The line-up of plays at the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists' sixth National Conference wouldn't have been complete without at least one incorporating a fight into its narrative. Playwright Daria Miyeko Marinelli and fight choreographer Chris Tacderas of Austin's Generic Ensemble Company oblige with a taut two-hander premised on an ill-starred job interview: Aya aspires to be the first woman to achieve membership in the Japanese crime syndicate known as the Yakuza, but must earn the approval of an examiner identified only as "1" whose initial offers reflect sexist compromises falling blatantly short of full authorization. The crisis deciding which one will depart alive approaches in real time over a span of sixty minutes (whose progress is referenced in the dialogue several times) so that by the time verbal games cease and the single-edged knife secured under the table makes its appearance, we are fully invested in the outcome of a duel for not merely survival, but pride, honor and ambition exacted at terrible sacrifice.
