FULL LENGTH
Ching Chong Chinaman
100 mins : 3M, 3W
The ultra-assimilated Wong family is as Chinese-American as apple pie: teenager Upton dreams of World of Warcraft superstardom; his sister Desi dreams of early admission to Princeton. Unfortunately, Upton’s chores and homework get in the way of his 24/7 videogaming, and Desi’s math grades don’t fit the Asian-American stereotype. Then Upton comes up with a novel solution for both problems: he acquires a Chinese indentured servant, who harbors an American dream of his own.
Production history:
[2010] Pan Asian Rep (New York City) production
[2010] SIS Productions (Seattle) production
[2009] Mu Performing Arts (Minneapolis) production
[2008] Impact Theatre (Berkeley, CA) production
[2008] Guthrie Theatre/Asian American Theater Conference (Minneapolis) reading
[2008] UCSC Rainbow Theatre (Santa Cruz, CA) production
[2008] Impact Theatre (Berkeley, CA) reading
[2008] Mu Performing Arts New Eyes Festival (Minneapolis) reading
[2007] New York International Fringe Festival (New York) showcase
[2007] Horizon Theatre (Atlanta) reading
[2007] Yale University (New Haven) reading
Awards:
[2010] KCACTF Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting winner
[2009] PEN USA Literary Award for Drama finalist
[2009] City Pages Top 10 play of 2009
[2009] Jane Chambers Playwriting Award honorable mention
[2008] Princess Grace Award finalist
[2008] East Bay Express Top 10 play of 2008
[2008] Ford Foundation Emerging Writers of Color Fellowship winner
[2007] Yale Playwrights Festival winner
[2007] Kumu Kahua Theatre’s Pacific Rim Prize winner
Publication:
[2011] Other Spaces of Asian America: Plays for a New Generation anthology (Mu Performing Arts/Temple University Press)
[2010] Samuel French
Crevice
80 mins : 3M, 2W
Unemployed, overambitious, and verging on thirty, 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. A comedic journey through the odyssey years. Commissioned by PlayGround.
Production history:
[2009] Best of PlayGround Festival (San Francisco) reading
Awards:
[2010] New Harmony Project semifinalist
Highrise
80 mins : 2M, 1W
Brothers Jeremy and Ethan have been fending for themselves all their lives. When Ethan visits his brother for an investment banking job interview, the bond of brotherhood is truly tested as a life of sibling rivalry and the promise of status and wealth threaten to come between the ambitious young men.
Production history:
[2007] City Lights Theatre Company (San Jose, CA) reading
in a word
70 mins : 2M, 1W
Two years have passed since Fiona’s eight-year-old son mysteriously vanished. As Fiona goes back over the events she remembers leading up to that fateful day, logic buckles and language breaks. Will she uncover the truth and what happens if she does? A lyrical, absurdist journey on how to get over, get around, get through what haunts you.
Production history of one act version:
[2010] Williamstown Theatre Festival (Williamstown, MA) workshop
[2010] Hangar Theatre Lab Company (Ithaca, NY) workshop
[2010] Virago Theatre Company (Alameda, CA) reading
[2010] UCSD Baldwin New Play Festival (La Jolla, CA) workshop
Pathogen, or Annalisse on the I-80
80 mins : 2M, 3W
America 1965: the gods have long declared interracial babies a “biological impossibly,” but 13-year-old Eurasian and scientific anomaly Lexus Jean McCarthy couldn’t care less. But when the gods send a plague to claim the life of her doomed sister Annalisse, the family embark on a surreal summer road trip across America, where events from the past illuminate a dark future. A riff on Iphigenia at Aulis.
Production history:
[2008] Z Space Studio (San Francisco) reading
Samsara
100 mins : 3M, 2W
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? A hilarious, unsettling look at reproduction in the 21st century, Samsara questions whether we can truly achieve intimacy in the face of shrinking worlds and expanding boundaries.
Production history:
[2010] New Century Theatre Company (Seattle) upcoming reading
[2010] City Lights Theatre Company (San Jose, CA) reading
[2009] Desipina (New York City) reading
[2009] Exit Theatre/DIVAfest (San Francisco) reading
ONE ACT
The Life and Death of Joshua Zweig
25 mins : 2-4M, 1W
Today, Joshua Zweig will die. At least according to Dead Joshua Zweig, the ghost who has come back to warn him of his impending death. How does a man cope with life in the face of uncertainty? And what happens to those he leaves behind?
Production history:
[2010] Sleepwalkers Theatre/Three Wise Monkeys (San Francisco) production
[2009] The Looking Glass Theatre (New York City) production
Publication:
[2010] Three Wise Monkeys Bay One Acts anthology
Our Peculiar Institution
55 mins : 2M, 2W
Through the lens of minstrelsy, the institution of slavery and concepts of ownership are tilted in comic relief as a newly married man returns to his family’s long-abandoned ancestral plantation, ready to start a new life. Yet, what he and his young wife find there threatens their nascent marriage and the very ground they tread on. Commissioned by Playwrights Foundation for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.
Production history:
[2009] Bay Area Playwrights Festival (San Francisco) reading
Over the Asian Airwaves
40 mins : 3M, 3W
In the heyday of old-time radio, a young, idealistic Asian American woman and her motley crew prepare for the biggest broadcast of their lives. A fast-paced 1940s farce.
Production history:
[2009] Three Wise Monkeys/Asian American Theater Company (San Francisco) production
[2007] EndTimes Productions (New York City) production
[2005] Playwrights Project (San Diego) production
[2004] Horizon Theatre (Atlanta) reading
[2003] Asian American Theater Collaborative (Boston) production
Publication:
[2009] Three Wise Monkeys Bay One Acts anthology
SHORT PLAYS include:
CAUTION
Escaping Chinatown
Giving Up the Ghost
In the Beginning Again
Lives of the Formerly French
Zachary Zwillinger Eats People
