The writers of My Asian Mom 2014
Celena Cipriaso (Nanay)
Celena has written for ABC’s All My Children and is currently co-writing two screenplays with Civilian Studios. Her pilot “Evolved” was a Quarter-Finalist in the Creative World Awards, and her spec of The Walking Dead, “Little Children” was a Semi-Finalist in the Creative World Awards and also in the top 10% of the Austin Film Festival TV competition. As a playwright, her work has been performed in various venues in New York City and throughout the Northeast. She’s also freelance journalist that’s written for CNN.com, The Root, Slate, Draft, Arts America, Film Buff, Bitch, Intel, and Women on Writing.
Seth Freeman (Imperfectly Frank)
Seth’s plays have been presented at over seventy theaters and festivals around the world. He has worked in print (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Stars and Stripes, The Huffington Post), screen and television, for which he created the series Lincoln Heights. His journalism, fiction, screen and television
writing has won numerous awards. He also contributes his time to several community organizations with a focus on education, health care, women’s empowerment, and human rights.
Julia Izumi (Tea and Talk and Okay)
Julia is a NYC-based playwright and performer. Her plays have been performed and developed at 4th Street Theatre, Variations Theatre Group at the Chain Theatre, Ingenue Theatre, The Barrow Group, and Tufts University, where she earned her BA in Drama. She has studied with Ken Urban, Heidi Schreck, and Annie Baker. She has worked with Signature Theatre Company, Incubator Arts Project, New York Theatre Workshop, The Secret Theatre, The New York Neo-Futurists, Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and others. Many thanks to A-Squared Theatre Workshop and all those involved!
Christine Toy Johnson (Halo Halo Birthday)
Christine is an award-winning writer, actor, filmmaker and advocate for inclusion based in NYC. Her work has been developed with the Roundabout Theatre Company, Crossroads Theatre, Leviathan Lab, Diverse City Theatre Company, Barrow Group, Weston Playhouse, Gorilla Rep, Cap21 etc. and is included in the Library of Congress Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection. Member: BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project (founder). She was honored by the JACL (the nation’s largest and oldest Asian American civil rights organization) in 2010 for “exemplary leadership and dedication”, the Asian American Arts Alliance in 2012 for “Outstanding Service in the Arts”, and received the 2013 Rosetta LeNoire Award from Actors’ Equity Association for “outstanding artistic contributions to the universality of the human experience in the American theatre”. For more, please visit: www.christinetoyjohnson.com.
Rex McGregor (Cobra v Tiger)
Rex is a comedy writer from New Zealand, though his employers think he is a senior collections librarian at Auckland Libraries. His plays have been performed in the US (Chicago, IL and Pasadena, CA), the UK (Faversham), Germany (Frankfurt), Denmark (Copenhagen), Lithuania (Vilnius), Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) and New Zealand (Auckland, Palmerston North and Oamaru). Website: www.rexmcgregor.com.
Timothy Moore (Why Do We Mistreat Our Korean Mothers? (In Ten Parts))
Timothy is a Korean American writer based in Chicago. He has work published in the Chicago Reader, Pear Noir, and was a 2012 Luminarts Fellow. He is honored to have a piece in this year's My Asian Mom (but please don't tell his mom)! Check out his online work at Read My Blog Please and Critical Kpop.
Kristine M. Reyes (Sunday Surprise)
Kristine is a playwright based in New York City, and is thrilled to be making her Chicago debut with A-Squared Theatre Workshop! Her plays include the full-length Queen for a Day (Diverse City Theater Company’s First Draft Fellowship); one-acts Quarter Century Baby, Something Blue (both produced by Diverse City Theater) and Lola Luning’s First Steps (commissioned and produced by Women of Color Productions); and the ten-minute pieces Balikbayan Birthday (Leviathan Lab) and Ready, Aim…Fire! (ESPA at Primary Stages; published on Indie Theater Now). She is a member of The Dramatist Guild. www.kristinemreyes.com
Norman Yap (Um Sa Det Yoong)
Norman is excited to be premiering his first produced theater piece with A-Squared Theatre Workshop. Selected as one of the 2011 Emerging 20 artists at the ReelWorld Film Festival during TIFF, Norman has written several feature scripts and premiered his cowritten short film “Magical Coincidence” at the 2012 Reel Asian Film Festival in Toronto. He continually aspires to make meaningful films and theater that challenge stereotypes and ultimately touch people on an emotional level. Norman would like to thank his mom, Luna, for giving birth to him, raising him, and providing inspiration for his play.
Celena Cipriaso (Nanay)
Celena has written for ABC’s All My Children and is currently co-writing two screenplays with Civilian Studios. Her pilot “Evolved” was a Quarter-Finalist in the Creative World Awards, and her spec of The Walking Dead, “Little Children” was a Semi-Finalist in the Creative World Awards and also in the top 10% of the Austin Film Festival TV competition. As a playwright, her work has been performed in various venues in New York City and throughout the Northeast. She’s also freelance journalist that’s written for CNN.com, The Root, Slate, Draft, Arts America, Film Buff, Bitch, Intel, and Women on Writing.
Seth Freeman (Imperfectly Frank)
Seth’s plays have been presented at over seventy theaters and festivals around the world. He has worked in print (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Stars and Stripes, The Huffington Post), screen and television, for which he created the series Lincoln Heights. His journalism, fiction, screen and television
writing has won numerous awards. He also contributes his time to several community organizations with a focus on education, health care, women’s empowerment, and human rights.
Julia Izumi (Tea and Talk and Okay)
Julia is a NYC-based playwright and performer. Her plays have been performed and developed at 4th Street Theatre, Variations Theatre Group at the Chain Theatre, Ingenue Theatre, The Barrow Group, and Tufts University, where she earned her BA in Drama. She has studied with Ken Urban, Heidi Schreck, and Annie Baker. She has worked with Signature Theatre Company, Incubator Arts Project, New York Theatre Workshop, The Secret Theatre, The New York Neo-Futurists, Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and others. Many thanks to A-Squared Theatre Workshop and all those involved!
Christine Toy Johnson (Halo Halo Birthday)
Christine is an award-winning writer, actor, filmmaker and advocate for inclusion based in NYC. Her work has been developed with the Roundabout Theatre Company, Crossroads Theatre, Leviathan Lab, Diverse City Theatre Company, Barrow Group, Weston Playhouse, Gorilla Rep, Cap21 etc. and is included in the Library of Congress Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection. Member: BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project (founder). She was honored by the JACL (the nation’s largest and oldest Asian American civil rights organization) in 2010 for “exemplary leadership and dedication”, the Asian American Arts Alliance in 2012 for “Outstanding Service in the Arts”, and received the 2013 Rosetta LeNoire Award from Actors’ Equity Association for “outstanding artistic contributions to the universality of the human experience in the American theatre”. For more, please visit: www.christinetoyjohnson.com.
Rex McGregor (Cobra v Tiger)
Rex is a comedy writer from New Zealand, though his employers think he is a senior collections librarian at Auckland Libraries. His plays have been performed in the US (Chicago, IL and Pasadena, CA), the UK (Faversham), Germany (Frankfurt), Denmark (Copenhagen), Lithuania (Vilnius), Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) and New Zealand (Auckland, Palmerston North and Oamaru). Website: www.rexmcgregor.com.
Timothy Moore (Why Do We Mistreat Our Korean Mothers? (In Ten Parts))
Timothy is a Korean American writer based in Chicago. He has work published in the Chicago Reader, Pear Noir, and was a 2012 Luminarts Fellow. He is honored to have a piece in this year's My Asian Mom (but please don't tell his mom)! Check out his online work at Read My Blog Please and Critical Kpop.
Kristine M. Reyes (Sunday Surprise)
Kristine is a playwright based in New York City, and is thrilled to be making her Chicago debut with A-Squared Theatre Workshop! Her plays include the full-length Queen for a Day (Diverse City Theater Company’s First Draft Fellowship); one-acts Quarter Century Baby, Something Blue (both produced by Diverse City Theater) and Lola Luning’s First Steps (commissioned and produced by Women of Color Productions); and the ten-minute pieces Balikbayan Birthday (Leviathan Lab) and Ready, Aim…Fire! (ESPA at Primary Stages; published on Indie Theater Now). She is a member of The Dramatist Guild. www.kristinemreyes.com
Norman Yap (Um Sa Det Yoong)
Norman is excited to be premiering his first produced theater piece with A-Squared Theatre Workshop. Selected as one of the 2011 Emerging 20 artists at the ReelWorld Film Festival during TIFF, Norman has written several feature scripts and premiered his cowritten short film “Magical Coincidence” at the 2012 Reel Asian Film Festival in Toronto. He continually aspires to make meaningful films and theater that challenge stereotypes and ultimately touch people on an emotional level. Norman would like to thank his mom, Luna, for giving birth to him, raising him, and providing inspiration for his play.