Artists at Play believes in the power of storytelling to celebrate community, preserve cultural history, and inspire change. Last year we commissioned four brand-new plays that celebrate the neighborhoods we know and love. It’s bold, joyful work—and we’d love to have you join us as we bring these stories to life.
Developed as part of the AAP Playwrights Group: The Neighbohood Project, these new plays will take place throughout Los Angeles from March to June.
Dough Broke
by Sarah Cho
directed by Rebecca Wear
Saturday, March 21 at 2 pm
Los Angeles Theatre Center
Set in the Koreatown Plaza food court, Dough Broke follows a family whose deepest wishes go unfulfilled until a magical dumpling unexpectedly comes to life. Blending comedy and absurdity, the play explores the longing for what feels just out of reach and what happens when the thing you’ve wished for finally arrives.
It’s Harder Than It Looks
by Carolyn Huynh
directed by Jennifer Chang
Sunday, April 26
At Josie’s mother’s funeral, three eccentric women crash the service claiming to be her mother’s badminton group. While learning how to play in the El Monte badminton gyms, Josie attempts to unpack the secret life her mother had and the mysterious circumstances around her death. Meanwhile, Josie’s dead mother’s ghost has a secret plan of her own—to get Josie to live a little.
California Gold
by Katherine Chou
directed by Rebecca Wear
Tuesday, May 26 at 5 pm
Cerritos Library
It’s senior year, and Noor, Sameera, Radhika, and Jennifer are going to save the world and be best friends forever…until a ritual goes awry, uncovering rifts that threaten to tear apart their friendship and hometown. As ghosts of lands new and old spill out into the streets of Cerritos and Artesia, the girls must navigate the external gaze, uncertain futures, and histories they barely understand to decide who they are and will be.
Djinn
by Aditi Pradhan
directed by Reena Dutt
Saturday, June 6 at 2 pm
Los Angeles Theatre Center
In 2024, Nasrin and her son, Ayan, live in Little Bangladesh in an apartment that Nasrin is sure is filled with djinns. In 1947, Kala and her son, Ram, navigate being two of the first South Asians in the United States—while living in the same apartment. When revolution breaks out in each of their respective homelands in each of their respective time periods, Kala’s and Nasrin’s worlds will intersect in ways that they never imagined.
Artists at Play — A Los Angeles-Based Theatre Collective 