I wish it had spent more time on a deeper examination of topics that deserve more attention.

Kim’s Convenience is presented by Center Theatre Group at Ahmanson Theatre and plays through April 19, 2026.

Tickets are available here.