EXCLUSIVE: Performance artist, comedian, actress, playwright and elected Koreatown Los Angeles representative, Kristina Wong, has inked with CAA in all areas.
Wong has mounted several solo shows here in Los Angeles, however, her latest Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, earned her a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama last year. Sweatshop Overlord, a co-production between Center Theatre Group and East West Players, is currently playing at the Kirk Douglas Theatre through March 12.
Sweatshop Overlord follows Wong as she launched an 800 member group called the Auntie Sewing Squad during the pandemic comprised mostly of Asian women who sewed and donated more than 300K masks for front-line workers and at risk communities when Covid PPE was rare. The show had a highly acclaimed premiere at the New York Theater Workshop and was a New York Times “Critics Pick.”
Yesterday Wong was awarded a $550K grant from The Doris Duke Foundation, bestowed to individuals for excellence in their field. Sweatshop Overlord also garnered a veritable awards sweep including The Drama Desk Award, The Lucille Lortel Award and The Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.
Wong also wrote the introduction for The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide To Mask Making, Radical Care and Racial Justice, published by University of California Press.
Wong’s other major one-person socially justice driven shows include Wong Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Going Green The Wong Way, The Wong Street Journal, and Kristina Wong for Public Office. Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest ran for eight years, starting in 2006, and explored mental illness, particularly among Asian American women. Kristina Wong for Public Office recounted her time running for the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood council. The show was streamed from the Kirk Douglas in November 2020. In her role as an elected rep, Wong champions the needs of her neighborhood’s unhoused community.
Wong’s other works have been presented across North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa. She also had Artist Residencies at MacDowell, Hermitage, Montalvo and Ojai Playwrights Festival. Her work has been awarded with grants from Creative Capital, The MAP Fund, Center for Cultural Innovation, National Performance Network, a COLA Master Artist Fellowship from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, nine Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence awards, Center Theatre Group’s Sherwood Award, and the Art Matters Foundation.
Wong has been a guest on late night shows on Comedy Central, NBC and FX. As a published writer, her work is included in Routledge’s Contemporary Plays by Women of Color.
Other career highlights include the Visionary Award from East West Players, “Local Hero Of The Year” nominee from KCET/ PBS, Asian Pacific Honoree from Fuse TV and the Best Of Arts Los Angeles issue from LA Weekly.
She is currently developing a new work during her three-year Artist-in-Residence at ASU Gammage.
Wong continues to be represented by Lillian LaSalle at Sweet 180 Talent and Literary Management.
Check out the trailer for Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord below: