PLAYS AND SCRIPTS
For information on licensing my plays please contact Mark Orsini at Bret Adams, Ltd.
FUSONG
FUSONG (book & lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, music by Cecilia Lin, based on “The Lost Daughter of Happiness” by Geling Yan, conceived by Gabriel Barre) tells the story of two young Chinese women in two different centuries, linked by their complicated destiny to search for true freedom from within.
As Fusong is kidnapped from her small village in China and thrown into the dark world of San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1866, and Nancy confronts the anti-Asian hate crimes of America’s 21st century COVID era, their histories intertwine with violence, enslavement, duty, and - against all odds - love, ultimately leading them on a journey to discover their shared legacy of survival.
A LITTLE MORE BLUE A solo play with music.
(with original songs by Christine Toy Johnson and Bobby Cronin, directed by Bruce Johnson) is about an Asian American woman who discovers how much her father's lifelong quest to be an “All American guy” has galvanized her own journey to make fighting for his dream one of her own - and how love, loss, and hope can find themselves intertwined.
THE SECRET WISDOM OF TREES is the story of Abby Green, an intrepid and fiercely funny septuagenarian, who tries to prepare her family and herself for her journey into Alzheimer’s by planting trees at the locations of her biggest memories. When her daughter dies and her grandchildren turn against her, she struggles with knowing that even her most painful memories are becoming difficult to hold onto. What’s worse – losing your family or losing the memories of what has become of them?
The
New
Deal
THE NEW DEAL. In a battle with her brother to keep their grandfather's restaurant from being demolished, Abigail Lee finds out that saving the past isn't always the same as fighting for the future.
TILL SOON, ANNE (book & lyrics, with composer Bobby Cronin) is the story of a young woman at the end of her journey with brain cancer, who gathers her closest friends and family together for one final perfect weekend.
look
up
LOOK UP (screenplay/revived musical drama)
A veteran Broadway dancer sidelined by an injury finds the rhythm of her reinvention after discovering a fearless young subway performer.
BARCELONA (book & lyrics with composer/lyricist Jason Ma) is a story about
Julianna, an American novelist, who travels to Barcelona to connect with her dead sister Antoinette, after a family heirloom mysteriously materializes in a dream she has about Antoinette and famed architect Antoni Gaudi. We travel between time periods – from Gaudi’s era (1879 and 1926) into 2015, mixing fact and mostly fiction. In this Barcelona, time and reality is fluid.
BROKEN GROUND (book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, music and lyrics by Jason Ma) takes place in 1911 China, at the cusp of a new world of possibility for all who live there. A young girl takes an unexpected and magical journey to womanhood, guided by the beloved spirits of departed family, her Mother's mystical Nu Shu embroidery, and a goddess or two. she finds her purpose and true destiny, all while pushing against the traditional of patriarchal society, and finding her own path to her heart's desires.
guilty until proven innocent
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT
tells the story of Sam Chey, a highly successful Cambodian-American lawyer returning to Phnom Penh for the first time since his parents fled the Khmer Rouge, who tries to find justice for a young man framed for murder. While grappling with the idea that corruption within the Cambodian legal system is status quo, he begins to question whether or not he can save the day, the way his American psyche insists he can. Inspired by true events.
TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
Rebounding from repeated personal tragedy and intent on setting the record straight about his life’s work, Frank Lloyd Wright at age 65 gives a press conference about his new autobiography and plans for enduring the future
DIARY OF A DOMESTIC GODDESS (co-written with Kevin Duda).
Meet Maggie Jones, a quintessential 1950’s Iowa housewife who is “perfectly perfect in every single way.” Every morning, she sets out her husband’s suit and tie and shoes and socks, presses his shirt, whips the butter, bakes the bread, polishes the silver, knits a sweater, sets the table, weaves the napkins, fries the bacon, scrambles the eggs, picks up the paper, and pours the coffee – all before 8 a.m. But, something is missing. She can’t help but think that she can do more…but what? Perhaps a visit from a mysterious traveling salesman, who presents her with The Hollywood Housewife Records, will hold the key. Soon she is acting out zany, pre-recorded scenes with her favorite celebrities. As Maggie gets swept away by the stories and characters she plays, she discovers that learning to say what she really means makes her more “perfectly perfect” than she ever could have imagined.
INTERNAL BLEEDING is loosely based on a true story and is about an Olympic bound gymnast who becomes estranged from his parents after an accident leaves him paralyzed.
adventures of a faux designer handbag
ADVENTURES OF A FAUX DESIGNER HANDBAG is a comedy about three friends frantically trying to find a limited edition handbag. They are catapulted through space and time from the maze of Chinatown, New York, to the Splendid China theme park in Orlando, Florida, where they try to discover if authenticity is really in the eye of the beholder.
PAPER SON is the story of a young Chinese man who must learn to balance his American identity with his family’s immigrant journey. It’s 1952, and when he meets his match in an American-born-Chinese girl, romance and new questions about the name he lost in his secretly illegal immigration follow.