lucy wang

Lucy Wang rose to national prominence with her Kennedy Center award-winning play Junk Bonds which earned her critical acclaim and a two-page profile in the New York Times. Junk Bonds also won Best New Play with social, political, economic significance from the Katherine and Lee Chilcote Foundation.

Lucy’s work is dedicated to fighting for social justice, creating more inclusive roles, and inciting laughter. She is one of the Outstanding Female Artists featured in the Look What She Did! Artists of Los Angeles series. Two Artists Trying to Pay Their Bill is a comical look at how artists are expected to give their work away for free and still support themselves. This short won an international comedy prize and inclusion in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2020. Down There is a hilarious biting monologue that shows how languages shape our body images.  

Lucy also writes for young audiences. A conservatory for Orthodox Jewish girls commissioned her to write plays. Excerpts from her play Teen Mogul are being used in the classroom as part of StudySync.  Her monologues Pretty for an Asian Girl, No Joy No Luck, My Superpower were written upon request to address the dearth of material created for Asian American youth. Suffragette Sixteen is part of the New Shokan Kitchen Island Project to showcase women who deserve statues to commemorate their achievements.

Upon learning that Lucy sold a half-hour TV comedy pilot, feminist icon Gloria Steinem urged her to do stand-up – which was so exhilarating that Lucy developed and performed two one-woman shows to sold-out audiences.  You can see comedy bits here:  https://youtu.be/IbcqZCYZbik and find more plays at Original Works Publishing,YouthPLAYS, One-Act Play Depot, Amazon, Applause Books, Meriwether Publishing and Pioneer.

Her manuscripts are archived at the Huntington Library.  Lucy currently teaches at escript.ws and freelances for AJN.  

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
www.lucywang.net
FB: lucy.wang
TW: @SensuousGourmet
IG: @theSensuousGourmet

MORE ABOUT ME
What was your most gratifying moment in the theater?*
Fortunately I've had many, but you always remember your two firsts. First time as a playwright, it was a scorching hot summer night, the A/C was out and the house was full, so the audience used their programs as fans.  That is, until the action grew too tense when everyone stopped fanning themselves in unison and fell silent, gripped in suspense.  My second first best moment as a writer-performer was when two men approached me after I performed standup comedy, and told me they laughed so hard they peed in their pants.

What play or production changed your life?*
A Chorus Line.  I learned all the songs and dances, but one specific lyric still haunts me.  Dance: Ten, Looks; Three which I live as Dance: Ten; Looks: Too Chinese.

I feel most like myself when I am writing, when I am playing the piano, and when I'm in the theater.

How do you overcome disappointment?*
Two mottos.  Joy in spite of everything which I learned from Tom Robbins.  Over and Next! from Norman Lear.
Laugh, cry, eat, hike, sing, cook, whatever it takes to find the joy and then move on. Onward and upward.

If you could bring one change to theater, what would it be?*
More representation, more equality, more laughter.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not writing?*
I love to read, teach, garden, and travel.  

Why do you keep doing theater?
I need the community, the world of possibilities, and the magic.

​WHAT I'M WORKING ON
My three big projects are a musical comedy about racism, The John and Yoko Club; a youth play about suicide and bullying; and a thriller, Fill or Kill.

KEYWORDS
Asian American, BIPOC, Comedy, Comic, Equality, Feminist, Historical, Jewish, Monologues, Multiracial, Musical, One-Person Shows, One-Woman Shows, Political, Racism, Social Justice, Stand-up, Thriller, Young Audiences