The Strand Theater Company and Asian Pasifika Arts Collective are partnering to present the AAPI Women’s Voices Theater Festival, comprising six original short plays by Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women-identifying playwrights. The aim of the Festival is to bring awareness to the stories and experiences of AAPI women, transgender, nonbinary, and gender fluid individuals throughout the United States, as well as highlight the work of AAPI writers, actors and directors. The Festival takes place in celebration of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month 2022.

About the Festival:

Following a nationwide call for submissions in the Fall of 2021, and subsequent review and selection by a collective panel of readers from both host organizations, the Festival will feature two one-act and four ten-minute plays from six finalists in a book-in-hand or staged reading format. All plays submitted to the Festival were required to follow a set of guidelines, including the length of the play, the number of allowed characters, and the inclusion of specific plot “ingredients,” such as a misunderstanding, a memory, and a family recipe.

The Festival will showcase between two and five plays during each performance, due to their varying lengths. In order to experience all six productions, we encourage our patrons to attend the Festival more than once. In addition to the play performances, the Festival will include two panel discussions. The first discussion, titled Food Culture and the AAPI Community, will be hosted on Sunday, May 15, following the matinee performance. The second panel on Friday, May 20 (following the evening performance) will be a conversation with the playwrights and directors of the festival. Refreshments will be offered to the attendees.

The featured plays represent cultures and heritages across the AAPI diaspora including Armenia, Iran, South Korea and China.

The Festival participants are:

Spaghetti Lo Mein – by Elizabeth Ung

Hot Pot at the End of the World – by Karen Li

Mother Mandu – by Libbey Kim

Support – by Robin Berl

Cousins and Soup – by Lyra Nalan

Secret Ingredient by Emily Kate Avakian