Wednesday, April 22, 2026

He Left Saigon as a Child. More Than Two Decades Later, the Show Follows Him to the San Gabriel Valley

Alex Xander Luu’s one-man show about a family’s escape from Vietnam comes to Sierra Madre Playhouse this month

On April 30, 1975, a young child left Saigon aboard an American military helicopter under enemy fire. He has spent the decades since making theater out of that day — and the years that followed.

Three Lives, Alex Xander Luu’s one-man show about the family he carried out of Vietnam, has been touring American stages for more than two decades. It arrives this month at Sierra Madre Playhouse — an intimate 99-seat venue that serves Pasadena and Altadena audiences and that survived the January 2025 Eaton Fire — for four performances beginning May 22. Luu, who is Chinese-Vietnamese American and a longtime teaching artist in San Gabriel Valley schools, traces the experiences of father, son, and grandson as they navigate the distance between the country they left and the one they found.

The show is the work of one man onstage — but it fills the space with generations. Luu moves between three characters: a father who made the crossing, a son who grew up between two worlds, and a grandson who inherits both. Through physical movement, spoken word, and the precision that comes from more than two decades of performance, he weaves together moments of chaos, dark humor, and stubborn tenderness. The themes — identity, dislocation, assimilation, the uneven bargain of the American Dream — are drawn from his own autobiography.

“THREE LIVES tells the autobiographical story of my leaving war-torn Saigon, Vietnam to America,” Luu said in a 2023 interview. “It is a visceral roller coaster ride that encompasses the personal & the political, told in a kinetic, physical, raw performance style that combines performance art, monologues, and physical movement.”

Luu is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Film/Television, and by his own description has been a solo theater and performance artist since 1989. He identifies as a Lifetime Teaching Artist with the Los Angeles County Arts Ed Collective, through which he has brought his autobiographical writing and storytelling workshop — called My Own Story — to students in San Gabriel Valley school districts including Alhambra Unified, San Gabriel Unified, Temple City Unified, and El Monte Union High School District, as well as LAUSD. He was previously a teaching artist with the Ford Theatre Foundation from 2010 to 2013 and East West Players from 2013 to 2016. He appeared in two episodes of Netflix’s “The Brothers Sun” in 2024.

Sierra Madre Playhouse, located at 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard in Sierra Madre, is one of the San Gabriel Valley’s few professional performing arts stages, drawing audiences from across the region — including Pasadena and Altadena. The 99-seat house has earned multiple Ovation Awards, NAACP Awards, and Los Angeles Times Critics’ Choice honors. Pasadena Weekly has called it a “jewel.” The venue’s building dates to 1910; it opened as the Wistaria Theatre in 1924 and has operated as a performing arts center since 1979.

“In a time when audiences crave both belonging and discovery, Sierra Madre Playhouse offers both,” Matthew Cook, the Playhouse’s Artistic and Executive Director, said in a 2025 season announcement.

Three Lives is presented under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association. Performances are Friday, May 22 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, May 23 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, May 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12–$35. For tickets and information, call (626) 355-4318 or visit sierramadreplayhouse.org.

He left Saigon with a helicopter’s rotor noise overhead and enemy fire below. More than fifty years later, the show he built from that departure plays on a stage the Eaton Fire nearly reached.