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History for
Uchima, Keith
- Seven Out (dueEast, 2004)
Seven Out
is lovingly based on the extensive interviews of Japanese Americans who
lived, worked and played in, and around, an area of Chicago’s north
side. Most, if not all, of these Japanese Americans, or Nisei, came to
Chicago from internment camps, or from Hawaii, during the early
post-war period. In their search for a better life, some of these men
and women worked in organized crime, particularly in various gambling
activities; one even attained a high ranking position (perhaps the only
Asian-American to do so). Virtually all of them would discover that
there was much about the American dream that is, and was, illusory. Seven Out
is a dedication to, and a parable of, these Nisei lives: the many who
endured much, while creating some place for themselves in an America
that gave little back.
Ueda, Mari
- Pretty in Pink and Blues (EWP, 2009)
In this autobiographical one woman show, a naive Japanese teenager who
dreamed of the America she saw in 1980's Hollywood movies gets a
reality check in culture shock, the language barrier and racism. Caught
between two cultures, she struggles to find her identity and a place to
call "home."
Ullah, Aladdin
- The Halal Brothers (Lark Theatre, 2002)
Set in a Halal shop in Harlem on the eve of the assassination of
Malcolm X, this play explores the American experience of two
Bangladeshi brothers.
Uyehara, Denise
Denise
Uyehara is a writer, playwright and performance artist whose work
explores what it means to be a woman, an Asian American, a bisexual and
a human being, not necessarily in that order. She has engaged in
experimental theater since 1988 and toured internationally since 1993.
Uyehara also works extensively in collaborative projects. She is 1/4 of
Sacred Naked Nature Girls, a culturally diverse experimental
performance collective which has also been preented internationally. A
former member of the Mark Taper Forum Mentor Playwrights Project,
Uyehara recently received a playwriting commission from the Taper's
Asian Theater Workshop. She has conducted numerous workshops with Asian
American men and women, queer and straight, as well as with senior
citizens. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in the Lesbian
News, the Rafu Shimp, L.A. Weekly and the Asian Pacific American
Journal. The Los Angeles Times calls her "Compelling.....Uyehara is
definately one to watch." Featured in 1995 as "One of the Hundred
Coolest People in L.A." by Buzz Magazine, she was chosen as "Best
Performance Artist" among eight artists in the Western U.S. region in
Entertainment Weekly. She was the recipient of numerous recognitions of
excellence, including a New Langton Arts/National Endowment for the
Arts grant; the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department to
conduct an oral history project with seniors; the Brody Arts Fund; the
James Irvine Fellowship; and the James Clavell American Japanese
Literary Award. Uyehara holds a B.A. cum laude degree in Comparative
Literature from University of California, Irvine, where she also
studied fiction, playwriting, and theater.
- Hiro (East West, 1994)
- Maps of City & Body (LA, 1999)
- Hello (Sex) Kitty ()
- Headless Turtlenecks and Other Relatives ()
- Jo and Millie Go to Court ()
Valentine, Emma HyeonJin
- (not) Lost and (not) Found (Mu Performing Arts, 2011)
Traveling from one great river (Mississippi) to another (Han), this
story brings together several Korean adoptees as they journey back to
Korea. It is about the common bond that adoptees share with each other.
Everyone has a different process and speed to get to a place where they
are comfortable in their own skin.
Vang, Katie Ka
- WTF (Mu Performing Arts, 2010)
Three young people grow up with the complexities of being Hmong
American in Middle America. Do their futures unfold the way they’re
suppose to?
- Fast Fwd Motion (Mu Performing Arts, 2015)
Fast Fwd Motion is an intimate look into the lives of a women's volleyball team and how despite all odds continue to find happiness and create an understanding of how their volleyball playing impacts the larger cultural and social systems they belong to. It takes place at the annual Hmong Freedom Festival 2003.
Varma, Brenden
Brenden
Varma is an actor and dancer who has performed at various locations in
Washington, DC, including the National Theatre, Constitution Hall, and
the Gala Hispanic Theatre. In New York, he is a regular dance
instructor at D.J. Rekha‚s immensely popular Basement Bhangra parties
and has worked with Camara Dance Unlimited and Arya International. The
son of a Punjabi father and Maharashtrian mother, who met while both
serving as captains in the Indian Army, he speaks Spanish and
Portuguese.
- Safe Space (SALAAM, 2004)
Taking place in a community center in present-day Manhattan, this
full-length play takes you to meeting of a support group for young gay
South Asians.
Varughese, Sugith
- The Fate of Mewa Singh (Rasik Arts, 2011)
“The Fate of Mewa Singh” portrays two hopeful immigrants in their
different voyages to Canada, one in 1906 & the other on the
Komagata Maru in 1914, and intertwines their story with that of a
British immigration officer, creating a compelling, human tapestry of
the desire and the price of belonging.
Veda, Amisha
- Quantum Love (AATC, 2009)
Do the laws of love and sex obey the laws of Quantum Mechanics?
Velasquez, Myra Sito
- The Astonishing Journey of Mabel Li and the Mysterious Ways of Lord Ba Tha Za (Mu, 2015)
"In a world of vengeful ghosts, scheming vixens, and roving sex bandits, what's a poor peasant girl to do?"
Vendantam, Shankar and Drake, Donald C.
Shankar Vedantam is a staff writer at The Washington Post. Besides co-writing Tom, Dick and Harriet,
which is his first play, he has completed a novel and a collection of
short stories. One of his stories, The Scoop, was published in 2003 in
Rosebud Magazine. He is one of the authors of Violence or Dialogue, a
book scheduled for release in Oct 2003. He lives in Washington D.C. You
can learn more about Shankar at www.vedantam.com
- Tom, Dick and Harriet (Lark Theatre, 2003)
The play follows the arc of a ménage a trios that goes awry. Three
friends ford the hurdles of sex and love only to wash up on the shoals
of marriage and parenthood.
Vera, Rody
- The Guerillas of Powell Street (Bindlestiff Studios, 2014)
Fifty years after they fought alongside the Americans during World War
II, Filipino veterans in the twilight of their lives find themselves in
a cable car station in Powell Street. They are thousands of miles away
from home, instead of "sitting under a mango tree, drinking beer and
eating sitsaron" they wait vainly for the benefits promised to them.
They all share a common desire; the chance for their body to be buried
in their homeland.
Vongsay, Saymoukda Duangphouxay
- Kung Fu Zombies vs Cannibals (Mu Performing Arts, 2011)
In a world where modern civilization has collapsed beyond recognition
and the earth has been littered by zombies and cannibals, two women
from opposite ends of the world kill their way to salvation. Framed
under the Five Buddhist tenets, their journey is told through an
amalgamation of severed heads, forced kisses, human steaks, and a
chorus of gang bangin' monks. Live video manipulation and fight scenes
may cause epileptic seizures.
- Yellowtail Sashimi (Mu Performing Arts, 2015)
Three generations of Lao Americans – a grandmother waiting to die, twin sisters (one in love with an asianphile, one struggling to come out), and a buffalo boy with zero effs to give – are connected by folktales and ominous dreams.
Waisman, Carol
- Roatha (EWP, 2005)
A Cambodian defendant in the Asian Boyz Gang murder trial is found
guilty and faces the death penalty. The defense traces his traumatic
history from the "killing fields"of Cambodia to the "killing fields" of
Los Angeles.
- Zoila (EWP, 2009)
A religious Belizean woman flees a hurricane and meets a perfect storm
of conflict with LA culture and her family.
Wake, Brian Hiroshi
- Queen of Makaha: Rell Sunn (Kumu Kahua Theatre, 2004)
The play dramatizes a time in the life of Rell Sunn when she was in Texas receiving chemotherapy for cancer.
- Eddie Would Go (Honolulu Theatre for Youth, 1997-98 season)
Eddie
features four young surfers who recount key episodes in the life of
Eddie Aikau in an interactive stage show which includes the audience
playing the ocean. Another co-production with Honolulu Theatre for
Youth.
- Ala Wai (Kumu Kahua, 2007)
Bertram and Ernesto are two roommates who suddenly find themselves
jobless and homeless. Ernesto has a drug habit and Bertram has an
irrational but intense fear of tilapia. This fast-paced pidgin
comedy turns surrealistic when Bert is stung on his privates by a
portuguese man-o-war and miraculously acquires the ability to heal
wounds…and clean up the waters of the canal. Will Bert use his new
powers benevolently, or will greed prevail?
Wang, Lucy
BIO:
Lucy Wang Is an award-winning, published and produced writer, in spite
of the odds, the pressure and the insanity. Wang began her illustrious
career as a bond trader on Wall Street because her parents often
threatened and screamed, "If we knew you were going to be a starving
artist, we could have left you in China!" When Wang (nicknamed the
"Hemingway of Memos") lost her job because the Mayor of New York lost
his, Wang decided it was finally time to pursue her deepest passion.
Everyone thought she was crazy to "waste" her University of Chicago
MBA. Luckily, her biting first play JUNK BONDS won an award from the
Kennedy Center and a new nickname, "the female David Mamet." She has
been writing steadily ever since, surprising audiences with her diverse
array of voices and life experiences and collecting as many awards,
accolades and new nicknames along the way. Wang's other awards include
a grant from the Berrilla Kerr Foundation, James Thurber Fellowship,
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Honorary Fellow, Best New Play
from the Katherine and Lee Chilcote Foundation, etc. Wang's plays have
been produced all over and her voices span the gamut, from A to Z. In
addition to plays, Wang has written screenplays, short stories, news
articles, essays, and humorous creative nonfiction.
- Junk Bonds (HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, 1995)
In a fast-paced game of liar's poker, a young Asian American woman
fights her way into the clubby, high rolling world of Wall Street.
Immense welath, glamorous careers and intoxicating power are at stake
in pursuit of a fat slice of American pie.
- Down Under ()
A semiautobiographical play about a brother and sister who receive a
mysterious letter from their mother in Australia. They must decide
whether they will visit her. The play has both fairy tale notions of
motherhood, surreal elements and many Ohio references
- Bird's Nest Soup (Mark Taper Forum)
Hilarious and poignant coming of age story about a family that has moved from Asia to the fictional Acorn, Ohio.
- Mah-Johng ()
About a mixed marriage.
- Trayf (Naked Angels)
Caught in a Sino-Semitic triangle, Ruth discovers that what's good for you isn't always good for you.
- Goldie and the Providential Prosecution (Kol Neshama Summer Performing Arts Program.)
- Big Red and Little Tiger (Actors Theater of Louisville)
An intriguing urban myth exploring the corruption of the justice system
in America, this is a short sketch full of twists and turns and power
shifts.
- Melting (Cleveland Public Theatre, 1999)
A dark comedy about corporate backstabbing, infidelity, sexual politics and such.
- Solika (Bais Miriam Summer Performing Arts Program, 2000)
Based on the Moroccan Jewish tale.
- Number One Son (New Federal Theatre)
A father and son are the only family members who have come to the
United States from China; now the son has to tell his father he is gay.
- Concerto for an Organ in B-Sharp (2002)
Contestants compete for a liver transplant on the game show "Who Wants to Be An Organ Donor?" Biting 10-minute play.
- Good Mourning America (2005)
focuses on the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and explores how terror,
tragedy and the misappropriation of tragedy stirs a melting pot, adding
plenty of spice and a wicked spleash of dark comedy. Friendship, hope
and American ingenuity on the rebound, with a biting vengeance.
- Bullfighting: Annie, an insurance claims adjuster, summons Ernest Hemingway to the rescue.
- (IN)Security:
Joe Schmoe and Jane Doe meet at the airport terminal and reassure
themselves they're safe, in spite of the changing security alerts. But,
how safe are they?
- Cinderella’s Bawl: Cinderella enlists Bobby Shaftoe, Old Mother Hubbard, Gretel and Farmer in the Dell for help in finding the perfect sperm.
- How Now Brown Couch:
A mysterious visitor shows up to Dan’s pad and threatens to take his
brown couch, citing the law of attraction.
Wang, Nancy
- In Need of Goddesses (Eth-No-Tec, 2004)
Four women on a peace pilgrimage find themselves traumatized by a
belligerent Hut Master at the top of mountain hut. They call upon the
spirit of Amaterasu as they attempt to engage their inner power while
battling the misogynistic Hut Master and their own self-doubt. Based on
an actual event that took place atop Mt. Fuji, woven with the Japanese
myth of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and her battle with Susano-Wo, the
Storm God.
Watada, Terry
- The Tale of a Mask (Go For Broke Festival, 1996)
Tale of a Japanese immigrant's descent into madness.
Weil, Peggy
- Five Past Midnight (EWP, 2006)
It's Five Minutes Past Midnight on the Doomsday Clock, and your are 80
stories undergroup in a nuclear bunker with Van, the last remaining
man. Can he answer to his captors for mankind's folly? The clock is
ticking. If you miss this show, it may be too late.
Wendt, Albert
- The Songmaker's Chair (2003, New Zealand)
The Songmaker’s Chair
is the story of a Samoan family, the Aiga Sapeseola, whose members have
been in Auckland since the 1950’s. It is about migration and what has
happened to this adventurous family over three generations. To survive
and adapt to New Zealand, they have intermarried with Maori and Pakeha
(whites) and developed what they call the Peseola Way—defiant, honest
and unflinching, even in the face of death.
White, Gwenmarie
- Waiting for the Dough (EWP, 2013)
Theatre history repeats itself when a struggling dramaturg is forced to
get a job at a bakery during the height of the recession.
Williams, Celeste Mari
- Someday My Prince Won’t Come (SIS Productions, 2015)
In a modern suburban setting, a newlywed couple find their relationship unexpectedly challenged by an odd bit of fairytale magic.
- Amelia's Wall (Parley, 2015)
On a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Amelia encounters an unexpected ghost from her past, stimulating a flood of memories that force her to face hard truths about love, family, and identity. What has Amelia truly inherited?
Wilson, Gary A.
- I Am Not a Bug (EWP, 2009)
A son finds his mysterious, long lost father with unforeseen consequences.
Winkler, Leah Nanako
- Big Girls Club (Happy Dance Dance Princess Show)
It's a girls' night in for Lisa, Katie and Nancy. All they want is to be happy. But as they gorge themselves on unhealthy food and BUTTERFACE! the TV Show, the night escalates into a sadistic game of truth or dare that reveals a shockingly surrealistic glimpse to their disturbing world. Big Girls Club (Happy Dance Dance Princess Show) is a play on uppers, exploring excess, fetishism and female cruelty propelled by our ever schizophrenic and media frenzied culture.
- Cope
Risa, a journalist on her first big assignment, interviews and observes patients at the COPE clinic- a research center for those with prodromal symptoms for schizophrenia.
- Diversity Awareness Picnic
It's Diversity Awareness Week at Johnson-Brown University! This means even the employees of the tele-FUN-draising department is required to participate in the mandatory Diversity Awareness activity at 3pm. As six employees ponder which color of the rainbow they might be and attempt to speak candidly with each other, uncomfortable tensions, anger and true love arise.
- Death for Sydney Black
Three women are trapped in a narrative that degrades them.
Walking a line between being pointedly truthful and horribly offensive this play is a dark comedy about six teenage girls navigating the treacherous landscape of Northeast Valley High. When the new girl, Nancy, comes to town she must channel her entire self-worth into over throwing the most popular girl at school: Sydney Black. As she takes this journey, led by her quirky, Asian sidekick Jen, she discovers both the overt and covert girl-on-girl violence perpetrated throughout the school.With live music, original songs, and a talented all female cast, this promises to be quite the ride, a side-splitting satire about what it means to grow up as an all-American girl.
- Kentucky (EST, 2016)
Hiro is a self-made woman making it in New York. But she is also single, almost thirty and estranged from her dysfunctional family who lives in Kentucky. When her little sister, a born-again Christian, decides to marry at twenty-two, Hiro takes it up on herself to do whatever she can to stop the wedding and salvage any shred of hope she had about her sister's future. The themes of identity, religion and love collide in this unique coming-of-age story.
- Two Mile Hollow (EWP, 2016)
When the Donnelly's gather for a weekend in the country to gather their belongings for their recently sold estate—both an internal storm and a literal storm brews. As this brood of famous, longing-to-be-famous and kind of a mess but totally Caucasian family comes together with their personal assistant, Charlotte, some really really really really really complicated and totally unique secrets are revealed (over white wine). A parody coupled with moments of disorienting sincerity, Two Mile Hollow explores the dysfunctional family genre with brutality, awe and compassion.
- God Said This (2g Productions, 2017)
James, a recovering alcoholic seeks redemption from his family when his wife is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of uterine cancer. John, a thirty-something single dad searches for a legacy for his only son while Hiro, a single NYC transplant struggles to let go of the demons she inherited. Sophie, a born again Christian, confronts her faith as she comes to terms with the inevitable death of her parents, her own shortcomings and some broken dreams. This is a play about five Godless and God-loving people in Lexington, Kentucky who face mortality in very different ways.
- Hot Asian Doctor Husband (Mu Performing Arts, 2018)
Following the death of her Japanese mother Emi, a hapa woman of 29 has a nervous breakdown. So she does what every normal would do: dump her perfect white boyfriend of four years in search for a hot Asian doctor Husband she can have mixed-race babies with and retain her Asian culture. As Emi navigates the harsh realities of modern dating as an Asian woman, this brutal, yet often heart-warming comedy asks the question: is love truly blind? Or are our relationships just a carefully curated conglomeration of our own racial bias?
Wong, B. D.
- Alice Chan (La Jolla Playhouse, 2016)
Just about everyone at Chaffey Hills Elementary School finds Alice Chan super annoying, for a hundred hilarious different reasons but what happens when the unpopular ?Queen of the Science Fair? is cast, by her well meaning teacher, as the lead in the Fifth Grade Play?over the most talented and well-liked girl in the class? Fifth Grade Armageddon, that?s what! Alice Chan is a very funny comedy about breaking out of your comfort zone and being yourself at the very same time.
Wong, Cary
Cary Wong earned his MFA
in playwrighting from Columbia University, and received a Van Lier
playwriting Fellowship from the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1992. His
MTC-commissioned play, Mirrors Remembered, was produced at New York
Stage and Film in 1995.
- Eclipses (NY Shakespeare Festival, 1991)
- High Fashion (Seattle Group Theatre, 1992)
- Oriental Romeos (NY Shakespeare Festival, 1993)
Asian American males go out for a night that veers abruptly toward nightmare.
- Mirrors Remembered (Manhattan Theatre Club, 1993)
Beginning life as a college project, the play offers a landscape where
11 characters forge their daily existence in New York City. At its core
are five Asian American women who range from an artist to a shopkeeper
to a bag lady to a champion diver.
- Private Property (co-writer) (Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, 1994)
- Dancer in the Dark (Mark Taper, 1997)
- Family of Origin (Manhattan Theatre Club, 1997)
- Off White (Queens Theatre in the Park, 2006)
OFF-WHITE takes place in two hip Manhattan bars as two Asian friends
try to conquer the singles scene and discuss the desirability of Asian
mates.
- The Cello Plays (Queens Theatre in the Park, 2008)
"The Cello Plays" is a celebration of New York City and the diverse
stories and backgrounds of its inhabitants. Vignettes of businessmen,
college students, an immigrant family, aspiring artists and rich
socialites are melded together in a slice of life collage connected
together by the story of a young cellist prodigy's upcoming debut at
Carnegie Hall as well as the city they all live in.
Wong, Diane Yen-Mei
- Happy Birthday (AATC, 1995)
Birthday
is a play about women coping with various forms of sexism -
principally, 2,000-year-old Chinese cultural attitudes toward women,
but also sexism in the American workplace and, to a certain extent,
homophobia.
- The Canoe (InterACT, 2002)
The Canoe,
directed by Dennis Yep, is a delightful tale filled with the sprit of
Polynesia through its mele (song) and hula (dance). Written by Diane
Yen-Mei Wong, George "Keoki" Winston has composed and recorded several
pieces on the ki ho 'alu (slack key guitar) for this play. Amy
Shima-Cornellier of Hapa Hao'le Hula Dancers is the mele and hula
consultant. Lighting design is by Dion Cook, whose credits include the
Best of Broadway productions. As told by Tutu (grandmother - played by
Suzanne Brooks), an eleven year-old girl, Hoku (Juliana Yee), has
always wanted to find the magical island that her deceased parents told
her about when she was a little girl. Guided by a mysterious Sensei
(Brian Doan), she and her rainbow kitty, Kala (Leana Machado), learn to
paddle a canoe so that they may search the ocean for the magical
island. Palm Tree (Andrea Blalock), the largest tree in the midget
jungle, watches with delight as Wind (J. Lawrence Lew) and Turtle
(Matthew Robinson) assist Sensei in guiding Hoku in her search for an
adventure.
Wong, Elizabeth
Elizabeth
Wong holds an MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts,
and she's proud of the recent accomplishments of fellow classmates
Neil LaBute, Lamar Damon, Illka Jarvilaturi and Jennifer Maisel.She's
listed in the "Dictionary of Literary Biography: 20th-Century American
Dramatists," and in the Oxford "Who's Who of American Women Writers."
Her television credits include staff writer of the ground-breaking ABC
comedy series with Margaret Cho, All-American Girl. She's a member of
Writers Guild West, the Dramatist Guild (NYC), and a board member
of Theatre Emory, and ASSITEJ (an international organization
promoting theatre for young and family audiences). As an adjunct
visiting professor, she teaches playwriting at the University of
California, Santa Barbara, and at University of Southern California.
She's been playwright-in-residence or visiting guest lecturer at
Bowdoin College, University of Southern Maine, Catawba College, Texas A
& M, and Harvard University/Radcliffe, among others. For an
in-depth look at Elizabeth's creative process, you can explore the
Elizabeth Wong Archives at the California Ethnic & Multicultural
Archives, Dept. of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of
California, Santa Barbara."I was a general assignment newspaper
reporter for 10 years, covering everything from cops and city hall
in San Diego to aviation and transportation in Hartford, CT., but
contrary to popular belief, I never covered the black boycott of the
Korean stores in NYC. The inspiration for that play was Lai
Ling Jew, a producer friend of mine at DATELINE in NYC," -- Elizabeth
Wong.
- Letters to a Student Revolutionary (Pan Asian Rep, 1991)
This powerful and disarmingly funny play is about friendship and
political awakening. Bibi Lee is a typically jaded American rebel
reluctantly on a "back to your roots" family vacation in China.
Desperately, Bibi sets out to find fast food and familiar faces.
Instead, she finds Karen, a young, idealistic Chinese girl who wants to
practice a little English. From this seemingly innocent chance
encounter, these two young women—one Chinese, the other
Chinese-American—embark on a charming, poignant 10-year correspondence,
cut abruptly and tragically short by the June 1989 Tiananmen Square
massacre. This bittersweet tale seeks to make sense of history, how we
participate in it and how we are overwhelmed by it. By focusing on the
loves and losses, desires and disappointments of Bibi and Karen, the
play explores ideas of capitalism and communism, and ultimately becomes
a clarion call to remember the price of democracy. Bare stage w/props.
- Kimchee & Chitlins (West Coast Ensemble, 1994)
This two-act satire -- part Roshomon-style mystery, part Luigi
Pirandello farce -- keeps the Audience guessing about what really
happened between an immigrant Korean bodega owner and his Haitian
customer. What moved a community to outrage and riot? An intrepid
television reporter Suzie Seeto tries to sort it all out for you.
- China Doll (NWAAT, 1996)
A Chinatown girl dreams about making it big in Hollywood during the
halycon days of the movie power brokers Samuel Goldwyn and LB Mayer.
This award-winning sensual tragedy takes its inspiration from the
passionate life of America's first Chinese-American actress icon, Anna
May Wong -- also known as the dragon lady or the woman who died a
thousand deaths.
- Let the Big Dog Eat (Humana Festival, 1998)
- Amazing Adventures of the Marvelous Monkey King
- Prometheus
- The Happy Prince
This
play is a beautifully lyrical and faithful adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s
classic fairy tale. Commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts, this spiritually compelling play tells the story of a
migrating swallow who befriends a prince made of stone. The prince,
once a selfish human being, has been transformed into a statue bedecked
with dazzling jewels and placed high above a squalid city. Together,
the bird and the prince both learn the lessons of friendship and
sacrifice. A chorus of townspeople help tell this heartfelt morality
tale that teaches young audiences the true meaning of charity, social
responsibility and self sacrifice. Suitable for touring. Area staging.
Approximate running time: 45minutes.
- Boid & Oskar (Cincinatti Playhouse in the Park)
Prince
Oskar is the spirit of a shiny red classic Corvette convertible—without
a care in the world. But, placed as a monument high above the city, he
alone sees the suffering below—a young girl conflicted by feelings of
inferiority, a young boy without a home living in the streets, a writer
who has lost the desire to write. With the help of a wise-cracking
sparrow named Boid, the prince makes it his mission to help the
townspeople. A chorus of swallows and townspeople, even a hungry band
of alley cats, help the prince and Boid understand the meaning of
charity and unselfishness. Inspired by Oscar Wilde's classic, "The
Happy Prince," Boid & Oskar is a hip, humorous and heartwarming
parable about sacrifice and the lessons of true friendship. Area
staging. Approximate running time 45 minutes.
- Aftermath of a Chinese Banquet
- Alice Downsized
- Dating & Mating in Modern Times (Emory University, 2003)
A series of monologues performed by seven actresses on the joys and
pitfalls of today's fast, frenzied and sometimes frustrating world of
sex and relationships, covering topics such as cybersex, speed dating,
hookups and penis envy.
- The Concubine Spy
- Badass of the RIP Eternal
- Bu and Bun
- Inside the Red Envelope
- Killer Grandma
- Punk Girls
- Reveries of an Amorous Woman
- Love Life of a Chinese Eunuch (2004)
This new original two-act play was recently named as a 2004 Princess
Grace Playwriting Award semi-finalist. THE LOVE LIFE OF A EUNUCH takes
the Audience on a dark journey to a world inhabited by concubines,
eunuchs and ghostly apparitions. The story begins when a pig farmer
named TIGER LEAPING FROM THE EVERGREEN FOREST disguises himself as a
eunuch to gain entry into the Imperial Palace. The lovelorn boy, 18, is
desperate to rescue his beloved MEI MEI, 16, from life in sexual
servitude as an Imperial consort. His plan fails when Tiger, unmasked
by a blind NO NAME EUNUCH, 60s, becomes a pawn in a Eunuch plot to
overthrow the Emperor. In a blend of styles from Shakespearean and
Chinese Opera, this play plunges the Audience into the avaricious,
superstitious, lusty, and bloody world of the Chinese Eunuch.
- Ibong Adarna: Fabulous Filipino Folktale (full-length children's play) (Mu Performing Arts, 2006)
Awildly fun romp, this children’s tale follows three brothers in
theirquest to save their father, the king from craziness and death.
Theirmission: find the magical singing Adarna bird and bring her back
before her poop turns them to stone.
Wong, Joseph
- The Fourth of Chinatown (East West, 2013)
As July 4th approaches, Alex will be forced to betray himself or everyone around him.
Wong, Juliet
- The World At Your Feet (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 2000)
Wong, Lane
- French Twist (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 1999)
Wong, Larry
Asian Canadian playwright
- Siu Yeh - A Midnight Snack (Go For Broke Festival, 1996)
examines the relationship between a father and son about to be evicted from their Chinatown tailor shop in the 1950s.
Woo, Alexander
A graduate of Yale Drama and Princeton University, Alex has been a staff writer on the Fox Drama Wonderfalls.
- Post-Coitals, Pre-Nuptials (SF Stage & Film, 1999)
In the romantic comedy, Daniel and Marie, two friends from childhood,
generate enormous phone bills as they call each other from opposite
coasts to discuss their impending marriages. As they engage in a series
of affairs with individuals ranging from Chinese delivery people to
Catholic priests, the two struggle with their concerns about the
stereotypical identities that wedlock might bring.
- Forbidden City Blues (Bay Area International Playwrights Festival, 1999) (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, 2002)
A comedy about race, culture, and...genitals. An ABC (Americn Born
Chinese) and his caucasian girlfriend vacation in China and discover
there's more than what meets the eye when he is kidnapped and forced to
undergo an operation. With live sizzling, electric blues music.
- In the Sherman Family Wax Museum (Circle X, 1999)
An Asian-American exchange student moves in with a white Midwestern
family, and is told "not to look in the closet." The result is a
frenetic tale of aliens, ovaltine, and talking porkchops. Discover the
skeletons in the closet of a typical Milwaukee dynasty.
- Debunked (Triad Stage, 2004)
A theatrical confection filled with hilarious surprise, witty wordplay and outrageous costume changes. Debunked
– set in Wilkesboro, North Carolina – tells the story of an unusual
pair of sisters, a domineering mother, two kidnapped men and a
deliriously demented doctor. Don’t miss it. You’ll laugh your head off.
Woo, Anita
- Life Cycle of a Girl (East West, 2013)
When Happily Ever After goes terribly wrong, what is a girl to do?
Yamada, Natsuko
- Paris in April (East West, 2006)
When her live-in boyfriend walks out on her, April undergoes a slut
makeover and returns as her own twin, the sexy Paris, to win back Mr.
Right.
Yamamoto, Kurt
- Laid Off (East West, 2013)
A new musical that tells the story of how one man found love at the bottom of the corporate food chain.
Yamamouchi, Roy
- The American Tradition (New Light Theatre Project, 2019)
Set in Antebellum America with an absurd and Brechtian twist, fictitious characters Eleanor—cross-dressing as a white planter—and her husband, Bill—pretending to be her loyal servant—attempt to escape to the free state of Pennsylvania. Their operation is running smoothly until they meet Walsh, a drunk planter and member of the Not All Slavers organization, who steals Bill at a rest stop. Armed with a Glock-19 and her fair skin, Eleanor sets out to rescue him by any means necessary.
Yamamura, Tim
- A.J Blues American Japanese Blues (AATC, CATS, 2009)
The story of a band of Japanese American jazz musicians trapped in Japan during World War II.
Yamashita, Karen Tei
- Godzilla Comes to Little Tokyo (NWAAT, 1992)
An original musical that entails a homeless eccentric, a runaway
teen-ager, horrendous traffic, pollution, Japanese developers intent on
building a vast real estate project over a freeway and avant-garde
performers bent on turning the whole festering mess into art. This
basic situation is complicated by a visit from Godzilla.
Yamauchi, Wakako
BIO: Wakako Yamauchi's And the Soul Shall Dance is among the most celebrated works of Asian American drama. Following its long evolution from a short story that appeared in Aiiieeeee!,
it became one of the "biggest hits ever in the history of East West
Players," earned the LA Critics' Circle Award in 1977, and was produced
for television. In light of her 1994 Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award
and her recent collection, Songs My Mother Taught Me, it's astonishing
to think that Yamauchi once wondered if she was "good enough" to write
for the LA-based newspaper,Rafu Shimpo. She was good enough-and formed
a long-term relationship with Japanese American readers in the Rafu's
pages, both as a writer and illustrator, that has continued until this
day.
- And the Soul Shall Dance (1973, TEA/NWAAT)
A touching story of two immigrant families during the Depression, And
the Soul Shall Dance is an early and important landmark of
Asian-American drama. Set in an Imperial Valley farming community in
1935, And the Soul Shall Dance focuses on the two Japanese-American
families as they struggle to exist in their new country. The Murata
family is strong and spirited despite their adversities, and they
clearly love each other. Papa Murata is an optimistic man who enjoys
his sake. His wife, Hana, is practical and wise. She tells their young
daughter Masako: "one has to know when to bend...like the bamboo. When
the winds blow, bamboo bends. You bend or crack." In contrast, the
tormented marriage of the Okas is not as adaptable to the winds of
change. Emiko, trained to dance and perform tea ceremony wearing silken
kimonos, had been forced to marry the farmer Oka, leaving behind the
man she loves. Their miserable, loveless marriage of ten years becomes
more complicated when Oka's daughter by his first wife arrives from
Japan. As Emiko withdraws into dreams of returning to Japan, Oka dotes
lavishly on his daughter Kiyoko to transform her into an all-American
girl. The title of this play comes from a song that provides a brief
comfort for the unhappy wife. Unable to adjust, Emiko dances as if
transported from the alien California desert back to her beloved Japan.
- 12-1-A ( East West, 1982)
Set in a Japanese internment camp in Arizona, 12-1-A” follows members
of the Tanaka family as they are uprooted from their home and sent to
an internment camp during World War II.
- Face Box (Pan Asian Rep, 1984); revised as The Momento
- The Music Lessons (Public Theatre, 1980)
- The Chairman's Wife (East West, 1990)
- Not A Through Street (East West, 1991)
- Shirley Hot-Cha-Cha (Mark Taper, 1991)
- Songs that Made the Hit Parade (East West)
- A Fine Day ()
- The Trip ()
- Stereoscope ()
Yang, Kayva
- Her Back(Bone) (Mu Performing Arts, 2011)
Her Back(Bone)
is a new performance that explores the flesh of memories, the disquiet
with which we bury and unearth them, and the questions surrounding
forced migration and displacement. Inspired by two stories woven
together: the journeys of grandmothers during post Cultural Revolution
and the protests against loss of home and land caused by the Three
Gorges Dam Project, Her Back(Bone) explores through movement and text how women and their communities often dig up bones and lay down our stories to rest.
Yang, Sherie
- the villainess (EWP, 2000)
- Venice (EWP: Paper or Plastic, 2000)
Yang, Welly
Welly
founded Second Generation (www.2g.org) in 1997 to bring Asian American
stories to the national and international stage. Under his
leadership, the company has exploded onto the world's cultural stage,
with productions that have been embraced by critics as well as hundreds
of thousands of people across the US and Asia. In recognition of
his artistic work, Welly received a commendation from the National Arts
Club in 1997, was named one of A. Magazine's "Ten Hot Asian American
Entrepreneurs Under 30" in 1998, and was honored with CBS Television's
Fulfilling the Dream Award in 2000. He is a frequent speaker at
universities and colleges throughout the US and Asia. As an
actor, Welly made his Broadway debut at the age of twenty as the lead
role of Thuy in Miss Saigon.
- Making Tracks (Second Generation Productions, 1998)
Making Tracks
incorporates dance, original songs, music and multimedia to tell the
story of the sometimes uncompromising assimilation of Asians into
American culture and the plight of generations of Asian immigrants to
find their way to and in a new land. From the building of the
railroads, the grueling experience of Angel Island, the heart-rending
stories of the picture brides, the famed Forbidden City nightclub in
San Francisco, the tragedy of World War II internment camps and the
critical role of Asian American engineers in building the high-tech
backbone of America, the Asian-American experience is captured in a
unique and fresh light
- The Wedding Banquet (Village Theatre, 2003)
A musical comedy adaption of Ang Lee's celebrated film.
Yazzie, Rhiana
- Two in L.A.
There are 20,000 Navajos in Southern California. Find out what one of them is doing right now (EWP, 2003).
Yee, Byron
- Paper Son (1998)
Paper Son
is Byron Yee's acclaimed solo show about growing up in Oklahoma, moving
to California, becoming a stand-up comedian, then finding his heritage.
Asked to audition for a Hollywood movie as a "wacky Chinese restaurant
owner", the disastrous result pushes Byron into a journey of his
past. He is confronted as a stranger in a strange land while
watching a Chinese New Year's Day parade and later has chance
encounter with a elderly guide at the infamous Angel Island Immigration
Station in the middle of San Francisco Bay. These incidents lead
Byron to unravel the mysteries of his immigrant father's past, a story
long forgotten but soon uncovered within the National Archives of the
United States.
Yee, David
A proud Hapa, of equal Chinese and Scottish heritage, David is a
playwright, actor and general arts worker. Most recently he was seen in
the Fringe hit "Autoshow". His plays have been produced in Toronto,
Ottawa, London, Rochester, Manhattan and, recently, New Zealand. He is
a graduate of the Theatre and Drama Studies joint program at U of T
Mississauga/Sheridan College. David has been a member of Factory
Theatre's Playwright's Lab, and is currently the unofficial
playright-in-residence with fu-GEN. His last play Lady in the Red Dress premiered at Factory Theatre's CrossCurrents Festival in 2006.
- Legends and Legacies (University of Toronto, 1998)
a conceptual drama based on the idea of a person who is stuck in
purgatory, trying to recall exactly when his life took a turn for the
worse.
- max 40 Two Plays About Life and Loss (Toronto Summerworks, 1999)
Dave has written two short plays about life, loss and Michael Landon.
- Half Life (1998)
A look at the struggles between two brothers -- one white and one half Chinese.
- Acquiesce (fu-GEn, 2005)
A dying wish brings a young man to Hong Kong to bury a man he never
knew. In the days leading up to the funeral, he has to learn about his
life, his death, his family ... and himself. A diachronic puzzle,
developed within the Playwright's Lab at Factory Theatre.
- Lady in the Red Dress (Factory Theatre, 2006)
Set against the backdrop of the Chinese-Canadian redress lawsuit, lady
in the red dress is the story of a lawyer without a conscience, a woman
without a past, and vengeance for a cause that had been ignored too
long. A darkly comic revenge story about the skeletons in our closets,
and the consequences of our (in)actions.
- carried away on the crest of a wave (2016)
Born of a single cataclysmic afternoon, David Yee's stunning play tosses lives together and just as quickly pulls them apart – an apt metaphor for the massive tsunami that rolled across the Indian Ocean in 2004. Millions of lives were changed forever in a fury of water whose ripple effect gave rise to these far-reaching stories, extending from a Toronto shock-jock radio studio to the shores of Thailand. Winner of the 2015 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama and directed by Siminovitch Prize laureate Kim Collier, carried away on the crest of a wave shows that despite our differences, we are all connected through serendipity, loss and love.
Yee, Ivy
- Are You My Girlfriend (1999)
Yee, Lauren
- Remembering the Zodiac (AATC, 2001)
Twelve Minute play
- Over the Asian Airwaves (Young Playwrights, 2005)
Over the Asian Airwaves focuses
on an young Asian American woman in 1949 who must handle the chaos of
her struggling radio station, dealing with clashing egos, painful
dialogue, and her persistent long-time boyfriend. Can assistant station
manager Natalie Ng put everything together in time for the biggest
broadcast of her life?
- Escaping Chinatown (Blank Theatre, 2005)
It's 1963 in San Francisco's Chinatown. When their ambitious daughter
Anna Eleanor returns home from her second year at Berkeley, Donald and
Irene must learn to deal with their daughter's new world view as they
grapple with their own past.
- Ching Chong Chinaman (Bathwater Productions, 2007)
A privileged life. A stable home. Indentured servitude in the name of
galactic conquest. Upton Wong has it all. But when his Chinese slave
starts romancing his mother, will the Wongs ever learn how to be Asian
American? A dysfunctional, madcap comedy that redefines what it takes
to grow up Asian in America. CHING CHONG CHINAMAN is an incisive,
no-holds-barred comedy that turns the question of Asian-American
identity on its head.
- Samsara (Exit Theatre, 2009)
When American couple Katie and Craig vow to make a last-ditch effort to
create a baby of their own, their quest leads them to India, where a
thriving commercial surrogacy industry offers them one final chance at
parenthood. But will their decision to "rent out" a surrogate unite or
divide them?
- Our Peculiar Institution (Bay Area Playwrights, 2009)
Through the lens of minstrelsy, the institution of slavery and concepts
of ownership are tilted into comic relief in this style play in which a
newly married man returns the family's long-abandoned ancestral
plantation, ready to start a new life. What they encounter there
threatens the nascent marriage, and the very ground he treads.
- A Man, His Wife and His Hat (UC San Diego, 2011)
Hetchman loves his hat. Oh, and his wife, too. But when both go
missing, the retired hatmaker vows to stop at nothing to find them. if
he can ever muster the strength to leave his armchair. But the arrival
of a talking wall and a hungry golem threatens to derail his endeavor.
A klezmer-inspired love triangle between a man, his wife, and his hat.
- Crevice (Impact Theatre, 2012)
Unemployed, overambitious, and verging on 30, siblings Liz and Rob vow
to build themselves brighter futures. Now if they only knew what that
meant. But late one night, they discover something that may just give
them the direction they need to finally grow up.
- The Tiger Among Us (Mu Performing Arts, 2013)
The play looks at the cultural disconnect felt by an isolated Hmong
American family living in rural Minnesota as two siblings seek to blend
traditional Hmong family values with modern life.
- In a Word (San Francisco Playhouse/Cleveland Public Theatre, 2015)
Two years have passed since Fiona's eight year old son mysteriously
vanished. As she delves into her memory of that fateful day, logic
buckles and language breaks. Grief and comedy collide in this lyrical
absurdist journey of survival.
- King of the Yees (2014)
Take any Chinese last name, and there exists a corresponding "family
association" with branches in each major American city: Chinese men's
clubs formed over a hundred years ago after the building of the
Transcontinental Railroad. The Wongs, the Chans, and -most importantly
- the Yees.
For nearly twenty years, playwright Lauren Yee's father Larry has been
a driving force in the Yee Family Association. And now Lauren is
writing a play. Or trying to. About legacy, about obsolescence, about
the great and powerful house of Yee! Or something like that.
Amid a backdrop of crumbling Chinatowns and all-too-lifelike museums,
Lauren races through history, space, and the fourth wall to find her
father's story and chronicle this disappearing piece of American
culture. KING OF THE YEES is a new play about the communities we choose
and the communities we inherit.
- The Persephone Project (2014, Ma-Yi)
14-year-old Persephone has a dark side. And
it's growing. A contemporary take on an ancient coming-of-age myth,
created with director/collaborator Larissa Lury, with songs by composer
Pearl Rhein.
- Manford From Half Court, or The Great Leap (Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 2017)
When an American college basketball team travels to Beijing for a "friendship" game in the post-Cultural Revolution 1980s, both countries try to tease out the politics behind this newly popular sport. Cultures clash as the Chinese coach tries to pick up moves from the Americans and Chinese American player Manford spies on his opponents.
- Cambodian Rock Band (South Coast Repertory Theatre, 2017)
In 1978, Chum fled Cambodia and narrowly escaped the murderous Khmer Rouge regime. Thirty years later, he returns in search of his wayward daughter and is forced to finally face the music. A play with horror, humor, pathos … and songs by the best unknown rock band in Cambodia!
- song of summer (Queens Theatre, 2017)
When Robbie goes AWOL on the eve of the biggest concert of his life, his producer tracks the pop star down at his former piano teacher's home. But what is he in search of and will he find it? A new play about the danger of success and the impossibility of family.
- Untitled Road Trip Play (Victory Gargens, 2018)
Untitled Road Trip Play follows an immigrant couple as they drive across America in 1998. As they travel to their new home in Portland, they struggle to find common ground in everything from personal philosophy to what to put in the tape deck. Twenty years later the same man recreates the road trip with his adult daughter, with the same car, same map, and same music. A Honda Civic connects these worlds as time and space weave these two journeys together. But sometimes getting there is half the battle.
Yep, Lawrence
Yep
has won several awards for his novels for young adults. His books often
deal with alienation, drawing on his own experiences as an outsider.
Yep was born and raised in a black neighborhood and educated in San
Francisco's Chinatown, although he didn't speak Chinese. He didn't
truly experience American culture until high school. As a high school
student Yep began writing science fiction. He published his first short
story in a science fiction magazine at age 18, and his first novel,
Sweetwater, at age 23. He is best known for Dragonwings, (1975)
about a boy who leaves China to live with his father in San Francisco.
The novel was selected as a 1976 Newbery Honor book and won the Boston
Globe/Horn Book Award for Fiction. It remains one of the most acclaimed
books in children's literature. His other works include Child of the Owl (1977), which also won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Fiction, the fantasy tale The Imp That Ate My Homework (1998), and Dragon's Gate
(1993), which was also named a Newbery Honor Book. Yep graduated from
the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1970 and earned his PhD
in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975.
- Dragonwings ()
An adaption of his book.
- Ages of Wonders (AATC, 1993)
A pair of one acts exploring the Chinese in 19th Century America. Pay the Chinaman
takes the archetypical American figure of the roving swindler and
reworks him as a wily symbol of immigrant Chinese survival. The play
imagines a 19th Century encounter between two Chinese flim-flammers: an
old-timer in California and a young recent arrival. FairyBones,
captures another cross-generational contest rife with duplicity. This
time the mutual conning is done by a manipulative old shaman-woman and
her resentful daughter-in-law.
Yeung, Norman
- Pu-Erh (fu-GEN, 2005)
Hours before Raymond leaves his family to move to another city, he has
a conversation with his father. Despite the son not being able to speak
Cantonese, and the father not being able to speak English, the two
reconcile their conflicts: regrets, ambitions, and years of silence.
- Jasmine (Summerworks, 2007)
Mother cannot forgive her son for abandoning the family, for his
selfishness, for his betrayal. The son returns. On her journey to
amends, Mother explores being young and ambitious in China during the
Cultural Revolution, young and limited in Canada as an immigrant, and
being a mother for the rest of her life. A sequel to Pu-Erh.
Yew, Chay
His
work has been produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public
Theater, Royal Court Theatre (London), Long Wharf Theatre, Manhattan
Theatre Club, La Jolla Playhouse, Intiman Theatre, Portland Center
Stage, East West Players, Dallas Theater Center, Cornerstone Theatre
Company, The Group Theatre, and TheatreWorks (Singapore), to name a
few. He is the recipient of the London Fringe Award, George and
Elisabeth Marton Playwriting Award, GLAAD Media Award, APGF Community
Visibility Award, Drama-Logue Award, and the Robert Chesley Award,
among many other honors and grants. Mr. Yew has produced the Mark Taper
Forum's Taper, Too season from 2000 to the present. A member of New
Dramatists and The Dramatists Guild, he is concurrently the Director of
the Asian Theatre Workshop at the Taper and the Artistic Director of
Northwest Asian American Theatre/The Black Box in Seattle.
- Porcelain (Etcetera Theatre, 1992)
A crime of passion. John Lee kills his lover Will in a public toilet in
Bethnal Green, East London. The story is told in flash backs and the
preparation of a Channel Four television documentary.
- A Language of Their Own (Celebration Theatre, 1994)
When he is diagnosed as HIV+, Oscar tells his live in lover of four
years Ming to leave, even though they are still in love with each
other. Ming meets and moves in with Robert but because of his past ties
he tries to sabotage this new relationship by sleeping around and
beating Robert - which drives Robert away. It is only with the death of
Oscar that things may sort themselves out.
- A Beautiful Country ()
Immigrant to the United States, drag queen Miss Visa Denied tells of
Asian-American experiences over the last 160 years. Such as the
internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War and the
plight of Filipino workers now
- Half-Lives ()
Part of the triology on the gay Asian experience (with Porcelain and A Language of Their Own)
- As if He Hears (1999)
His earliest play..banned by the Singapore government in 1988.
- Red (Intiman Theatre, 1999)
When Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution sweeps through China the Beijing Opera comes under threat.
- The House of Bernarda Alba (NAATCO, 2002)
Five desperate daughters struggle under their mother's domination as an
all-Asian cast brings new energy to Frederico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba as adapted by Chay Yew.
- Here and Now (Actors Theatre of Luisville, 2002)
A couple in their twilight years relives an entire relationship, full
of youth, possibility, secrets, disappointments, and enduring
connection.
- A Winter People (was The Morning People; Singapore, 2002)
An adaptation of The Cherry Orchard
that cleverly folds in pieces of Anton Chekhov's other masterworks to
tell this ever-timely story. A middle-aged chanteuse, Madam Xia,
returns from San Francisco in the spring of 1935 to her family estate
in the heartland of China during the last days of the Nationalist
Government. A portrait of the challenges of a family in
transition, A Winter People is a poetic, haunting play.
- Malaya (Seattle Repertory Theatre, 2003)
In South East Asia's Colonial Malaya during the 1920's three
individuals play out their destiny. Fast-forwarding to the present, the
same city is now urban and fiercely independent. But will these three
new lives repeat the same cycle or break away from it? Fate, love,
politics, and culture collide in this new play inspired by Federico
Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding.
- Question 27, Question 28 (AATC, 2003)
A story of the struggles, plights and courage of Japanese American
female detainees of the American internment camps of WWII. Chay Yew
drew from the special archives of the Japanese American National Museum
to create a documentary theater project based on the testimonials,
transcripts, documents and interviews with Japanese American female
internees living in California during World War II.
- Second Skin (Dad's Garage, 2004)
What does it mean to be Asian American in a post-Sept. 11 America?
- The Long Season (Perserverance Theatre, 2005)
The Long Season
begins in 1930’s Seattle, where a young Filipino named Allos has left
his love and country behind in order follow his dream of attaining
riches in the United States. He has signed a contract with a cannery in
Ketchikan, and leaves immediately for Alaska. His vows of love are
tested as he finds comfort in the bed and poetry of the foreman’s wife,
and as the cannery explodes in conflict, he must decide whether he is
willing to put his life on the line for his dreams.
- A Distant Shore (Kirk Douglas Theatre, 2005)
In the stifling jungles of Southeast Asia, two lives are forever
entwined, destined to play out life rituals while constrained by
culture and colonialism. We first see a pair in the 1920's, a place of
rubber plantations and rebel insurgencies, and another 80 years later
in the same city, now independent and metropolitan. Are these lovers
destined to repeat their histories or will they break the cycle this
time around? Love seems to be the only constant. An erotic and poetic
play about globalism, fate and passion.
Yi, Lin
- Fortune of Ys (NWAAT, 2004)
A new script, a new tye of story.
Yi, Zhu
- A Deal (Urban Stages, 2017)
A Deal is a dark comedy that features a Chinese family's home buying journey in New York in winter 2015, a time of increased real estate property ownership by overseas Chinese and a sharp decline in the value of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar. It reveals the ideological conflicts between the East and the West in contemporary society by tracking a little stream of the global cash flow.
Yim, Seayoung
- Do It for Umma (SIS Productions, 2015)
In this revenge tragicomedy set in a suburban strip mall, dead Umma returns as a ghost to convince her daughter Hannah to avenge her suspicious death. Reluctantly, Hannah embarks upon a surreal path to gain Umma’s ever elusive approval.
- Persimmon Nights (Pork Filled Productions, 2017)
Yip, Jen
- Iris (Pan Asian, 2010)
A compelling short about Iris Chang, the human rights activist, historian, wife and mother
Yokomori, Eric
- Cockadoodledo (Kumu Kahua, 2014)
Expect the unexpected when ordinary life turns extraordinary.
- Pelicans (Kumu Kahua, 2016)
Yokomori returns to Kumu Kahua with a darkly humorous revenge-comedy of disaffected kids.
Yoo-Kim, Jin
- Throes of Pathos (East West, 2006)
In a hopeless and bleak post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Dolores finds
herself drowning in a sea of orderly and sedated lives who have lost
the power to feel. In her journey to find a missing friend, Dolores is
led to a secret world where it is revealed that she is the one who
carries the burden of freeing the people from captivity. It is she who
must make the decision that will change the destiny of those who
deserve the chance to hope for better days.
Yoon, Jean
- The Yoko Ono Project (Theatre Passe Muraille, 2000)
The Yoko Ono Project is a multimedia extravaganza that highlights the
experience of three Asian Canadian women as filtered through and
magnified by the icon of Yoko Ono. A celebration of the art, strength
and unbridled imagination of "the most famous undiscovered artist in
the world", The Yoko Ono Project is an inventive melding of music,
performance and multi-media, and promises to explode myths and
challenge perceptions about one of the most controversial of modern
artists.
Younis, Samir
- Browntown (SALAAM, 2003)
These days, every brown actor is wondering, "Should I take that
terrorist role for the money or reject it on principle?" What will
Omar, Malek, and Vijay do when put to the test? Browntown explores the
issue of cultural stereotyping from the point of view of three brown
actors at an audition for a less-than-original tv-movie. Their
experience at the audition brings to light the ways in which all three
actors are both victims and perpetrators of cultural mudslinging.
Yoshimura, Connie
- Chick Sexors (EWP, 2004)
An estranged, hapa woman attends the funeral of her Nisei father, a
famous chick sexor from the Midwest. From the small Iowa town where she
lived to the Salt River Valley agricultural community in Arizona during
the l940's, Monica discovers secrets that have divided her mixed-race
family for generations and in the process discovers her father's love
for her--if only from a distance.
- Meet Me in the Nam (EWP, 2005)
When a Viet Nam vet falls in love with a former war protestor, both
must work to overcome and accept each others' pasts. Set in the U.S.
and Viet Nam, the play deals with the contemporary issue of post
traumatic stress disorder with gritty and poetic language. For mature
audiences.
Yu, Catherine
- The Day is Long to End (Ma-Yi Theatre, 2015)
In the summer hours of a charmed Chelsea flower shop, the lives of the florists intertwine with the lives of the customers
- Stargaze
Three youths at the end of the world. The trauma of being the last of human civilization.
Yuen, Marie
- Roxane of Bergerac (2007)
"Roxane of Bergerac" is the tale of Cyrano but from Roxane's more
feminine (and feminist!) point-of-view. A romantic action-comedy
musical with lots of swash-and-buckle, the music style is a blend of
period French court music with contemporary jazzy licks. Paralleling
the music is the dialog (intentionally anachronistic) to reflect the
disparity between the spoken and the written, the colloquial versus the
formal, the young and the young-at-heart, and of course that ever
present battle of the sexes. Most of all it is a woman's search for
true love in a Modern Paris, France (of 1640) and what happens to her
when she finds it.
Cast size = 14 (including ensemble, 4 men and 4 women), doubling involved.
Book and Lyrics: Marie Yuen
Music: Dave Flippo
Demo CD available upon written request.
Yukinaga, Stanford
- Divine Wind (NWAAT, 1993)
Zabala-Alday, Maite
- Max and the Revolution (East West, 2011)
Armed with her Doc Martens boots and mixed tapes, an American teenager
finds herself in the Philippines months before the 1986 "People Power
Revolution".
Zee, Eric Michael
- Exit the Dragon (Highways, 1993)
EXIT THE DRAGON is a reflection of today's theatre, film, and
television industry's discriminatory practices. It centres around three
struggling actors coming to terms with themselves and their identities
as Asian-Canadian males. Through their dialogue and actions, truths are
revealed about each of their identities. Dave Woo is ashamed of his
Asian heritage and denies the effect of his culture on himself. Vien Vu
is a refugee immigrant from Vietnam and considers himself lucky to be
in North America. Jun Chow is a militant pro-Asian without really
understanding the meaning of being "Asian". Tired of stereotypes and
tired of accepting the "given" rules, all three actors accept their
perception of themselves rather than have their image dictated to them.
With the newfound confidence, all three actors become proactive in
building their careers and fulfilling their dreams.
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