Playwriting
Who You Kiss For Fun
A slice of life drama following three Asian-American childhood best friends who are coming to terms with how their Asian identities affect their dating lives and friendship.
CAST
All characters are Asian.
JULIE: 18-year old girl, sarcastic, bold, but keeps a lot of her emotions to herself
DAVID: 18-year old guy, the grown up of the trio, not neccesarily not attractive.
WILLIAM: 18-year old guy, extremely attractive, the least mature of the trio
Who You Kiss for Fun was developed during the Emerging Writers Cohort with Theatre Mu and has had developmental readings with Picnic Basket Theatre, Jersey City Theatre Center, Frank Silvera’s Writers Workshop, and Melancholics Anonymous.
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny takes place at the bottom of the ocean in an expanding military base during a future American War on Asia. Tensions rise when the higher ups send a note warning the team that there is a spy among them and the racist policies on the surface inevitably still reach them.
CAST
LAURA (she/they)-25-Asian, Calls herself a pacifist who hates power. Married to John.
KYLE (he/they)-25-Asian, the face of the government whenever racist policies are introduced. Enjoys musing over difficult things. Paige’s family supports him through the war.
PAIGE (she/they)-25-White, wants to become President of the United States in the next 16 years, at the forefront of advocating against anti-Asian policies
JOHN (he/him)-30-White, military engineer married to Laura to help protect her rights
MICHAEL (he/him)-30-Asian, holds himself like a hero of highest moral ground
Manifest Destiny was a Finalist for Pipeline Theatre Co.’s 2024 PlayLab. and had a staged reading as a part of Limefest at the Tank NYC.
Untitled Locust Horror Musical (in-progress)
Book by Emma Y. Lai
Music and Lyrics by Hannah Bakke
Synopsis: In a town that has been isolated and technology-less for generations, members of the community practice their trades and experiments with excitement to bring progress to the town. Robin and Ana are childhood friends who both work with Robin’s mother in a lab to study grasshoppers as a food source. However, Ana is secretly studying grasshoppers who physiologically change into locusts when they come in contact with one another. As her research continues, the locusts begin learning to imitate human sounds and speech. One day, they ask to be let out of their jars to come in direct contact with Ana. Meanwhile, an outsider appears in the town, aligning with a town legend.
CAST
ANA (she/her)-25-firmly believes hard work is needed to achieve success
ROBIN (she/her)-25-makes large discoveries purely by accident through random experimentation
CONNIE (she/her)-40’s-preaches the idea that scientific achievement is gained through blood, sweat, and tears
FOREST (he/they)-30-a man from the outside world
TOWNSPEOPLE-they all have individual trades (STORYTELLER, GLASSMAKER, WELDER…)