plays
In his plays, Charlie investigates being at odds with oneself, one's own privileges, and one's own identities: be it race, nationality, gender, or socioeconomic status, and how language can fail to articulate this conflict, both within one's self and to others. Recently, his writing has explored the sometimes beautiful, sometimes hilarious, sometimes gross, and sometimes terrifying disharmony created when whiteness comes into proximity with Asianhood in American spaces. He is especially interested in deconstructing the white gaze of Asianhood, and figuring out where mixed identity fits within systems of fetishization.
the box, work-in-progress (2m, 1f)
the box follows three employees of a grocery store across a spectrum of ages who are often assigned to work the back fridge (the box) of the store together. When you're utterly conjoined to a feeling of stuckness in repetitive day-to-day life, what is there to do?
dragoness, full-length (2f, 2m)
dragoness deals with the brewing jealousy between two young Asian-American female artists as the deadline for an arts festival quickly approaches, all while they grapple with their relationship with a dorky journalist with a certain dating history and their over-extensive boss. The play explores themes of Asian Identity, the comodification of racial identity, the white gaze, and how mixed relationships collide with fetishization.
dragoness was awarded the Molly Thacher Kazan Memorial Prize for distinguished senior thesis work at Vassar College's Experimental Theater.
Production History: Mainstage Production (Steerman Festival) Vassar College, Jan-Mar 2022 Workshopped via DRAM311 Vassar College, Sept-Dec 2021
Production Photos:
roleplay, full-length (3m, 3f, 1nb)
roleplay follows a young group of friends who play dungeons and dragons together, and how their relationships with gender and sexuality fluctuate within a suburban philadelphia high school environment. The play explores themes of gender dysphoria within young amab (assigned male at birth) people, relationships between queer asian men and their parents, and tabletop role-playing games as a means of queer escapism.
roleplay was a selectee for the premier Steerman New Play Festival at Vassar College's Experimental Theater (April 2021).
Snapshot of the 2021 Steerman Virutal Reading:
