LAOWANG
Performance
New York Theatre Workshop

LAOWANG

a work-in-progress reading
August 05, 2023

This event occurred as part of the 23/24 Hop Presents season. This is an archived view.

Don't mess with a Chinese grandma.

23/24 Hop Presents

Written by Alex Lin  
Directed by Joshua Kahan Brody   

When a high-rise developer threatens to tear down or buy out A-Poh's successful Chinatown restaurant, the martyr-complex matriarch gathers her three precious grandchildren from all corners of the country to plan their next mode of attack. There's just one problem: A-Poh's memory is rapidly  fading. What follows is a chaotic journey through reality, myth and magic as A-Poh travels through now and the great beyond as a last-ditch effort to preserve what's left of her family, legacy and sanity. A caustic and imaginative spin on Lear in response to the NYC Chinatown Mega Jail. 

A conversation with the artists follows the performance.

Generously supported by the Howard Gilman 1944 Directorship at the Hopkins Center for the Arts Fund

Alex Lin is just a girl from Jersey. Her work as a playwright has been developed with Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Realm, Ma-Yi, Magic Theatre, the O'Neill, Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Rep, Theater Mu, and Central Square Theater. As a producer for A24's Supercluster, she's collaborated with NASA, SpaceX and Boeing to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and the culture it inspires. She is currently under commission at South Coast Rep and MTC. Juilliard-Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program 23-25. Accolades: 2022 Elizabeth George commission, 2023 Weissberger New Play Award nominee, 2023 Sloan commission.

Joshua Kahan Brody's directing work includes the world premieres of Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club and Actors Theatre of Louisville); King of the Yees (Goodman Theatre, Center Theater Group, and San Francisco Playhouse); The Last Tiger in Haiti (La Jolla Playhouse and Berkeley Rep); Fourteen Flights (Award for Excellence in Directing, NY Fringe). He has developed work all over the country including at Colorado New Play Summit, New Dramatists, NYTW, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Horizons, Perry-Mansfield and SPACE on Ryder Farm. He is a Princess Grace Award winner and received his MFA from UC-San Diego and his BA from Yale University. He is the co-founder of THE TRIP (www.thetriptheater.net). Josh lives in Brooklyn with his wife, dramaturg Sarah Lunnie, their two children and their dog. joshuakahanbrody.com

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