Written and Devised Projects

Meowderous Intent

March 21st - 23rd

Asheville Fringe

Two zoology interns engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse with various animals involved in fateful cross-species interactions such as a baseball-vaporized pigeon and a man-eating tiger. The documentarian meddles in an animal world they don't understand. Maybe anthropomorphizing animals isn't the best way to understand them. Maybe understanding shouldn't be the goal at all.

Written and Devised with Adam Friedman and Kayla Ibarra

DEI: Discovering Everyone’s Issues

February 15th - 17th, 2024

Duke University

A combined DEI workshop and show devised in collaboration with students at Duke University. The audience participates in exercises and discussions and watches as the very workshop itself falls apart around them. The play looks at the ways that a lack of buy-in and institutional support can cause spaces for social progress to harm people from the communities they’re meant to serve.

Devised by Blaze Gambla, em liptow, Jen Gobaira, Siddhesh Hushangabade, Tess Redman, and Tom Zhang. Lights by Bill Webb, Costumes by Hannah Haverkamp.

Photos by Les Todd

How the Grinch Reversed Racism

May 2022 @ Atlanta Fringe

March 2023 @ Asheville Fringe

August 2023 @ Indy Fringe

A devised show about the Grinch being Asian and the bad faith derailing of conversations about race. Or:
Tom thinks the Grinch is Chinese like them. Adam barely knows who that is. Together they’ll rip him open to investigate capitalism, ecoterrorism, and maybe a bit of casual xenophobia.

Devised and Written with Adam Friedman, directed by Kayla Ibarra

Indy Fringe

Atlanta Run

What the Folk?!

Spring 2022

Emory University

What the Folk?! is an experimental workshop in storytelling and memory. Inspired by the rewriting of history in the wake of the January 6th insurrection, the Pinkys (Juliana Morgan Alvarez, Ryan Perez Adame, Sarahjeen François, and Tom Zhang) worked with students at Emory University to devise theatrical moments around recollection, folk tales/songs, and mass surveillance.

 Witness the Yellow Peril

January 18th - 19th, 29th - 31st, 2020

Son of Semele Theater

Witness the Yellow Peril is a theatrical comedy that asks what it means to be American by examining Chinese American stereotypes through humor. The play jumps between various US entertainment genres including stand-up, film noir, 80s style sitcoms, and reality court shows. Each genre focuses on a different stereotype. Throughout the piece, we follow the Yellow Peril as they confront and unpack the label Asian American.

Devised with and edited by Juliana Morgan Alvarez and Ryan Perez Adame. Written by Tom Zhang. Directed by Charles Yee. Costumes by Yuan Yuan Liang, Sound by Tan Sangmanee, Projection Design by Kamyi Lee.

Workshop Performance @ CalArts

Photos by Hao Feng