Playwrights Lloyd Suh and Leah Nanako Winkler, in Conversation

Listen in as EST Member Artists and Youngblood alumni Lloyd Suh and Leah Nanako Winkler speak with our host Rachel Lin about their trajectories as writers. From the early years of figuring out their place in the New York City theater scene to the current state of the playwriting landscape, Lloyd and Leah share their perspectives on the challenges and joys of writing for the American Theater. Press play to hear their takes and the lessons they've learned along the way.

 

This fall, the New York premiere of Lloyd's play, Franklinland, directed by Chika Ike, will begin performances at EST on October 9th, 2024. Tickets will become available HERE.

 

Lloyd Suh is the author of plays including The Heart Sellers, The Chinese Lady, The Far Country (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Bina’s Six Apples, American Hwangap, and others, which have been produced at the Atlantic Theater Company, Public Theater, Alliance Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, the National Asian American Theatre Company, and Ensemble Studio Theatre among others, including internationally at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and with PCPA in Seoul, Korea. Awards include the Steinberg Playwright Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Herb Alpert Award, and Horton Foote Prize. A resident playwright at New Dramatists and a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, he was elected in 2016 to the Dramatists Guild Council. His play Franklinland will have its NY premiere at EST this fall.

 

Leah Nanako Winkler is an award-winning playwright from Kamakura, Japan and Lexington Kentucky. Her plays include God Said This , Two Mile Hollow, Kentucky, Hot Asian Doctor Husband, and The Brightest Thing in the World, as well as many short plays all produced Off-Broadway and regionally. Accolades and fellowships: Yale Drama Series Prize, Mark O’Donnell Prize from The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons, Audible’s Emerging Playwrights Fund, Jerome New York Fellow at the Lark, Francesca Primus Prize, and a Steinberg Playwright Award . She is published by American Theater Magazine, Nanjing University’s Stage and Screen Reviews, Yale University Press, Backstage, Smith and Krauss, Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service.  TV credits include  A24’s Ramy, where she along with the other writers won a Peabody Award, Love Life on HBO MAX,  Schmigadoon!, among others. She is currently a co-executive producer and writer on Elsbeth. Upcoming: Crazy Rich Asians the musical.

 

Producer & Host: Rachel Lin

Sound Designer & Engineer: Caroline Eng

Artwork: Harrison Densmore