Preston Choi’s This Is Not a True Story makes its world premiere at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

Read on to find out what inspired the play and inspires the playwright.

What was your inspiration to write this play?
A combination of spite towards racist depictions of East and Southeast Asian actors and wanting to create something for my Asian American peers when our predominantly white school didn’t know what to do with us.

What do you hope audiences will take away after seeing This Is Not a True Story?
I hope they’re able to laugh at the ridiculousness of the “truth” of the story and hopefully feel empowered to go out and make more of their own stories.

What inspires your writing?
It is a combination of a lot of things: watching strangers, news, history, internet rabbit holes, a piece of art or music. Usually, something will ping or get stuck in my thoughts, and then I try to figure out why and if it will get stuck for other people too.

Who has influenced you the most as a theatre artist? 
My family and their sensibilities for comedy and drama, our Mom raised us with a very specific blend of books (Edward Gorey was our picture books), TV, movies, conversation, and that definitely continues to influence me on a base level.

See This Is Not a True Story by Preston Choi, now playing through October 15.

Preston Choi is a Korean/Irish-American playwright whose work focuses on social science fiction and Asian/mixed/queer lives. His work has been recently developed with Round House Theatre, Interact Theatre, Cygnet Theatre, and more, while his plays include limp wrist on the lever (2023 Stephen Lim Playwriting Award), performing class (2022 NNPN New Play Showcase), The Migratory Patterns… (2021 Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, 2019 NNPN New Play Showcase, 2017 Agnes Nixon Award) and Happy Birthday Mars Rover (2022 Planet Earth Arts Award). He received a BS in Theatre from Northwestern University and an MFA in Playwriting from UC San Diego.