Asian American Playwrights (S to T) and their plays

Saito, Andrew
s the Andrew W. Mellon Resident Playwright at The Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco, where his play Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night, premiered in May 2013 under the direction of Rob Melrose. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and in 2012 was a Fulbright Scholar in Papua New Guinea. A 2013 Core Apprentice at The Playwrights' Center, Andrew is a member of the Resident Playwrights Initiative at Playwrights Foundation, and a member of PlayGround and Just Theater's Writer-Director Lab. He has taught playwriting in Mayan villages in Guatemala, and collaborated with the renowned theater collective Yuyachkani, in Peru.

Sakamoto, Ed
Edward Sakamoto is the much-celebrated author of plays depicting Asian-Hawaiian experience. His vantage point is often the view from the islands. The characters in Sakamoto’s plays face double relocation, first to Hawai‘i, then to the mainland. Whether imagined or real, moving to the mainland makes Sakamoto’s characters confront haole (white) culture and the familial and community impact of abandoning their unique form of Pidgin English. Leaving is the thematic crisis that creates the fault line in Sakamoto’s characters’ lives.

Saraf, Sujit
Sujit Saraf is a novelist, playwright and filmmaker who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the Artistic Director of NAATAK, a theatre and film group in the Bay Area. He regularly writes and directs plays for NAATAK. His latest novel The Peacock Throne was published by Sceptre in February 2007.

Saxena, S. Vasanti
a playwright of Chinese and East Indian decent. Saxena’s work has been produced or developed in New York at New York Theatre Workshop, The Ensemble Studio Theatre and New Dramatists, in Los Angeles at The Complex, and in Chicago with Chicago Dramatists and Silk Road Theatre Project. She has been a Van Lier Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, has been commissioned by the EST/Sloan Science and Technology Project and was a finalist for the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission.

Seto, Loretta
Loretta Seto is a fiction and screenwriter, as well as a playwright. She has been published in Ricepaper magazine, the anthology Strike the Wok, and CBC Radio's Between the Covers. She has also had two short films "Once a Fish" and "Ripples" produced with funding from Citytv. Loretta completed her MFA in creative writing at UBC and is a founding member of Wet Ink Collective, which is committed to advancing opportunities for female playwrights in Canadian theatre.

Shenoy, Nandita
Nandita Shenoy is also an actor and a director. She was last seen at S3M as part of the cast of Anjalee Deshpande's Tamasha and returns to SALAAM fresh from the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. BA, Yale University.

Shiomi, Ric
Rick Shiomi is artistic director and founding member of Theatre Mu. Shiomi was born in Toronto but used his experiences as a Japanese Canadian living on Vancouver's Cordova Street to create a Sam Spade-styled detective named Sam Shikaze as the protagonist for his first play, Yellow Fever.

Sidhwa, Bapsi
BIO: Bapsi Sidhwa, distinguished international writer has published four novels: An American Brat, Cracking India, The Bride and The Crow Eaters, and has been translated into several European and Asian languages. Among her many honors Sidhwa received the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe/Harvard, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writer's Award, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest national honor in the arts, and the LiBeraturepreis in Germany. Cracking India was made into the film Earth by Canadian director Deepa Mehta. For photographs, detailed bio and other information go to website: http://hometown.aol.com/BSIDHWA

Soo Hoo, Judy
Judy's plays have been produced twice at East West Players as well as Lodestone SHP's (BEASTLY BEAUTIES). She was a winner in the 1996 East West Players/ AT&T New Voices Playwriting Competition for REFRIGERATORS. She is also a 1999 winner of the Yukon Pacific New Play Award for TEXAS, and is a 2000 PEN West Emerging Voices Fellow. Her work is published in Best Male Stage Monologues; Best Stage Scenes by Smith and Kraus Publishers; and in BOLD WORDS: A Century of Asian American Writing. Judy is the recipient of the 1998 APEX Scholarship, sponsored by East West Players and APEX, and the 1999 UCLA Extension Writer's Program Community Access Scholarship.

Song, Celine
Celine Song is a member of the Public Theater's 2016-2017 Emerging Writers Group, a member of Ars Nova's 2014-2015 Play Group, a 2016 resident of the Millay Colony for the arts and the MacDowell Colony, an IATI Theater 2015 Cimientos Playwright, a 2014 resident at Yaddo, a 2014 Great Plains Theatre Conference Playlab Playwright, and a 2012 Edward F. Albee Foundation Writing Fellow. Her plays include The Feast (MAP Theater in Seattle, New Court Theatre in LA, Shelterbelt Theatre in Omaha, Red Theater Chicago), Family (Signature Theater, Potomac Theater), and Tom & Eliza (Ars Nova, JACK). She holds an M.F.A. from Columbia.

Suh, Lloyd
Playwright Lloyd Suh is a second-generation Korean American who was born in southern Indiana and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Winner of both the Dasha Epstein Next Step Fellowship and the Dramatists Guild of America Playwriting Fellowship, his work has been produced and workshopped severally with Second Generation Productions and EST, at venues including the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theater, the Asian-American Writers’ Workshop, Expanded Arts, and the New York International Fringe Festival.

Tang, Roger
Roger Tang is a theatre veteran of three decades, who began his career as a designer for David Henry Hwang and Philip Kan Gotanda. As a writer, he is the author of numerous sketches for the Pork Filled Players. As a producer, he helmed the Northwest premieres of Gotanda's Dream of Kitamura, Genny Lim's Paper Angels, Prince Gomolvilas' Big Hunk O' Burnin' Love, Qui Nguyen's Living Dead in Denmark and Hwang's Bondage. He has taught Asian American history at the University of Washington and was instrumental in building the Theatre Off Jackson as Development Director for the Northwest Asian American Theatre. Called the "Godfather of Asian American theatre" by A. Magazine, he is Managing Producer for the Pork Filled Players (Seattle's oldest sketch comedy group), sits on the board at Repertory Actors Theatre, edits the Asian American Theatre Revue (uh, that's here!) and administers the aa-drama mailing list.

Tanglao-Aquas, Francis
Francis Tanglao-Aquas

Francis Tanglao-Aguas is the author of “when the purple settles,” winner of the Palanca Award, the Philippines National Prize in Literature. He also wrote “where the carabao sleeps,” and “Abuja Woman,” both winners of the Audrey Skirball Kenis Playwriting Award. In April 2007, he performed his original solo play, “The Sarimanok Travels” at the University of Hawaii where he was awarded a Freeman Foundation Artist in Residence. His newest work “Ramayana La’ar” won Best Play from the Virginia Gazette for its world premiere production at the College of William and Mary. He is also the co-editor of “Tibuk-Tibok Festival Anthology of Young Filipino Writers.”
Educated at the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television with a B.A. in Theater Magna Cum Laude, and M.F.A. in Playwriting, Tanglao-Aguas is founding Artistic Director of the Ateneo de Manila Fine Arts Festival and Theater Underground at UCLA. He is the first Asian American appointed to a tenurable Professorship at the College of William and Mary's Theatre Department. He has also taught at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Ateneo de Manila University, Kenyon College, and Georgetown University. He is a member of Asia Pacific Indigenous Plays Festival, Screen Actor's Guild and the Dramatists Guild of America. He continues to perform his solo show, The Sarimanok Travels, all over the world.

Tsufura, D. A.
Donna Ayako Tsufura is a filmmaker, playwright and inveterate traveler who has gotten lost in over 30 countries around the world. “Death and Peanuts,” her short experimental film about grief and the psyche, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Other shorts include “A Tale From Fort Tryon Park” (broadcast on WNYC-TV) and “The Rose Thief” (in post production). Her play “Origami” was produced by Northwest Asian American Theatre in Seattle. Donna has been a staff member of the Sundance Institute’s Filmmakers Lab, Playwrights Lab and Theater Lab. She is currently developing “MacKenzie’s Cafe,” a dramatic comedy feature about a young Asian American woman who goes after her dreams, and a short, “The Wedding Dance,” the tale of a homophobic father’s acceptance of his son.

Tuan, Alice
Alice Tuan is featured on the cover of the October 2002 issue of American Theater as one of seven playwrights "headed for their break-out season." The magazine featured her again in November 2002, with an essay discussing the state of the arts in the U.S. She was recently awarded the prestigious Colbert Award for Excellence as an emerging theatre artist. Tuan's work has been produced at the Mark Taper Forum, the McCarter Theatre, Berkley Repertory Theatre, and East West Players. Tuan's one-act play Some Asians was a winner at the Perishable Theater Fifth Annual Women's Playwrighting Festival in 1997. She was a 1999 recipient of a NEA/Theatre Communications Group Playwright Residency Grant at East West Players, as well as a resident playwright at Los Angeles Theatre Center in 1999.

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	History for East West Players PanAsian Repertory Theatre Northwest Asian American Theatre Sabol, Helen Just Say that You Love Me (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 1999) Safdie, Oren Private Jokes, Public Places (SDAART, 2005) A young Korean-American student presents her thesis for a public swimming pool to an all-male jury of famous architects. This comic play asks compelling questions about the state of the male-female power struggle, fears of disrupting the status quo and ultimately the importance of challenging tradition. Saito, Andrew s the Andrew W. Mellon Resident Playwright at The Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco, where his play Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night, premiered in May 2013 under the direction of Rob Melrose. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and in 2012 was a Fulbright Scholar in Papua New Guinea. A 2013 Core Apprentice at The Playwrights' Center, Andrew is a member of the Resident Playwrights Initiative at Playwrights Foundation, and a member of PlayGround and Just Theater's Writer-Director Lab. He has taught playwriting in Mayan villages in Guatemala, and collaborated with the renowned theater collective Yuyachkani, in Peru. Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night (Cutting Ball Theater, 2013) a poetic portrayal of the heart of the city in the spirit of Alan Ginsburg’s Howl, William S. Burroughs” novels, and the plays of Suzan-Lori Parks. At the center of this play about love and longing in the neglected neighborhoods of a fictional city is Scarlett, a woman who takes care of her grandmother by pulling wild animals out of her ears and letting them loose in her backyard menagerie. She makes her living as best she can off of the dreams and desires of married men who are willing to sacrifice everything for her. Drumhead, a lonely morgue worker with a wild imagination, comes across a carnival poster boasting of the wonders of Scarlett and can’t get her out of his head. Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night follows these seeming misfits on their journey to find each other. Sam the Ham (Mu, 2013) Following the death of his sports-loving father, Sam Hamamoto tries to finally grow up and move out of his parents¹ home in his forties. Through the rough flirtations of a coworker and his mentorship of a ten-year-old kid, Sam attempts to escape his past. Br'er Peach (AlterTheatre, 2018) the play is about an elderly African-American couple who eat a Georgia peach and give birth to a Japanese boy. The reading will be presented at the African American Art & Culture Complex in San Francisco. Saito, Dawn Dream Catcher (NY Shakespeare Festival, 1993) Salgadu, Udaya Kanti Letters from My Mother (East West, 2011) Slavery and human trafficking take on many forms sometimes right before our eyes. This is the story of Sripa, a young Sri Lankan high-school graduate who endured 26 months of forced labor in a household in the USA. With only her mother’s letters to keep her going, and a neighbor whose inquiries lead to her rescue, Sripa finds strength, bravery, and finally the power and self-confidence to become an advocate for the abolition of human trafficking. LETTERS FROM MY MOTHER was developed in the East West Players David Henry Hwang Writers Institute with the support of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, based on the playwright’s true life experience. This reading is presented as part of a month-long campaign to raise the awareness of human trafficking and modern day slavery. To learn more on human trafficking, visit www.castla.org. Sakamoto, Ed Edward Sakamoto is the much-celebrated author of plays depicting Asian-Hawaiian experience. His vantage point is often the view from the islands. The characters in Sakamoto’s plays face double relocation, first to Hawai‘i, then to the mainland. Whether imagined or real, moving to the mainland makes Sakamoto’s characters confront haole (white) culture and the familial and community impact of abandoning their unique form of Pidgin English. Leaving is the thematic crisis that creates the fault line in Sakamoto’s characters’ lives. In the Alley (University of Hawaii, 1961) A look at the disaffected local youth of early statehood days in Hawai'i. Yellow is My Favorite Color (East West, 1972) A story about ''the comic and sexual misadventures of a third-generation Japanese-American." In a series of surrealistic vignettes, the play spans the life of a Japanese-American growing up in a WASP society, focusing on his amorous misadventures. Stew Rice () Three friends in 1950s Hawaii vow eternal friendship on the eve of Hawaii statehood. Twenty years later, they come back for their 20th high school reunion... Manoa Valley (Tenney Theatre, 1993) Manoa Valley, second of Ed Sakamoto's Hawaii No Ka Oi trilogy which follows a Japanese Hawaiian family over a sixty-year period. In the summer of 1959, Elvis is king and optimism abounds as the Kamiya clan is assembling for a celebration of Hawaiian statehood. The two brothers Kamiya, first introduced as young men in The Taste of Kona Coffee, now have come into their own and raised their own respective families. Rascal Aki has a successful nursery business, but he and wife Tomi must cope with changes in family structure as their only son Nobu has married a haole (Caucasian) from the mainland. World War II was still vivid in the minds of Americans and such marriages were rare, unthinkable and in some states illegal. Younger brother Tosh has become a prosperous building contractor and has moved from Honolulu to the beautiful Manoa Valley. Tosh expects his son Spencer to take over the business. But Spencer has dreams of his own, big dreams that will take him to the mainland to build airplanes and rockets, and he must find the courage to tell his father. His sister Laura has married Toku, a good but unambitious man. If it were up to her, Toku would take over the family business, but if it were up to Toku, he'd be out fishing every day. Meanwhile, Laura and Toku have a secret of their own. The Taste of Kona Coffee (Tenney Theatre, 1993) The first of the Hawaii No Ka Oi trilogy: his play by Hawaii-born Edward Sakamoto revolves around two American-born sons of Japanese immigrants fighting to free themselves from poverty. It captures the pidgin English spoken on the Hawaiian Islands and lovingly depicts the Japanese-American experience there, life on a Kona coffee plantation, and the struggle to preserve of a way of life in the face of Western society's expectations. The Life of the Land (Pan Asian, 1987) Part Three of the Hawaii No Ka Oi trilogy. Reunion and reconciliation are the themes as Sakamoto continues the exploration of how families keep their ethnic and cultural identity even though members move away from one another in many ways. The ambitious young man who left home for the mainland to seek a career at the end of 'Manoa Valley' returns to Hawaii, and the Kamiya family gathers on a beach to celebrate the visit. His decision to stay at home and give up his career in California leads to shared memories of hopes and failures and makes them realize that, while they are all 20 years older, none are much wiser than before. Aloha Las Vegas (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, 1998) Inspired by the rising phenomenon of migration from Hawai'i to Las Vegas, Aloha Las Vegas tells the story of widower Wally Fukada, a 65 year old retired baker, as he considers the drastic move from serene island living to the hustle and bustle of "sin city". Wally's family and friends are thrown into a tizzy of conflicting advice and emotions. Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire () A dramatization of the all Nisei 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II. Dead of Night (Kumu Kahua, 2000) A little darker play, almost like a film noir, with the issue of unionization back in the 1950s set against a story of male bonding. Obake (Kumu Kahua, 2003) Sakamoto, whose comedies and dramas have been regularly produced by Kumu Kahua, turns his talents to a traditional Japanese ghost story set in plantation-day Hawai'i—a chilling tale of violence, betrayal and supernatural retribution. Tamotsu, who has been fired from his job on the plantation, ridicules his picture-bride wife Kazue and friend Hitoshi for their superstitious belief in obake. But he will soon become a believer. Drinking, gambling, whoring, stealing and abusing Kazue, Tamotsu sinks quickly into the depths of depravity. Always looking for the easy way out of this troubles, he eventually goes too far. An unseen black cat, which has been mysteriously appearing throughout the play to thwart Tamotsu's nefarious schemes, figures prominently in his frightening fate. Maholo Las Vegas (Kumu Kahua, 2006) A sequel to his Aloha Las Vegas, Edward Sakamoto’s Mahalo Las Vegas follows the same cast of characters after the big move to Las Vegas. Wally Fukuda has left Hawai‘i and is living happily ever after in Vegas – until circumstances shift and new variables are introduced. Wally's son and daughter-in-law have moved out of his home, replaced by California Harry, a luckless gambler who is hiding out from his creditors. Wally's daughter and her husband visit from Hawai‘i, bringing some surprises. And a reluctant Wally and Harry are pursued by two tenacious women, one the widow of a mob boss. It's All Relative (Kumu Kahua, 2011) The Miyamotos look like a happy family, but in Edward Sakamoto’s dark comedy, nothing is what it seems. Beneath the surface you’ll find a collapsing marriage, resentment, regret, midlife crises, and three daughters who’ll do anything for their parents’ attention. One of our most popular playwrights and the author of Aloha Las Vegas and Stew Rice unveils a fresh, funny and challenging portrait of a local family adrift in the modern world. Sakata, Jeanne Dawn's Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi (Boston Court, 2006) is the story of University of Washington student, Gordon Hirabayashi who, during the Japanese Internment of WWII, refused to follow evacuation orders as an exercise of his civil rights. Convicted and placed into a federal prison, it took 45 years for his conviction to be overturned. Sakhrani, Shane A Widow of No Importance (East West, 2010) Deepa has been a widow for a year. Her only desire is to see her daughter married so that she can die in peace. But when she starts receiving romantic advances from her recently divorced neighbor, also her son's best friend, she starts to see the benefits of living. Salazar, Adrien Train Song (Bindlestiff, 2006) Salgadu, Udaya Kanth Letters from My Mother (East West 2010) The story of Sripa, a young Sri Lankan high-school graduate who endured 26 months of forced labor in a household in the USA. With only her mother’s letters to keep her going, and a neighbor whose inquiries lead to her rescue, Sripa finds strength, bravery, and finally the power and selfconfidence to become an advocate for the abolition of human trafficking. Based on the true story of a woman who has seen the worst and best of American life. Sam, Canyon Capacity to Enter (AATC, 1997) Capacity to Enter, a solo performance written and performed by native San Franciscan Canyon Sam explores, through a series of finely drawn character monologues, the collision of spirituality, sexuality, and politics Sanbo, Amy Lady is Dying with Lonny Kaneko (NWAAT, 1980) Benny Hanna (NWAAT, 1984) Saraf, Sujit Sujit Saraf is a novelist, playwright and filmmaker who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the Artistic Director of NAATAK, a theatre and film group in the Bay Area. He regularly writes and directs plays for NAATAK. His latest novel The Peacock Throne was published by Sceptre in February 2007. Everyone Loves a Good Tsunami () Set in San Francisco Bay Area, this satire explores human nature in the face of adversity. Sunil Ahuja and Naresh Panjwani find themselves on the two sides of a political divide, just as a tsunami devastates many countries in the Indian Ocean region. Instead of coming to the rescue of survivors, these community leaders discover an opportunity to prove their own importance and assert their higher standing in the social hierarchy. Sata, Warren Twighlight and Snow (East West, 2011) Post WWII Japan, a country rebuilds. Artists seeking a principled and peaceful existence find themselves anything but removed from the chaos that surrounds them. Farewell to Moonlit Tides (East West 2013) To have loved and lost… Is there no greater challenge? China’s most renowned explorer sets sail again! Saxena, S. Vasanti a playwright of Chinese and East Indian decent. Saxena’s work has been produced or developed in New York at New York Theatre Workshop, The Ensemble Studio Theatre and New Dramatists, in Los Angeles at The Complex, and in Chicago with Chicago Dramatists and Silk Road Theatre Project. She has been a Van Lier Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, has been commissioned by the EST/Sloan Science and Technology Project and was a finalist for the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission. Sun Sisters (East West, 2009) Sun Sisters is about a daughter’s love and a mother’s final blessing. Jessica’s homecoming forces past and present to collide as she learns to understand tolerance and tolerate her mother’s lack of understanding. Sun Sisters is a play about unspoken desires and how even silence cannot prevent their realization. The Fun Even the Stone Baby Blue Shift Sediego, Kamilla Homecoming (VACT, 2015) Homecoming is the story of the Cruz sisters, who have reunited in the Philippines for the funeral of their mother. Older sister Tess immigrated to Canada decades before while younger sister Vicky remained in their home country. The play follows their first confrontation, revealing the miscommunication and complex emotional landscape that such separations can bring about. Seto, Loretta Loretta Seto is a fiction and screenwriter, as well as a playwright. She has been published in Ricepaper magazine, the anthology Strike the Wok, and CBC Radio's Between the Covers. She has also had two short films "Once a Fish" and "Ripples" produced with funding from Citytv. Loretta completed her MFA in creative writing at UBC and is a founding member of Wet Ink Collective, which is committed to advancing opportunities for female playwrights in Canadian theatre. Why Weight? (VACT, 2012) Deep Water (VACT, 2013) Deep Water is a touching and funny one-woman play about a relationship therapist whose world spirals out of control when she falls pregnant following an affair. As her husband succumbs to depression, she must decide where her future lies and what to do with her unborn child. Shanahan, Elizabeth A Senseless Overture (SALAAM, 2003) An interpretation of al-Ghazali's Parable Of The Pen. Victor and Isabelle cannot escape the loyal love of friendship that bridges their hearts to true love. Divine love maintains human love. al-Ghazali was a great Sufi mystic. Much of his preoccupation consisted of Sufi practices. The certainty of revelatory truth, for which he sought, cannot be obtained by reason. Sharif, Bina My Ancestor's House (Theater for the New City, 1992) Sleeping with Horses () Fire () Stars of War () Sharma, Pushkar Midnite's Vultures (Rasaka, 2009) Two Indian-American poets in their twenties confront the paradoxes of their identity when asked what it means to be an Indian in America. Sharp, Eric Middle Brother (Mu Performing Arts, 2011) Every unhappy Korean is unhappy in his own way. Or something like that. Told in a bold physical theatre style, Middle Brother follows Billy, an adult Korean adoptee living and working in Seoul, South Korea for the first time since being adopted to the Midwest as a toddler. Just days from moving back to the states, Billy is unexpectedly reunited with his older birth brother and must somehow reconcile his modern American life with his newfound Korean past. Sheehan, Teru hex(2) (EWP, 2000) When you think about it, the internment could drive anybody crazy. Shekar, Madhuri In Love and Warcraft (Alliance Theatre, 2014) Evie is a master of relationships. Other people’s relationships. That’s why she has a waiting list of classmate clients willing to pay her top dollar to get their GFs and BFs back. How? She uses strategy, finds people’s weaknesses, and then attacks with words weaponized with just the right amount of guilt, longing, and/or lust – whatever a relationship may need. You know, all the skills and tactics she picked up on the way to becoming one of the best World of Warcraft players in the world. As for Evie’s relationships? IRL (that is, In Real Life)? Well, all the action she’s interested in is happening on the battlefields of WoW. When it comes to sex, Evie is a complete, er, N00b and she’s just fine with that, thanks. Even despite the advances of Raul? Beautiful, smoldering Raul? Rhymes-with-grrraul Raul? He may just prove to be the most devious Boss she’s ever faced. A Nice Indian Boy (East West, 2014) A Nice Indian Boy is the second place winner of EWP’s Face of the Future Playwriting Competition. As gay marriage is being debated by the Supreme Court, this play is timely in continuing the discussion. Naveen Gavaskar meets Keshav Kurundkar, and they share all things Indian - from the Hindi language to the difficulty of being gay in Hindi culture. They agree to meet in person to find that one is South Asian and the other (Keshav) is a Caucasian, adopted by Hindi parents and speaks fluent Hindi. A Nice Indian Boy will be presented with generous support from the S. Mark Taper Foundation Endowment for East West Players Antigone, Presented by the Girls of St. Catherine's (Alliance Theatre, 2015) The St. Catherine's drama club is struggling to put up its first school play – Sophocles' Antigone. As if staging this tragedy in an all girls' Catholic school isn't challenging enough, the cast's beloved director ends up betraying them in an unforgivable way. And it's almost opening night! The actors must then figure out the right course of action, all while rehearsing the classic play about impossibly difficult choices. What is the right thing to do? And must the show go on? Queen (Victory Gardens, 2017) Shekar's world premiere play spins around Ph.D candidates Sanam and Ariel, who have spent the better part of a decade exhaustively researching vanishing bee populations across the globe. But just as these close friends are about to publish a career-defining paper, Sanam stumbles upon a miscalculation. And what appears to be a small error could cause catastrophic damage to their reputations, careers and friendship. House of Joy (Atlantic Theatre, 2017) Disillusioned by her job in the Imperial Harem, a young bodyguard risks her life to help an abused Queen escape. An action-adventure romance set in some time like 1666, in some place like Delhi, India. Miriam for President (Victory Gardens, 2019) Miriam hates to be known as "that girl who got kidnapped then escaped that sex trafficking ring." She wants to be known as Miriam, your top candidate for student council president at Roosevelt High School. But her parents, counselor, and best friend keep insisting that she's not ready. But what do they know? What do they really know about what happened to Miriam? From Madhuri Shekar, the author of Queen, comes a powerful play about survival, rebirth, and the silent crime of human trafficking in Chicago. Shenoy, Nandita Nandita Shenoy is also an actor and a director. She was last seen at S3M as part of the cast of Anjalee Deshpande's Tamasha and returns to SALAAM fresh from the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. BA, Yale University. Marrying Nandini (SALAAM, 2007) What happens when parents take their daughter's marriage into their own hands. Nandini's parents find out when they decide to fill out her Match.com profile and learn more than they bargained for about their daughter and themselves. Rules of Engagement Set in a coffee shop. Nora learns how to bend her own rules when a younger co-worker asks her out. Making Face Time Set in a bedroom. A couple finds that technology might be getting in the way of real communication. By Popular Demand Set in a Broadway producers' office and an apartment kitchen. When Shree wins the "Diversity for Broadway" Fellowship, she thinks she has hit the jackpot, but the Great White Way might not be ready for something different. Lyme Park: An Austonian Romance of an Indian Nature: (2012) This modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" finds our heroine Kavita faced with the choice between living in a "Pride & Prejudice" fantasy world of her own making or the not-so-tidy world of reality where Mr. Darcy may not exist. Washer/Dryer (East West, 2015) Why is Sonya so hesitant to introduce her new husband Michael to the people in her building? Why does the doorman keep calling her about a package in the lobby? Tempers and misunderstandings flair, and mayhem ensues as the arrival of Michael’s mother, some nosy neighbors, and Sonya’s best friend Sam force Michael and Sonya to re-evaluate their relationship and decide whether all is fair in love and real estate. Satisfaction (Ma-Yi, 2016) For 4 women raised in the era of women's rights and ERA, having it all may be harder than it seems. Satisfaction examines how hard it can be for women to get what they want. Reunion (Queens Theatre, 2017) This charming and insightful character study follows the intersection of six classmates' lives at their 25th high school reunion in upstate New York. While each returns for different reasons, they all discover that sometimes you really can't go home again - even if you never left. Shikina, Alice Ghosts of Himeyuri (AATC, 2004) The backdrop is World War II Okinawa when three sisters are forced to leave home to become nurses for the soldiers in caves. They deal with the emotional repurcussions of having to move away from home at a young age and then be subjected to the presence of older guys. These very innocent girls move into the situation with varying attitudes, but the final result is that wartime ravages their young souls and what it does not destroy, it damages beyond repair. Okinawa 1945 (Three Wise Monkeys, 2006) In the final days of World War II, the peace of the Miyamoto household is shattered when their three teenage daughters are ordered by the Japanese government to tend to the wounded in caves on the island of Okinawa. With American forces invading the island and the Japanese confronting the enemy for the very first time on home soil, the girls witness the violence and brutality of war, transforming their innocent lives forever. Shin, Rob The Art of Waiting (Round House Theatre, 1993) "Waiting" takes place in the mind of a Korean-American named Rob, 10 minutes before he goes on stage to deliver a comedy routine. His monologue travels through stages of his life, connecting memories from his younger self, Bobby with those from his roles as a waiter at a Chinese restaurant and a stand-up comedian. At one moment, he clutches a teddy bear; at another, he scurries from table to table at the restaurant. Throughout the play, he is perpetually waiting -- whether hastily waiting on tables or nervously waiting to deliver jokes. Ultimately, he must weigh these memories together to make a crucial final decision. Shiomi, Ric Rick Shiomi is artistic director and founding member of Theatre Mu. Shiomi was born in Toronto but used his experiences as a Japanese Canadian living on Vancouver's Cordova Street to create a Sam Spade-styled detective named Sam Shikaze as the protagonist for his first play, Yellow Fever. Yellow Fever (1982) The original, starring Nisei private eye Sam Shikazi, defending Vancouver BC's J-Town agains white supremacists infiltrating the local government (this was "obvious" parody when first written). Once is Not Enough (1984) The sequel to Yellow Fever. Rosie's Cafe (1990) A prequel to Yellow Fever. The Walleye Kid (Theatre Mu, 1998) The Walleye Kid is a fable combining Asian tales, midwest traditions and stories of Korean adoptees. Tales of the Starfruit Tree (Theatre Mu, 1999) The Tale of the Dancing Crane (Theater Mu, 1999) Tale of the Dancing Crane is an adaptation of an Asian folktale: a story of a man who accidentally shoots a crane and is later visited by a beautiful young lady who is really the bird in disguise. Tiger Tales (with Cha Yang, Theater Mu, 2000) Song of the Pipa (Theater Mu, 2000) Inspired by the life of Bai Juyi, a Tang era Chinese poet, and his narrative poem, Song of the Pipa. Filipino Hearts (Mu Performing Arts, 2006) This original musical blends Filipino folktales, music, dance and movement with a modern story in signature Mu style. When Benny, a poor aspiring theater artist, is sent to the Philippines for a family gathering, his simple vacation becomes an entangled adventure of arranged marriages, unexpected romance, and obstacles of antagonism from the local people. Pre-conceived notions shattered, Benny's self-understanding unfolds in relation to the land, the people, and the stories of his heritage. Shireen, Deen Where Children Play: The Story Of Tank & Horse (Berkshire Fringe, 2007) In this dark fairy-tale, dragons are disguised as people you love, the queen keeps trying to lock you in the tower, sex is something to sing about, and though you want desprately to save the princess, you're not the guy she's looking for. You're not a guy at all. Shirota, John Leilani's Hibiscus (East West, 1999) a humor-filled journey about an interracial romance against the backdrop of Hawaii, which is suddenly shattered by the war that forever alters the lives of the lovers. But with magical intervention from the spirit world, the couple meets again in the most unlikely of places in another journey to the land of Aloha filled with Hawaiian, Japanese and Okinawan songs and dances. Pineapple White () Hawaii No Ka Oi () I Hear You!; Maui, Dec. 7, 1941 Honor Duty Countr Ripples in the Pond You’re on the Tee The Last Retreat Lucky Come Hawaii (Pan Asian) Lucky Come Hawaii revolves around Kama Gusada, an Okinawan pig farmer who has just made an honorable match for his daughter Kimiko, who wants no part of it. If Kimiko breaks the match, then Kama will never be able to hold his head up at the Maui Okinawan Association meetings. When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Kama is asked to prove his loyalty to Japan by "spying" on the American soldiers. Written largely in Hawaiian "pidgin," Lucky Come Hawaii is reminiscent of the Hollywood comedies of the 1940s. Voices from Okinawa Kama Hutchins, an American graduate student of one quarter Okinawan descent, teaches English in Okinawa, and receives an unexpected education in Okinawan-American relations. Shitamoto, Elbert Manabu The Leaves Have Lost Their Trees (EWP, 2005) Armed only with a magic camera, two English teachers, Bert and Murf, spend their winter break hitchhiking through Kyushu, Japan. Join the Japanese American and Irish Canadian as they stick out their thumbs, pull out umeboshi plums, and rattle like pachinko balls through the land of indoor beaches, overly helpful strangers, and a mushroom clouded cathedral. Shu, Jo A True Asian Hottie (Pan Asian, 2010) is one hot lady...and a whole lot more. Ya don't know someone till ya really know someone. Sidhwa, Bapsi BIO: Bapsi Sidhwa, distinguished international writer has published four novels: An American Brat, Cracking India, The Bride and The Crow Eaters, and has been translated into several European and Asian languages. Among her many honors Sidhwa received the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe/Harvard, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writer's Award, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest national honor in the arts, and the LiBeraturepreis in Germany. Cracking India was made into the film Earth by Canadian director Deepa Mehta. For photographs, detailed bio and other information go to website: http://hometown.aol.com/BSIDHWA Feroza Among the Ferangees (Leicester Haymarket, 2003) Caught in a clash of cultures, Feroza is forced to choose between love for her Jewish-American boyfriend and loyalty to her family and Zoroastrian faith. Sie, James Digging Down on China (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 1999) Talking With My Hands (East West: Word Up!, 1999) Playwright/actor James Sie offers his bittersweet tale of growing up in a Chinese-Italian household. With humor and poignancy, Talking With My Hands explores his early life in New Jersey, his career as an actor in Chicago, and the moving stories of his grandparents from two different continents. Sie takes the audience along on a journey in which he searches for racial identity and the perfect zuppa di polla, or chicken soup. Simpson, Christine Arsat (Flud Motion, 2003) Adapted from Joseph Conrad's short story "The Lagoon", weaves the art of storytelling, traditional Malaysian dance, and modified Asian drumming into a theatrical presentation about two men whose relationship is at an impasse - their future's uncertain until they can resolve their pasts. The Great Conjurer (Fluid Motion, 2006) Drawn loosely from Franz Kafka's art and life, The Great Conjurer depicts the struggle of "K," a character forced to choose between the life that his parents wanted him to live—career, marriage, security—and the art that wanted to have life. Take On Me (adoption, addiction, and a-ha) (NY Fringe Theatre Festival, 2006) Korean-adoptee Christine S. traces the 20 years-and-counting career of one of pop music's unacknowledged geniuses. Along the way, she tries to come to grips with her adoption, her mother, and her obsession with the Roland SH 101 key-tar. SLANT Big Dicks, Asian Men (La Mama, 1996) The Second Coming (La Mama, 1997) Squeal Like a Pig, an Intergalactic PopOperetta (La Mama, 1998) Hotel California (1998) wetSpot (1999) High (2000) WAZU (2002) ArchipelaGo! (2004) Sloniker, Richard Cracks in the Ceiling A man slips into Germany in the 1930s to conceal self-inflicted wounds, oblivious to the looming political storm enveloping Europe. He discovers that even a fraction of a second is all that is needed to decide whether to really live. Blurred Intent (NWAAT, 2004) The actions of the play take place in the living room of Brandon's Seattle apartment after Brandon returns home from Chinatown after a fight. As Brandon reluctantly describes the scene to David, we come to realize that his mixed ethnicity has played a vital role in the fight and his resulting actions. David's response is invoked from his perception of Brandon; as a friend, as someone who's seeing his ex-girlfriend, and his belief that Brandon could never completely understand what it means to be "fully" Asian American. Snee, Dennis Alice in America-Land (InterACT, 2004) In this fresh and lively update of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice takes a journey through the picture tube of her family’s television, and meets a mad collection of characters — with a certain difference! A White Rabbit — who lives in fear of someone’s dropping “the big one.” A Mock Turtle — who’s a champion of consumer rights. A Dodo who’s a guitarist, a Dormouse seeking political office and an Eagle who lives in the past. The Duke and Duchess have switched life roles — she’s a “working duchess” while he’s a “house duke.” Alice herself becomes the unwitting subject for a showbiz roast with two aging, bitter comedians — the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Through it all, Alice just wants to return home to her beloved cat. Just when it seems as though this mad world of America-land will drive her as mad as the inhabitants, she awakens, safe at home, her cat in her lap. A fanciful, biting, always funny tale of a contemporary Alice that will delight all audiences. Solano, Paula Weston Appearances (Asian Theatre Workshop, 1999) Paula Weston Solano's hilarious characters are keeping up, eating away, surgically altering and making appearances throughout different decades of 20th century U.S. From the lyrical to the outrageous, the political to the personal, these Asian women experience what happens when there's too much or just not enough! Son, Diana Now, currently a producer for Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Stealing Fire (Soho Rep, 1992) Two sisters, one bad marriage, a rocky boat ride and secrets weaved into a shawl 2000 Miles (Ensemble Studio Theatre, 1993) A young woman, Janie, tries to find sure footing on the line separating her past as an irresponsible child and a capable adult after her mother is hit by a stroke. R.A.W. ('Cause I'm a Woman) (Ohio, 1993) four Asian American women respond to the sexual stereotypes of them as geishas, exotic virgins and suicidal Miss Saigon's T.W.E.E.D. (New Works, 1993) Boy (La Jolla Playhouse, 1996) When a couples fourth daughter is born they are determined to make everybody think she is their desperately-desired son, they name her Boy. Stop Kiss (Public Theatre, 1998) A modern tragicomedy about the ways, both sudden and slow, that lives can change irrevocably. After Callie meets Sara, the two unexpectedly fall in love. Their first kiss provokes a violent attack which transforms their lives in ways they could never anticipate. Fishes (New Georges, 1998) When her mother becomes the fish she always wanted, Junebug learns that what you dream of is not always what you can live with. Happy Birthday Jack (Humana Festival, 1999) Audience members enter one of several phone booths, pick up the receiver and listen to a three-minute play unfold in conversation as Brian phones Jack on his 35th birthday. Satellites (The Public, 2006) Jane Says (Vassar and New York Stage and Film, 2017) Soo Hoo, Judy Judy's plays have been produced twice at East West Players as well as Lodestone SHP's (BEASTLY BEAUTIES). She was a winner in the 1996 East West Players/ AT&T New Voices Playwriting Competition for REFRIGERATORS. She is also a 1999 winner of the Yukon Pacific New Play Award for TEXAS, and is a 2000 PEN West Emerging Voices Fellow. Her work is published in Best Male Stage Monologues; Best Stage Scenes by Smith and Kraus Publishers; and in BOLD WORDS: A Century of Asian American Writing. Judy is the recipient of the 1998 APEX Scholarship, sponsored by East West Players and APEX, and the 1999 UCLA Extension Writer's Program Community Access Scholarship. Texas (Lodestone, 1999) Texas dates from the late 1990s and views macho brotherhood through the eyes of underpaid immigrant laborers. or newly arrived college boy Steven, brothers Duke and Danny are the host family from hell: messy, macho hayseeds living in a trashy trailer. There’s only one bed, a mattress placed atop the kitchen table. What’s more, the trailer’s anchored in the rural plains of the Lone Star State, miles from anywhere. Steven needs to escape, but there are wild dogs outside, and his hosts are counting on Steven’s housing stipend. Each character also has something to hide, which transforms Texas into a claustrophobic comedy about confinement, coercion and, later, confession Delivery (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 1999) Refrigerators (AATC, 1999) In REFRIGERATORS, Judy Soo Hoo, takes you to the hottest day in December. What can three Asian American women desire the most in such a smoldering day? The perfect refrigerator! This play is a story about food, love, relationships and the messy secrets that lie beyond the butter dish. 29 1/2 Dreams: Women Walking Through Walls (EWP, 1993) A two act musical with a feminine perspective on relationships, various societal ills and dysfunction. Twice Told Christmas Tales (EWP) Beastly Beauties (Lodestone) Part of American Monsters. In the wild, three women encounter a dead man who comes to life to prey upon their sexual fears until only one survivor is left standing. Solve for X (Cleveland Playhouse, 2003) Solving for X has never been a problem for Hannah, until she meets Theo and his son Henry. Soon she develops an unnatural, unexpected attraction, and finds herself trying to solve the complicated mysteries of life and love. Developed at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, this exciting and intriguing play marks the playwright's debut in Cleveland. Peanuts (ART 168 Productions, 2007) A one-act. A wickedly fun comedy about the honeymoon stage of marriage. Andy married Jane, the woman of his dreams. But a startling revelation causes him to think that he's made a grave mistake. The Red Dress (Lodestone, 2008) Rebecca's hopes and dreams lie with a shiny red dress---only if she can renew its ten-year warranty before time runs out. One Act At Risk (Watts Village Theater Company, 2008) In a fictional middle school in South Los Angeles, every student is at risk, and so is every teacher. Watts Village Theater Company's offering to the festival explores the history of United Teachers of Los Angeles through the eyes of a rookie and the motley band of veterans who get him through his first year. Song, Celine Celine Song is a member of the Public Theater's 2016-2017 Emerging Writers Group, a member of Ars Nova's 2014-2015 Play Group, a 2016 resident of the Millay Colony for the arts and the MacDowell Colony, an IATI Theater 2015 Cimientos Playwright, a 2014 resident at Yaddo, a 2014 Great Plains Theatre Conference Playlab Playwright, and a 2012 Edward F. Albee Foundation Writing Fellow. Her plays include The Feast (MAP Theater in Seattle, New Court Theatre in LA, Shelterbelt Theatre in Omaha, Red Theater Chicago), Family (Signature Theater, Potomac Theater), and Tom & Eliza (Ars Nova, JACK). She holds an M.F.A. from Columbia. The Family The Four Horsemen (Flea Theatre, 2013) Sam, Ev, Dee and Mort have come to exterminate you. The Feast (Great Plains Theatre Conference, 2014) The dinner guests are waiting for their host to arrive. They get mad with hunger. When he finally arrives they devour him Endlings (The Public, 2017) On the island of Man-Jae in Korea, three elderly women spend their dying days diving into the ocean to harvest seafood with nothing but a rusty knife. They are "haenyeos"— "sea women" —and there are no heiresses to their millennium-old tradition. ENDLINGS is a real estate lesson from the last three remaining "haenyeos" in the world: don't live on an island. Unless it's the island of Manhattan… Song, John Dreams of My Father's Music () Dreams of My Father's Music was a New Voices Playwriting Competition winner, as well as a winner in the C.Y. Lee Playwriting Contest. He was a 1997 PEN West Fellow. Sotelo, Beverly Come and Go (EWP, 2004) Cassie and Rich have been friends for years. He'd do anything for her. Anything. Stanton, Susan Soon He The Art of Preservation (Kumu Kahua, 2008) The Art of Preservation revolves around two outsiders, Dado and Desiree, who’ve known each other all their lives in a small town on Kauai, though they have not spoken in years. Desiree, a notoriously difficult librarian at the local public library, works secretly on a project that may unlock an old mystery about the town. Dado, a local boy who never grew up, breaks into the library basement looking to rekindle a romance with his ex-girlfriend, the assistant librarian. He is surprised to find Desiree there instead. After a tropical storm traps them inside the library basement, they finally confront their shared childhood. Together, they struggle to negotiate their futures while honoring their past. When the threat of a flood becomes imminent, Desiree and Dado must decide what's worth saving. What Ever Happened to John Boy Kihano? (Kumu Kahua, 2009) Winner of the 2006 Kumu Kahua Theatre/UHM Theatre Department contest, this Kumu Kahua world premiere deals with the mysterious disappearance of a child and the effects it has on his family. John Kihano, who likes to take his youngest son fishing, returns one day without him, offering only a vague explanation about the child going to stay on the Big Island with "Auntie Maile." The problem is, no one in the family has ever heard of Auntie Maile, whom John claims is a friend of his mother whom he hasn't seen for twenty years. He has no address or phone number for her. What really happened? Did John Boy drown? Was he kidnapped? His father remains silent, only offering assurances that he will return, without specifying when. As the days turn into weeks, the police become involved, the search continues, the mystery deepens, tensions mount, loyalties shift and the family begins to fall apart. Takarazuka!!! (East West, 2014) Yuko is the star of the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female Japanese performance troupe that has put on melodramatic spectacles for nearly a hundred years. The lead performer can only be a star for two years and Yuko is being forced to retire. However, strange accidents keep happening calling this tradition into question. Part ghost story, part love story, part All About Eve, Takarazuka!!! is a thrilling and hilarious new black comedy. the underneath (Kumu Kahua, 2014) In this noir mystery drama, a man returns to Hawaii after ten years, responding to an urgent summons from his brother. On arrival he learns that his brother is missing, and that many things have changed since their childhood. To uncover the mysteries, the brother encounters a girlfriend, a homeless man who may have witnessed something relevant, a crime boss and an enigmatic young private investigator. Identities shift and the past re-emerges, as the search seems to reveal more questions than answers. Seek (Ma-Yi Theatre, 2015) In a fictional retelling of Agatha Christie's real-life disappearance, SEEK imagines the British mystery writer on the Big Island of Hawaii. Burdened by a secret and chased halfway around the world, Agatha's life begins to resemble the dark stories she imagined. Today Is My Birthday (Sundance, 2015) After Emily's bubble life in NYC pops, she retreats home to Hawai'i, where she creates an alter ego on live radio. Told through a playful mixture of radio and phone calls, Today is My Birthday is a comedy about life with a thousand friends on Facebook and no one to have dinner with on Saturday night. #iambadatthis (Kumu Kahua, 2016) Emily is a young woman completely connected to the grid, but unplugged from life in this real life comedy about the now. Cygnus It's company outing day, and Laura, one of the top travel agents of her generation, decides to end it all. Afterwards, her colleagues try to piece things together on a memorial blog, but how do you mourn someone you didn't know that well? we, the invisibles (Humana Festival, 2018) The play follows a playwright, working a survival job at a luxury hotel, who begins interviewing her fellow employees. Steinberg, Eric Nobody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt (East West: Word Up!, 1999) Nobody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt is a study of violence written by Korean-Jewish American Eric Steinberg. The story follows an American Ulysses as he enters adulthood, discovers his tools of expression in violence, and battles demons in the whirlwind of American popular culture. Utilizing text, movement and sound effects, Steinberg examines the cult of violence as it’s glorified and perpetuated by politics, sexuality, sports and entertainment. Stevens, K. S. Yellow Lens (2009) Yellow Lens is a new dramatic play by KS Stevens. Seven stories are brought together to breathe life into new powerful production about individuals making pivotal decisions that severely impact or have impacted themselves and their relationships. With an intentionally diverse cast of characters, KS Stevens allows all audience members, of all races, classes, and backgrounds, to witness the raw human mechanics of the decision making process and allows Asian Actors strong new voices in one body of work. Suh, Krista Prime Seating (East West, 2011) Some people know their priorities: money, sex, and prime seating. Suh, Lloyd Playwright Lloyd Suh is a second-generation Korean American who was born in southern Indiana and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Winner of both the Dasha Epstein Next Step Fellowship and the Dramatists Guild of America Playwriting Fellowship, his work has been produced and workshopped severally with Second Generation Productions and EST, at venues including the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theater, the Asian-American Writers’ Workshop, Expanded Arts, and the New York International Fringe Festival. The Garden Variety () The Children of Vonderly () The Greatest Spectacle in Racing (2nd Generation, 1999) Indianapolis. A redneck spectator. A roaming food vendor. Three people who don't belong. Set against the backdrop of the Indy 500, a daughter brings home her African American fiancee seeking her Korean father's blessings. With a Hammer and a Nail (EST/Thicker Than Water, 2002) A fable that grapples with creation, creativity, bigotry, kinship and love, among other topics. Emma Poff, the puppetmaker who creates and brings to life Annabell. By making her Asian, Emma hopes that Annabell will be rejected for sale and returned to her as her own. Emma's man, Gregory, unaware that Emma and Annabell can speak to each other, orders Emma to do her share to generate income by making a white puppet, who turns out to be Isabell. While Emma's emotions are focused on Annabell, Annabell's yearn toward Isabell. He Cry Boy See He Sad (2002) Masha No Home (Ensemble Studio Theatre, 2002) When her late mother's secret legacy - a huge sum of "community" money - is discovered, 17-year-old Masha does the noble thing--and steals it! A darkly comic play, MASHA NO HOME is about a second generation Korean American and her surprising journey of reconciliation. American Hwangap (2g, 2005) When Min Suk Chun returns from Korea on his 60th birthday to reclaim the wife and children he abandoned in the U.S. fifteen years earlier, he is forced to take stock of his life, his dreams, and what he left behind. Happy Birthday William Abernathy (Thumping Claw, 2008) Fort Lee (SohoRep, 2011) The First Asian American country western band. Charles Francis Chan, Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery (NAATCO, 2015)It's 1967. The auspicious beginnings of a new political identity called Asian American, as a young literary hippie named Frank essays an inscrutable Chinese detective. A harmless sing-song Orientalist minstrel show that ends in a grotesque carnival of murder! The Chinese Lady (Barrington Stage, 2018) In 1834, Afong Moy was brought from Beijing to America and put on display as the "Chinese Lady." Over the next 45 years, she performed in a side show for the American public that both defined and challenged her own view of herself, while witnessing stunning changes surrounding what it means to be American. Sueko, Seema Remains (Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company, 2003) This play tells the story of Laila Ahmed, an American college student, who turns up dead in Israel/Palestine. Her mother receives her journal through which she pieces together the last four months of her daughter's life and meets good, bad, beautiful, and ugly people on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sumangali, Eric "Pogi" Debutante's Ball (Mu Performing Arts, 2015) Is family something we’re born into or something we choose? Ana’s parents want her to be an All-American rather than a Filipino-American girl. When she signs up for the Filipino community’s Debutante’s Ball against her parents’ wishes, she puts her family relationships on the line and begins a complicated waltz between tradition and assimilation, self-reliance and interconnectedness, hip-hop and haranas (traditional Filipino serenades). Directed by Randy Reyes at the History Theatre in downtown St. Paul, the play (inspired by true events) pays tribute to a unique rite of passage for Minnesota’s Filipino American community. Seven Fingers, One Crash (Mu Performing Arts, 2018) Planet Delano relies on the Manongs, the hardest working people in history, to harvest the largest Space Grape crop in the entire galaxy. A one-person show inspired by the 1965 Delano Grape Strike. Sun, William and Fei, Faye C. Fax Shangri-La (Theatre Mu, 1998) Sy, Jovanni Untitled (fu-GEN, 2005) A new play about the intersection of European and Asian cultures as told by a cooking show host. Nine Dragons (Vertigo Theatre, 2017) When an upper-class European girl is found murdered on the seedy side of Kowloon bay, ambitious Chinese police detective Tommy Lam is on the case. But faced with corruption and the prejudice of his superiors, how far will Tommy go in the pursuit of justice? Join us for the World Premiere of this new Canadian crime thriller developed by Vertigo Theatre, Gateway Theatre and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Takeda, Suz Game of Life (AATC, 2000) A wacky psychic uses a board game to channel psychic energies to help SUZ examine her personal/cultural identity. SUZ spins the wheel, moves three spaces ahead and enters the "Game of Life". Through vignettes and monologues about: Psychic Hotlines, Japan Pop, Oakland, The Brady Bunch and Soul Train, we all become players in this "Game of Life" that SUZ brings to the stage Takeshita, Vernon Performance Anxiety () "sex, cross-dressing, gays, lesbians, wooden children, identity mix-ups, screwed up people, bisexuality, denial, and the need to be a normal "Beaver Cleaver" household through it all." Tacuher, Rozanne Silent Tigress (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 1999) Taleon-Sonza, Jorshinelle MFA from New School University's Actors Studio. Migration Blues (New School University, 2002) Sandman (Actors Studio Repertory Theatre) How to Cook Adobo (Diverse City, 2005), a cultural comedy about being young and Filipino. Cold Flesh (Diverse City, 2006) The Encounter (Diverse City, 2010) An unexpected visit by the incumbent President of the Philippines in his political rival’s prison cell is told. Tamaribuchi, Peter Half Lives (AATC, 2000) A new drama/comedy that brings back the excitement in a coming-of-age tale about a typical Asian American teenager who faces all the usual questions: When do you go all the way? How do you keep it from your Dad? What do you do if your boyfriend becomes a racist, sexist !!!&^5#@!? Tamayo, Vanessa* Novenas (East West, 2008) The Manong generation is dying, and prayers for the dead seem to line up night after night. Set against the droll rituals of mourning, a daughter returns to care for her dying father in the community that she destroyed. Tan, Joel (with Ginu Kamani) The Cure (AATC, 2003) Tandoc-Pichereau, Michelle The Amulet (EWP, 2002) A magical stone. A dying man. And a family who's about to discover that life, indeed, is in the smallest details. Tang, Lisa Dry Hours (EWP, 2006) "The threshold has been crossed, ladies." A man mysteriously haunts three friends as they struggle with the choices they need to make today. And the ones made for them in the past. Tang, Roger Roger Tang is a theatre veteran of three decades, who began his career as a designer for David Henry Hwang and Philip Kan Gotanda. As a writer, he is the author of numerous sketches for the Pork Filled Players. As a producer, he helmed the Northwest premieres of Gotanda's Dream of Kitamura, Genny Lim's Paper Angels, Prince Gomolvilas' Big Hunk O' Burnin' Love, Qui Nguyen's Living Dead in Denmark and Hwang's Bondage. He has taught Asian American history at the University of Washington and was instrumental in building the Theatre Off Jackson as Development Director for the Northwest Asian American Theatre. Called the "Godfather of Asian American theatre" by A. Magazine, he is Managing Producer for the Pork Filled Players (Seattle's oldest sketch comedy group), sits on the board at Repertory Actors Theatre, edits the Asian American Theatre Revue (uh, that's here!) and administers the aa-drama mailing list. Mac 'n Dex (SIS Productions, 2008) He’s a laid-back activist from the 60s; she’s a hard charging TV anchor. They’re as mismatched a pair as there ever was . . . so what do you suppose happens when you throw them together? Shadowed Intent (SIS Productions, 2009) Detective Kim Inamura helped catch the Asian American Ted Bundy, but that was the easy part. Convicting him and finding the rest of his victims is something else entirely...and it leads Inamura through the dark shadows of race, class and gender, both inside and outside the interrogation room. Truth and Lies (Infinity Box Theatre, 2012) Riding the edge of bleeding edge science, this short play follows crack security agent Melinda, who just MAY be on the trail of a thief who can hack your brain. She Devil of the China Seas (Pork Filled Production, 2017) Shih clawed her way up from humble beginnings as a refugee and prostitute, supporting her crippled sister on the streets of Canton. But when China's pirate king makes her an offer that's an answer to her prayers, unnatural forces gather to destroy her before she can even accept…and begin a destiny far beyond her wildest dreams! Tanglao-Aquas, Francis Francis Tanglao-Aguas is the author of “when the purple settles,” winner of the Palanca Award, the Philippines National Prize in Literature. He also wrote “where the carabao sleeps,” and “Abuja Woman,” both winners of the Audrey Skirball Kenis Playwriting Award. In April 2007, he performed his original solo play, “The Sarimanok Travels” at the University of Hawaii where he was awarded a Freeman Foundation Artist in Residence. His newest work “Ramayana La’ar” won Best Play from the Virginia Gazette for its world premiere production at the College of William and Mary. He is also the co-editor of “Tibuk-Tibok Festival Anthology of Young Filipino Writers.” Educated at the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television with a B.A. in Theater Magna Cum Laude, and M.F.A. in Playwriting, Tanglao-Aguas is founding Artistic Director of the Ateneo de Manila Fine Arts Festival and Theater Underground at UCLA. He is the first Asian American appointed to a tenurable Professorship at the College of William and Mary's Theatre Department. He has also taught at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Ateneo de Manila University, Kenyon College, and Georgetown University. He is a member of Asia Pacific Indigenous Plays Festival, Screen Actor's Guild and the Dramatists Guild of America. He continues to perform his solo show, The Sarimanok Travels, all over the world. Ramayana La’ar Theatrical adaptation of the sacred Indian epic poem by St. Valmiki. • World Premiere, William and Mary Theatre, PBK Memorial Hall, The College of William and Mary, Virginia. March 2007. • Winner, Best Play of the 2007 Season, Virginia Gazette • Winner, Best Director Award of the 2007 Season, The Virginia Gazette Abuja Woman A multicultural community of PhD holders in LA cope with survival. • World Premiere: Kenyon College, Ohio, April 2005 • Workshop: UCLA New Works Festival, May, 2000 The Sarimanok Travels (published in Tibuk-Tibok Anthology of Young Filipino Writers, 2003) A solo epic in dance, poetry, and song on the mythology of the Philippines. • Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, November 19, 2007 • Philippine Writers Summit, East West Center & University of Hawaii, April 2007 • Philippine Literature Festival, Consulate of the Republic of the Philippines, April 2007 • Asian American Theater Company, San Francisco, CA February 2006 • LahiARTS, Secretary of State Auditorium, Sacramento, CA, October, 2005 • World Premiere: Asia Pacific Indigenous Play Festival, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, September 2003 • Ateneo de Manila University, September 2001 • Association of Asian Studies, San Diego, CA, March 2000 • UCLA Festival, June 1995 …when the purple settles… (published by Bathala Press, Manila, 2006) Hip hop operatic adventure into the aftermath of martial law ruled Philippines. • Winner, Palanca Award in Literature (Philippines' Prize in Literature), 2002 • World Premiere: Tanghalang Ateneo, Rizal Theatre, December 2001 • English in East Asia Conference, Manila, December 2001 • Francis Ford Coppola Play Festival, Los Angeles, December 1999 • Workshop, Sinegang Theater: Los Angeles, January 1999 …where the carabao sleeps. A Filipino USAFFE WWII Veteran with Alzheimer’s quest to return to the United States. • Staged Reading: SIPA Filipino Community Center, and Philippine American Library, Los Angeles, CA. Nov, 1999 Tau, Timothy Yellow Shakespeare (East West, 2012) A long-lost Shakespeare play is discovered that is the first and only play from the bard to feature Asian characters. As the play becomes a worldwide phenomenon, a theater troupe led by an ambitious young academic prepares to adapt it for the very first time on stage. When Hollywood comes knocking, will the theater troupe sell out or will they remain true to their artistic integrity? And, is the play for real? Bros/Hos,Foes (East West, 2013) Two Asian American Hollywood Actors stumble upon "The Limitless Eternity," a space outside of time that allows them to see all of time. They use it to reflect on the past, present and future of their calling and the harshness of "The Industry," as well as their shared camaraderie (Bros), their relationships with women (Hos), and the competition and sometimes veiled antagonism of the creative community that they struggle to thrive in (Foes). Tesoro, Carlos Apple Falls From Tree (East West, 2010) Computer voice speaks: "Mama, I'm in love." An autistic girl's struggle for the family she wants. Teymour, Faoud Twice, Thrice, Frice (Silk Road, 2017) After news of an affair involving one of their husbands, long-held secrets begin to emerge in the lives of three Muslim women, threatening the friendship that binds them together. A hilarious exploration of the multiple ways women are called upon to be "faithful," Twice, Thrice, Frice unleashes a debate about polygamy and fidelity, as each woman struggles with her sexuality and faith. Thao, Fres Beyond Time (Mu Performing Arts, 2011) Best friends Shot and Neej discover they can create a time machine in Shot's garage. We follow them as their perspectives on life are altered, as their creation comes to life. Thelin, Carl Snake Charmer (AATC, 2001) Twelve minute play Thoj, A-yia and Thor, Saychay Under the Bridge (Pangea World Theater, 2006) Growing up can be hard. It gets even harder when you're a Hmong girl living in an American society. Cultural expectations are automatically placed on you. As Khang, a 16 year-old Hmong girl, evolves into a mature woman, she makes mistakes that change the course of her life. Thong, Lisa All Hail (East West, 2006) Andy is a Vietnamese-American taxi driver who is at a steadfast standstill while being a principal mover in the daily lives of strangers. Faced with the frustrations of others towards their cyclical lifestyles, Andy is forced to confront his own humdrum existence. Between Letters (East West, 2013) In a city of isolated commuters too busy surviving to see the humanity in one another, a cab driver named Andy navigates the disconnected while attempting to map a route out of existential inertia. Tien, Melisa The Hiding Place (Aspen Theatre, 2008) A menacing, lyric glimpse at power, sexuality and the workplace. (Ten minute play) Tiang, Jeremy Last Days of Limehouse (Yellow Earth, 2014) It starts in Limehouse in 1958 when the local council is planning to bulldoze the last remnants of Limehouse Chinatown. As the local people decide how to embrace this redevelopment without losing their heritage, former Limehouse resident Eileen Cunningham returns to start a revolution.... Fulfillment (Pan Asian, 2017) Bennett works at an Amazon fulfillment center, a dead-end job most of her co-workers dream of escaping -- except Mengru, a Chinese immigrant, who sees her path to a better life here. Can these two women survive in a system that's rigged against them, and what will they have to sacrifice Timmons, Anne Miyamoto Mango Tree (Pan Asian, 2008) Using Hawaiian myth and legend as well as magical flora and fauna, Mango Tree tells the universal tale of love, betrayal and hope in ever changing lives. A benevolent Mango Tree, a nosy Owl and a Moon Goddess help a Chinese Hawaiian child, a changling find the love she seeks. Tjarks, Mark The Ventriloquist (Kumu Kahua Theatre, 2005) presents a volatile and highly theatrical cocktail of music, tape-recorded encounters, and tart home-truths from an endearing but ill-adjusted couple. Tokuda, Marilyn The Marginal Man (NWAAT, 1973) Tokudani, Betty The Nisei Widows Club (East West, 2003) A new comedy about love and loss and living in the Nisei (second generation Japanese American) tradition. A group of Nisei band together to form a support group for bereaving spouses. One night, unexpected visitors attend their weekly gathering and all hell breaks loose. Tonouchi, Lee Gone Feeshing (Kumu Kahua, 2004) "Pidgin Guerilla" Tonouchi, author of the short story collection Da Word, brings his "Mastah-Of-Comic-Disastah" style of literary comedy to the stage with the story of two brothers, Wayne and Grayson, who get together for the first time in several years to go fishing. The lives of Grayson, a schoolteacher, and Wayne, host of a popular fishing-and-cooking television show, have been determined partially by their differing relationships with their late father. When Grayson informs his older brother that he is to be married, the pair embark on a surrealistic journey that takes them through their childhood, teenaged and young adult years and back to the present—helping them to confront their past, deal with their father, and resolve their conflicts to reach a mutual understanding. By having the brothers repeatedly "swept away" by the ocean into turning points of their youth, Tonouchi combines pidgin-based comic dialogue with authentically developed character Living Pidgin (Kumu Kahua, 2006) Living Pidgin showcases Da Pidgin Guerrilla Lee A. Tonouchi's talents as a comic writer for the stage in this thematic assemblage of short plays and monologues. "How Fo Be Local in 5 Easy Steps" features a flirtatious, egotistical documentary filmmaker whose actors have a reality script of their own. "7 Deadly Local Sins" reveals the humorous character flaws of Hawai`i's Local society, as told by an aloha shirt-wearing, downtown businessman walking down Fort Street Mall. "Significant Moments in da Life of Oriental Faddah and Son" is a comic, yet heartfelt monologue about the strained relationship between a son and his Oriental Faddah. "Dey Say if You Talk Pidgin You No Can" collects advice students have received over the years on how speaking Pidgin will limit them in life. "Hawaiian Hero for Hire" introduces the world to Hawaiian Man and his superhero sidekick Haole Boy, as they struggle to find relevance for Hawaiian culture in today's fast-paced, cash-money world. "Pijin Wawrz" takes place in Future Hawaii, where Pidgin is outlawed and only the Pidgin Rebels can take on the impossible mission of rescuing the rumored lost Pidgin archives. Da Kine Space (Kumu Kahua, 2010) Gen X and Gen Y collide, local style! Meet Ry, a failed artist frustrated by his life and relationships, and Cader, a wannabe filmmaker with some odd ideas about art. As Ry and Cader confront the creative process, pop culture, the generation gap and more, the theatre transforms into a living art gallery. Lee A. Tonouchi, the author of Living Pidgin and Gone Feeshing, brings his sharply-honed pidgin and offbeat sense of humor to this wry study of art and life in contemporary Hawai‘i. This play contains adult language and content. Three Year Swim Club (East West 2011) Set on the island of Maui in the 1930's, this play tells the true story of Coach Soichi Sakamoto, who trained swimmers in the irrigation ditches of sugar cane plantations, some of whom went on to become Olympic champions. Echoes of Dat Red Guitar (Kumu Kahua, 2014) Hawaii¹s "Pidgin Guerilla" returns to Kumu¹s stage with a darkly humorous play about a bright but unmotivated man still living at home with his parents who berate him for his lack of ambition. He gets a job in a state office populated with memorable characters, including a bully, nerdy techies, a born-again Christian sex bomb, and a haole boss who stresses "community" and "teamwork." When impending state furloughs threaten his employment, will he be able to summon his personal `aumakua, the Japanese superhero Kikaida? Or will the pressure drive him to go postal? Uchina Aloha (Kuma Kahua, 2016) Lee A. Tonouchi brings us a warm tale of generations of an Okinawan family in Hawai'i in his story about the change that any culture experiences when it is relocated. Grandfather wants to play music the way it is played in Okinawa, but his grandson wants to combine tradition with more modern methods and the mix of culture found in Hawai'i. Toyama, Tim Visas and Virtues This short one act was the germ for the Oscar winning film on the Japanese Schindler. Independence Day (East West, 2001) In an internment camp, a young man's independence is gained at great cost. Memorial Day (EWP, 2003) In World War II, three young Japanese American soldiers discover the meaning of friendship and sacrifice . Yuri and Malcom (EWP, 2007) A play about the life of noted Nisei civil rights activist and community leader Yuri Kochiyama, and her friendship with Malcolm X. Bronzeville (EWP, 2007) World War II. Little Tokyo -- the Japanese Americans have been moved out to internment camps. African Americans have moved in and a family discovers a young Japanese American hiding. Do they help him? Or betray him? Sermons and Angels (EWP, 2009) ElleVis, a guardian angel, loses a soul and saves another. Tran, Rose Le The Day I Discovered I Was Asian (Mu Performing Arts, 2011) It is a play about self-discovery -- about the journey of life and not the end result. Tran, Steven The Night Rehearsal (East West, 2008) Till intends his new play to shake up the establishment. His ingredients: a night rehearsal, a young lady, his midlife woes and the Bogeyman. Will he reach the pinnacle of his art in one night? Ella In The White House (East West, 2008) After the brutal slaying of the President by his Vice President and First Lady, the first daughter, Ella, has disappeared. Held captive in the basement of the White House, Ella faithfully awaits the day when her father's murder will be avenged. Adapted from the Greek tale of Electra. The Boy Gérie Collection (EWP, 2009) Kinky short tales featuring porn queens, magic fairies, and eviscerated macho men. A collection of fantasies celebrating the modern lad’s libido blending ancient myth and modern sarcasm. Light Up a Dream (EWP, 2009) Charlie and Trudy were once engaged. Then, Trudy became immortal. Will Charlie's new wedding and life prevent the two lovers from meeting again? Songs From the Field (East West, 2010) An Iraq vet visits the family of his injured sergeant. Can promises made in battle save a family from peacetime strife? Tran, Trieu A Parting of Ways/Hanoi or Hollywood/Rollying Thunder (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 2000) Tsufura, D. A. Donna Ayako Tsufura is a filmmaker, playwright and inveterate traveler who has gotten lost in over 30 countries around the world. “Death and Peanuts,” her short experimental film about grief and the psyche, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Other shorts include “A Tale From Fort Tryon Park” (broadcast on WNYC-TV) and “The Rose Thief” (in post production). Her play “Origami” was produced by Northwest Asian American Theatre in Seattle. Donna has been a staff member of the Sundance Institute’s Filmmakers Lab, Playwrights Lab and Theater Lab. She is currently developing “MacKenzie’s Cafe,” a dramatic comedy feature about a young Asian American woman who goes after her dreams, and a short, “The Wedding Dance,” the tale of a homophobic father’s acceptance of his son. Origami (NWAAT, 1994) Origami resonates with the terrible consequences of what happens in a family when truths are deliberately hidden and cover-ups are used to protect the innocent. It centers around Kay Kageyama is a bright, independent and willful 17-year-old in the Chesterfield, Conn. of 1975, who discovers the family secet.... Trinidad, Lorely los angelas (EWP, 2000) Truitt, Sara The Seven Days of Miriam (EWP, 2005) (with Arava Talve) Miriam is afflicted with leprosy and sent into exile for seven days. A modern retelling of an ancient story of redemption. Motherpieces (EWP, 2006) Who am I - what is my place in the world - in relation to my mother? Three actors play three generations of mothers and daughters in conflict. Hidden Waters, with Arava Talve (EWP, 2007) Is remembering freeing or does it have the capacity to destroy lives? This is the issue that confronts both Devorah, who is in jail for killing her daughter's swim coach, and Dr. Jael, a young Iranian court appointed psychiatrist. Hidden Waters was inspired by the biblical story of Devorah the Judge. Tu, Lia The Rusty Nail Competition (East West, 2007) A young man bets his friend that he can make anything valuable, even a rusty nail. Tuan, Alice Alice Tuan is featured on the cover of the October 2002 issue of American Theater as one of seven playwrights "headed for their break-out season." The magazine featured her again in November 2002, with an essay discussing the state of the arts in the U.S. She was recently awarded the prestigious Colbert Award for Excellence as an emerging theatre artist. Tuan's work has been produced at the Mark Taper Forum, the McCarter Theatre, Berkley Repertory Theatre, and East West Players. Tuan's one-act play Some Asians was a winner at the Perishable Theater Fifth Annual Women's Playwrighting Festival in 1997. She was a 1999 recipient of a NEA/Theatre Communications Group Playwright Residency Grant at East West Players, as well as a resident playwright at Los Angeles Theatre Center in 1999. 4 Days in Red Gulch (Mark Taper, 2002) About the stretch of time between June 30, 1919, the first day of Prohibition, and Oct. 19, 1929, when the stock market crashed Some Asians (1997) New Culture for a New Country (East West: Word Up!, 1999) Ikebana () Hidden things, secrets and rearranging reality to spare loved ones pain are the themes of this work. Each scene is based on an ikebana flower arrangement: The characters are all flowers of sorts being arranged by God's (or someone else's) hands. Thus, most of the action concerns the "blooming" and "wilting" of family relations and character tensions. Last of the Suns (1995) Combining American and Chinese storytelling techniques to devise a highly theatrical depiction of life that bridges the gaps existing between the two cultures and creates something new in the process. The play is about a young woman, a former skating star with hopes for Olympic glory, who deserts her parents and brother, leaving them in near-poverty and shattering their hopes for the fame and acclaim few countries other than the United States afford. While the story has much to do with obligation and youthful rebellion, what sets the story apart is that it's seen through the eyes of the woman's 100 year-old grandfather. Ajax (por nobody) (Melbourne Fringe) Bai Li Wong Liebling (McCarter Theatre, 2002) A subversive look at a Chinese adoptee who returns to her native village as a young woman. Coastline (ASK) Iconana () F.E.T.C.H. (ATL) In this "small installment of Virtual Hypertext Theater," playwright Alice Tuan has crafted a wild theatrical event that includes a pole, a bucket and an endless series of possibilities. What will happen next? In this new interactive universe, you get to decide. Hit (The Public, 2000) In a play that could only be set in L.A., with a plot that feels ripped out of recent Hollywood headlines, Kim and Mank meet as the result of an ill-fated collision on the freeway (of course). A string of sex, excess, love triangles and Zankou Chicken soon follows in Alice Tuan’s Hit. It’s a psychosexual romp! Roaring Girle (Foundy, 2002) An adaptation of Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker’s 1611 work, The Roaring Girle, about a woman of notorious exploits who keeps butting heads with the societal powers that be. Don't [expletive] With My Dotted Eye (Dad's Garage, 2004) An abstract piece about the meaning of punk rock. Cocks Crow (Playwrights' Arena, 2010) Directed by Robert Cucuzza Three Americans arrive in Shanghai for their share of the lucrative Green Industry, but not before locking business foils with evasive Chinese businessmen and their mysterious assistants. A look at the new China and the people who want a piece of it. Iggy Woo Kiki loves Iggy. Iggy loves Julie the Cookie Girl. A play about unrequited love, quitting smoking and creating amidst consumption. Home \| News \| Calendar \| Directory \| Bookstore/Storefront \| Plays Copyright 2003 through 2017 Roger W. Tang Questions? Email