Poor Yella Rednecks
Puppet Designer, Puppet Director
South Coast Repertory • 2019 • Costa Mesa, CA
In this raw and poetic sequel to Vietgone, Sean Cawelti served as Puppet Designer and Director, creating a tender, child-sized puppet to represent the playwright’s younger self—highlighting themes of vulnerability, memory, and identity with grounded emotional impact.
REVIEWS
“Sean Cawelti’s puppet design gives Little Man an expressive vulnerability.” - LA Times
“The sight of Qui's younger self as a puppet is certainly a bold theatrical choice that at first seems odd, but eventually becomes almost divinely poetic---a character figuratively caught between worlds and affected/manipulated by those around him.” - Broadway World
“In a brilliant ploy, the playwright presents Little Man as a child size puppet operated by Eugene Young and Paco Tolson so skillfully that they disappear, reminding this viewer of Japanese bunraku and Avenue Q.” - Paul Myrvold's Theatre Notes
“... Little Man, a boy caught between two languages and two cultures and played by an inspired puppet (the creation of Sean Cawelti).” - Cultural Weekly
Poor Yella Rednecks, by Qui Nguyen, continues the semi-autobiographical journey of his Vietnamese refugee parents as they build a life in 1980s Arkansas. Told with humor, heartbreak, and hip-hop, the play explores cultural identity, broken language, and the complexity of love and survival in immigrant America.
For South Coast Repertory’s production, Sean Cawelti served as Puppet Designer and Puppet Director, creating a central puppet that portrayed the playwright as a child. This tender, handcrafted figure served as a visual representation of vulnerability and emotional memory—bringing depth to scenes of family tension and personal reflection.
Unlike more abstract or surreal applications of puppetry, the design here was intentionally grounded and heartfelt, emphasizing the emotional truth of the character’s inner world. Integrated seamlessly into the action, the puppet helped anchor the narrative in lived experience and added a poignant visual layer to the story’s exploration of identity and generational connection.