Christopher Chen News

As directed by Tim Dang for the Sierra Madre Playhouse, KING OF THE YEES is a comedy and a quest, a Caroll-ian plunge through Chinatown led by a sure-handed guide who is seeking some penetrating answers. The author of the hit play CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND is a rock star and this gem from 2017, staged with all kinds of finesse at SMP, is a winner.

Kevin Rolston's critically acclaimed Deal with the Dragon, a three-character, one-man performance comes to the Magic Theatre for a limited run.

Playwrights Foundation, the West Coast's premier launchpad for exceptional new plays and playwrights, has announced its lineup for the 45th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) which will be presented as a hybrid (in-person and streamed) festival July 29 - August 7, 2022. Selected from 240 applicants via a committee process with 150 readers (the majority of whom are also playwrights), five powerful plays by five exciting new voices will receive public readings and workshops in this year's festival.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon and Executive Director Jennifer Bielstein announced today the productions that will make up the company’s 2022/23 season.

Playwrights Foundation, the West Coast’s premier launchpad for exceptional new plays and playwrights, has announced the semifinalists and finalists for the 45th Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF), which will be presented as a hybrid (in-person and streamed) festival July 29-August 07, 2022. For more information and a complete list of winners, the public may visit  playwrightsfoundation.org or call 415-626-2176.

Playwrights Horizons today announced its 2022–2023 season. Brought together amidst the easing of a reality-altering pandemic —during which desire for a “return to normal” began to feel at once futile and shortsighted—the lineup consists of five works that consider and radically challenge the very idea of normalcy.

Sierra Madre Playhouse presents King of the Yees, the award-winning play by Lauren Yee. Directed by Tim Dang. Produced for Sierra Madre Playhouse by Gary Lamb. 

The Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program Class of 2024 makes their Cleveland debut with Christopher Chen's Passage.

Tony Award-nominated and five-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb has announced the complete line-up for the rescheduled 25th SUMMERWORKS festival of new plays. SUMMERWORKS will run May 20 – July 2, 2022 at The Wild Project (195 East 3rd Street) and will feature productions of three new plays.

East West Players has resumed LIVE performances with Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (already opened). East West Players’ producing artistic director Snehal Desai directs the cast which includes Trance Thompson, Gedde Watanabe, Adam Kaokept, Joan Almedilla, Max Torrez, Christopher Chen, George Xavier, Astoncia Bhagat, Arvin Lee, Aric Martin, Kym Miller, Andrea Somera, Jalen Lum, Michael Cavinder and Maya Nahree McGowan. I had the chance to toss a few questions to Gedde, this enduring, steadily working actor, about his long relationship with East West and his various other acting gigs.

Los Angeles’s East West Players has a long and vibrant history with the musicals of Stephen Sondheim, making it hardly a news flash that the company would both take a – er – shot at the composer’s controversial 1990 work, ASSASSINS, and end up bringing it off so splendidly.

Audible Inc., the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, today announced a new slate of Audible Original theater titles, debuting exclusively on Audible on March 3, 2022. These titles continue to deliver the theater experience to a wider audience, through audio.

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company has announced the casting and design team for the first show in its 2022 Season, PASSAGE by Christopher Chen and directed by Kaiser Ahmed. The show will run from March 2 through April 10, 2022 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Avenue in Chicago.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern just presented Ryan J. Haddad with the 2021-2022 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award at the Vineyard Theatre’s annual Emerging Artists Celebration. 

THE LATE WEDDING-an abstract look at relationships far and wide, how people interact, and why we are who we are, just don't expect it all wrapped in a bow.

The Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Programs in Acting and Directing present The Late Wedding by Christopher Chen, directed by Aileen Wen McGroddy. 

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Ryan J. Haddad is the recipient of the 2021-22 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. Haddad will be presented with the award at The Vineyard's Emerging Artists Celebration on Friday, November 12 at 5:00pm at Broken Shaker Cocktail Bar at Freehand (23 Lexington Avenue).

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, under the new artistic leadership of Marti Lyons, will welcome audiences back to the theatre after almost two years with two plays starting in March of 2022.

Aurora Theatre Company continues its 30th season with the World Premiere of Kait Kerrigan's FATHER/DAUGHTER, a recipient of the 2021 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. Bay Area theatre artist M. Graham Smith directs William Thomas Hodgson and Sam Jackson (The Bluest Eye, Exit Strategy, Splendour) in this beautifully innovative play about love, family, and relationships.

Oakland University's School of Music, Theatre and Dance will present Passage, a gripping and enigmatic play by Chinese-American playwright Christopher Chen, on Oct. 7-10 and Oct. 14-17 in the Varner Studio Theatre on the OU campus.