L.A. Theatreworks has released our recording of VIETGONE! Click image below to purchase and download:
Thank you to LATW and the fantastic actors with whom I got to collaborate. Check out their work here:
VIETGONE Now Available
FINAL BOARDING CALL at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival
Looking forward to reuniting with Des to work on Stefani Kuo’s timely Final Boarding Call as part of Playwrights Foundations’ Bay Area Playwrights Festival this month!
From the BAPF website:
Final Boarding Call tells the human stories of the current Hong Kong protests revolving around seven interconnected characters whose backgrounds and perspectives run the spectrum. A protesting brother and flight attendant sister struggling to stay safe while fighting for what they believe in; a Mainland Chinese mother seeking forgiveness from her Hong Kong reporter daughter for previous wrongs and judgements of her Indian husband; and an American expat CEO and Hong Kong lover living in the shadows. We see a window into China’s grip on global capitalism, but most importantly, we see how the politics on the news every day affects the citizens of Hong Kong and their day to day lives.
Learn more here: https://playwrightsfoundation.org/2020-bay-area-playwrights-festival/stefani-kuo/
Hope you can join us on July 19 or 25!
BRING YOUR LIGHT Performance
What an honor to lend my voice as part of the First Lady Chirlane McCray’s important roundtable discussion on faith and mental health during COVID-19 today! It is crucial that we take care of each other now more than ever. Let’s lift each other up and spread love!
Love in Tough Times
I don’t think I’m fully processing all the loss that’s happening around us. Every day brings more bad news and I worry a lot about what’s to come. To what extent will we feel the repercussions even when we flatten the curve or find a vaccine?
In times like these I turn to gratitude to quiet my monkey brain.
I am grateful that my loved ones and I are healthy and safe.
I’m grateful to have shelter and enough food to eat.
I’m grateful for my assortment of pajamas that I do not get out of unless I have to.
I’m grateful that online conferencing is allowing me to connect with friends and family more frequently than even before the pandemic!
I’m grateful for the arts. When we’re quarantined at home, what are we turning to for respite, escape, education, entertainment, and hope? THE ARTS! Music, movies, TV and streaming shows, audio plays and podcasts, and yes even those TikTok videos. The arts help us dream bigger, start conversations, engage with the world and people around us.
My friend MH challenged me to write a quarantine love song recently. I haven’t written a song in almost a decade, but hey — not like I had anything else to do. Being the sarcastic Gen-X/Millenial that I am, I immediately wanted to parody VERSACE ON THE FLOOR, BUT the more mature, slightly less sarcastic Gen-X/Millenial that I am striving to be wanted to write something for my friends and fam whom I cannot wait to hug when quarantine is over.
So y’all out there: I’m grateful for you.
Going Home – VIETGONE at L.A. Theatreworks
First Up in 2020: A show that’s near and dear to my heart that I get to record and share with ya’ll!
If you’re in the LA area, check out our live recording of VIETGONE by Qui Nguyen directed by Tim Dang for L.A. Theatreworks. We will have performances at the James Bridges Theater/UCLA January 24 – 26. Starring Jeena Yi, Greg Watanabe, Desiree Mee Jung, and Paul Yen. The recordings will be available for download at a future date on the LATW site for your listening pleasure. Find out more information here: VIETGONE at L.A. Theatreworks.
Will Dao 