Fallow | The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

People's Light & Theatre Company produced the world premiere of Fallow by Kenneth Lin in January and February of 2012. Fallow, Lin's first production in the Philadelphia region, is based in part on deadly attacks on immigrants that took place near the playwright's childhood home in Long Island. The play tells the story of an Ivy League student who leaves school to work as a beekeeper and migrant worker in California. He is mistaken as Mexican by white supremacists and beaten to death. His mother, the privileged daughter of a New England congressman, travels to meet her son's killers. She is guided by a Mexican immigrant driving a gypsy cab who, she discovers in time, knew her son.

In Fallow, Lin poses critical questions about multicultural integration and the effect it has on families as they evolve between generations. Lin worked in residence at People's Light & Theatre Company in preparation for the show and participated in a panel on themes of immigration and identity. A panel called "The Road Not Taken" featured local community members who talked about taking extraordinary paths in life.