Alum Qui Nguyen’s recently sat down with a American Theater about his new play “Vietgone”! American Theater prefaces the interview with this: This week’s guest is playwright/geek theatre pioneer Qui Nguyen. Associate editor Diep Tran caught up with him at the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Rep (you can read her write-up here). The two of them bond over being Vietnamese-American and discuss Qui’s newest play Vietgone, a quasi-historical sex comedy about his parents, and the newest Vampire Cowboys show, Six Rounds of Vengence (running through May 16). Qui also explains the origins of the label “geek theatre,” and breaks down how to properly write a strong female character.
Listen to the full interview here
More about Qui
Originally from Arkansas, Qui Nguyen is a playwright, TV writer, and all around pop-culture nerd. When he’s not geeking out to indie comics and early 90s hip-hop, he spends his time being the Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys. His work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been praised as “Culturally Savvy Comedy” by The New York Times and “Tour De Force Theatre” by Time Out New York.
His plays include the musical War is F**king Awesome (currently being developed through the Sundance Theatre Lab); She Kills Monsters (The Flea); Soul Samurai (Ma-Yi Theater/Vampire Cowboys); Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players); Aliens vs Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); Trial by Water (Ma-Yi Theater); Bike Wreck (EST); and the VC productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G; Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; and Living Dead in Denmark. His scripts are published by Samuel French, Broadway Play Publishing, and Playscripts, Inc.
Recent honors include a 2014 Sundance Institute/Time Warner fellowship, a 2014 McCarter/Sallie B. Goodman fellowship, a recipient of the a 2013 AATE Distinguished Play Award for She Kills Monsters and 2012 & 2009 GLAAD Media Award nominations for She Kills Monsters and Soul Samurai.
Qui is proud member of New Dramatists, The Playwrights’ Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Ma-Yi Writers Lab.
