Three Women of Swatow
by Chloé Hung
“Swatow women are supposed to be fierce.”
That’s what Grandmother tells her daughter. Grandmother’s a butcher and to her disappointment, her daughter’s a vegetarian. But to her satisfaction, her granddaughter killed her first chicken at the age of three. In this ferocious comedy, the three generations of women grapple with their dark history, emotional inheritance and the legacy of mothers’ life lessons and daughters’ love lives.
And there’s blood. Lots of blood.
Cast & Creative
Caroline Fe
Grandmother
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Carolyn Fe, a multi-lingual Filipino-Canadian creative, wears many hats with grace and excellence. Renowned as an actress and Dora nominee, her talents extend far beyond the screen and stage. Carolyn is also a gifted singer-songwriter lyricist, a former contemporary dancer-choreographer, and a later-in-life emerging playwright with a keen focus on underrepresented voices.
As an actor, Carolyn brings characters to life in acclaimed series like the Emmy nominated Blue’s Clues & You! as Lola, the award-winning French series as Madame Z in Meilleur avant and many more. Yet, it is on the theatrical stage where Carolyn’s performances truly resonate with audiences. From her grounded portrayal as Marina in Crow’s Theatre’s adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya to her nuanced depiction as Precy in Audrey Dwyer’s Calpurnia, she brings depth and authenticity to every character she portrays.
Notably her dry humor shines through in her portrayal of a murdering Grandmother in Tarragon Theatre’s production of Three Women of Swatow by Chloé Hung, earning her a Dora nomination for Best Performance in a Leading role.
Chantria Thi Tram
Mother
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Chantria Thi Tram is a Cambodian-Canadian actress, writer, producer, and speaker known for her solo show "Someone Between" and her work exploring themes of cultural identity and transition. As a Khmer-Krom, she immigrated to Canada at a young age and uses her experience to tell stories through various artistic mediums, having performed on stages in Montreal and Toronto and appearing in numerous television shows like Titans and The Expanse.
Chloé Hung
Playwright
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Called a “writer to watch” by The Globe and Mail‘s J. Kelly Nestruck, Chloé Hung was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and currently splits her time between Toronto and Brooklyn as a playwright and TV writer.
A graduate of NYU Tisch’s MFA in dramatic writing program, Chloé’s plays include All Our Yesterdays (Toronto Fringe Festival’s Patron’s Pick; Next Stage Theatre Festival); Issei, He Say (or the Myth of the First) produced by the New Jersey Repertory Company and workshopped at The Kennedy Center National New Play Network’s MFA Playwrights’ Workshop; Three Women of Swatow (Tarragon’s Playwrights Unit; recipient of RBC Emerging Playwrights Award; Artists At Play Readings) which had its world premiere with Tarragon Theatre and will have its second production with Centaur Theatre; Model Minority (Moving Arts’s MADlab; Banff Playwrights Centre, IAMA Theatre New Works Festival); The Whitening of Doctor Eleanor Chan (Factory Theatre workshop); and Alien of Extraordinary Ability (Geffen Theatre’s Writers Room; Great Plains Theatre Commons’ New Play Conference; Playwrights Center). She was named the recipient of IAMA Theatre’s Rhimes Unsung Voices Commission. She has been named a Core Writer fellow for Playwrights Center 2024-2027. She has attended the Stratford Festival of Canada’s Playwrights Retreat.
In the film and TV world, Chloé has written on two Ava Duvernay-created TV series: Cherish The Day, and Queen Sugar (OWN). She wrote on The Watchful Eye for Freeform. Chloé has developed a TV series for a streaming service. She is a Film Independent Screenwriters Lab fellow for her feature Gem & Shaz. Her screenplays include A Glimpse of Sun(The Black List’s mini-lab, Fusion Film Festival finalist), and Untapped (Fusion Film Festival Finalist). Chloé’s short film Signal, which she wrote and directed was produced as part of Women In Film’s production program. She wrote and directed the short film, Gem & Shaz, with support from the Harold Greenberg Fund and will air on Crave TV. As an actor, she has performed in short films and theatre, including: Sisters (dir. Bo Shim), Drawing Duncan Palmer (dir. Rebeccah Love), and The One With Friends (dir. Ashley Griggs). Chloé also hosts the podcast Stories From My Grandma, now available on iTunes, where she interviews a people about their grandmother’s stories (it’s a few years old now but she’s still very proud of it and would love for you to listen to it. She hopes to revive this interview series one day)
Diana Luong
Daughter
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Diana Luong is a Canadian actress known for her work in theatre and her 2024 appearance in the short film Seance for a Close Friend. She is an alumna of the National Theatre School of Canada.