A staged reading festival celebrating five Asian-American playwrights from across the U.S., featuring stories of vampires, AI sci-fi, and psychological horror. From Seattle to New York, these bold new works push boundaries and reimagine the future of theatre. Throughout this weekend, five new plays will be presented on the following dates and times:
Friday, June 20, 2025
“BLOOD/SUCKER” by Anamaria Guerzon | 7:00 pm
Ryan, a high school social studies teacher, is tired. He’s been spending late nights grading homework, as well as fending off parental complaints about his Asian-American History class, who claim that he is using ‘Critical Race Theory’ to indoctrinate the students. Then Hillary, the new Principal, arrives. And the students are beginning to act very strange…
Saturday, June 21, 2025
“C[Y]PHER” by Harold Taw | 4:00 pm
Fourth-grade math teacher ZARA CHADHA discovers that her father, a recently deceased AI pioneer, may have uploaded a digital copy of his mind onto a vast network. Clues point to Zara’s memories serving as the decryption key—the “cypher”— that will permit entry into where her father resides in his digital afterlife. How are her mother’s suicide, her father’s obsession with fixing the past, and Zara’s sense of abandonment linked?
“Eggshell; or Vỏ Trứng” by Anthony Doan | 7:00 pm
Everything’s coming up roses at the Ly family’s Christmas Eve dinner. That is until Rose arrives, hoping to make a good impression, as she’s meeting her fiancé’s family for the first time. Despite her best efforts, the mood turns frigidly vicious when secrets are brought to light, forcing everyone to confront the fragility of their individual nature. “Eggshell; or Vỏ Trứng” tiptoes between farce, dark comedy, tragedy, and thriller as it follows a hauntingly dysfunctional family and unearths the fangs of internalized whiteness, self-acceptance, and the lengths we go to in order to survive.
Sunday, June 22, 2025
“Hail Mary/Mary” by RJ Silva | 2:00 pm
Kid, short for Kindness, gets slapped with his first real crush. He relies on his three Marys for guidance: his Filipina mother Marie, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his favorite pro wrestler Maria. And although he feels like he’s blindly top-rope diving into love, will he be able to stand as a champion for himself? A coming-of-age story with the electricity of a live wrestling show, the comfort of your Filipino family, and the warmth of a budding romance, HAIL MARY/MARIA is a heartfelt adventure of finding and loving who you are.
“The Machine” by Magpie Park | 5:00 pm
When Claudia, a 13-year-old, first-generation Korean-American is selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be one of three medical volunteers for a fantastical new piece of technology that has the ability to change any physical aspect of any person, she gives herself red hair in the hope that Penelope, the girl she has a crush on, will like her. However, she finds herself obsessed with this newfound access she has to change and the chance to live in the skin of those she is not. Ultimately, she has to decide: What does it take to live as your own authentic self?
