TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Presents:
Tiger Style! by Mike Lew
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Previews: April 3-5, 2024
Show Runs: April 6-28, 2024

Ivy-League graduates and squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen spent their whole childhoods totally crushing it. But adulthood? Epic fail. After he’s passed over for a promotion and her loser boyfriend ghosts her, they do what any self-respecting thirtysomethings would do: Blame their parents and run away to China. Problem solved...right? (Spoiler alert: Wrong. So, so wrong.) From the OC to Shenzen, Mike Lew’s hilarious new satire is a claws-out look at the triumphs and traumas of tiger parenting and what it takes to make it out the other side alive.

https://www.theatreworks.org/season53/tiger-style/

San Francisco Playhouse Presents:
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Previews: May 2-7, 2024
Show Runs: May 8-June 15, 2024

Ghosts of the past continue to haunt in Williams seminal play The Glass Menagerie. Amanda Wingfield is a faded remnant of Southern gentility who now lives in a cramped St. Louis apartment with her aimless son, Tom, and her debilitatingly shy daughter, Laura. With their father absent and the Great Depression in motion, the siblings find comfort in their distractions — alcohol, movies and writing for Tom and a collection of glass animals for Laura. When a gentleman caller arrives for dinner, the Wingfield family is flooded with hope. But it’s uncertain if this mysterious visitor will change things for the better or shatter a family’s fragile illusions.

https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/2023-2024-season/the-glass-menagerie/

San Francisco Playhouse Presents:
Chinglish by David Henry Hwang
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Previews: May 4-9, 2023
Show Runs: May 10 - June 10, 2023

In an effort to drum up business for his family’s company, Ohio sign manufacturer Daniel Cavanaugh travels to China hoping to secure a lucrative contract. He soon discovers that the complexities of such a venture far outstrip the expected differences in language, customs and manners. In Chinglish, Tony Winner David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) shows with humor and heart that some things aren’t so easily translated.

https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/2022-2023-season/chinglish/

Center Repertory Company Presents:
Red Bike by Caridad Svich
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Previews: February 4-5, 2023
Show Runs, February 7 - February 25, 2023

Remember when you were eleven years old and you had a bike, one that made you dream about a world bigger than the one in which you live? This is that memory. Except it is now. Red Bike explores the possibilities the world has to offer from the eyes of an 11-year-old’s adventures on their Red Bike!

https://www.lesherartscenter.org/programs/center-repertory-company

City Lights Theatre Company Presents The World Premiere of:
Waiting for Next by Jeffrey Lo
Directed by Leslie Martinson
Previews: May 19-20, 2022
Show Runs, May 21 - June 12, 2022

Frank is in a school parking lot waiting for his parents (like he always is) when he meets Marcus, who is also waiting (like he always is). What comes next is a friendship that defines both of their lives. This world-premiere play follows the boys from ages 12 to 40 as they grow up and apart and together again, supporting each other through school, relationships, and some of the darkest and brightest places life can take us.

www.cltc.org

City Lights Theatre Company Presents:
Vietgone by Qui Nguyen
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Previews: March 24-25
Show Runs: March 26 - April 24, 2022

It's 1975, Saigon has fallen, and Quang and Tong should be grateful they've made it to the United States. But he lost his wife and she lost her brother. And Arkansas is way too weird. In this irreverent comedy told in Qui Nguyen's audacious style, these two Vietnamese refugees try to find their way home, wherever that is. In the process, they just might find each other. Modern hip-hop meets 1970s America in an exciting mashup of history and cultures.

www.cltc.org

Capital Stage Presents:
The Great Leap by Lauren Yee
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Previews: January 26 - 28, 2022
Show Runs: January 29 - February 27, 2022

When an American college basketball team travels to Beijing for a “friendship” game in the post-Cultural Revolution 1980s, both countries try to tease out the politics behind this newly popular sport. Cultures clash as the Chinese coach tries to pick up moves from the Americans and Chinese-American player Manford spies on his opponents. Inspired by events in her own father’s life, Yee “applies a devilishly keen satiric eye to…her generation (and its parents).”

“A beautiful play with vibrant characters and rich history crackling with fresh dialog.” – BROADWAY WORLD

https://capstage.org/

San Jose Stage Presents:
The Great Leap by Lauren Yee
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Previews: September 29 - October 1, 2021
Show Runs: October 2 - October 24, 2021

Basketball, family, and Tiananmen Square intersect in this witty and fast-paced comedic drama.

When an American basketball team travels to Beijing for an exhibition game in 1989, the drama goes deeper than the strain between countries. Tensions rise right up to the final buzzer as a pivotal moment in history collides with the action in the arena. Driven by rapid-fire dialogue, THE GREAT LEAP explores the cultural and political risks of raising your voice and standing your ground.

https://www.thestage.org/

Los Altos Stage Company Presents:
Tiny Beautiful Thing Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed
Adapted for the Stage by Nia Vardalos
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
To Be Offered Live In-Person & Virtually On Demand
Show Runs: September 9 - October 3, 2021
Live-Streamed on: 9/10, 9/11, 9/12, 9/17, 9/18 and 9/19

Based on the acclaimed book by Cheryl Strayed (author of the best-selling Wild), the story follows Sugar, an online advice columnist who uses her personal experiences to help the real-life readers who pour their hearts out to her. Tiny Beautiful Things is a play about reaching when you’re stuck, healing when you’re broken, and finding the courage to take on the questions that have no answers.

https://losaltosstage.org/tiny-beautiful-things/

Capital Stage Presents (in a co-production with SF Playhouse):
Sacramento Premiere
Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
To Be Offered Live In-Person & Virtually On Demand
Previews: August 25 - 27, 2021
Show Runs: August 28 - September 26, 2021

During World War II, Gordon Hirabayashi, a student at University of Washington in Seattle, fights the US government’s orders to forcibly remove and mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. As he struggles to reconcile his country’s betrayal with his passionate belief in the US Constitution, Gordon begins a 50-year journey toward a greater understanding of America’s triumphs—and a confrontation with its failures.

“A gripping story about a shameful chapter of our history when the United States government looked at its own people and saw the enemy.” – THE NEW YORK TIMES

https://capstage.org/

San Francisco Playhouse Presents:
Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Starring Jomar Tagatac

Hold These Truths is based on the incredible true story of one of America’s unsung heroes. In February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the relocation and incarceration of tens of thousands of innocent American citizens of Japanese ancestry. Among these citizens was Gordon Hirabayashi, whose defiance of the internment order catapulted him into a 50-year journey of conscience to protect the Constitution from a country that viewed him as the enemy. Hold These Truths was inspired by many hours of interviews conducted by playwright Jeanne Sakata with Mr. Hirabayashi as well as numerous primary sources from his life.

https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/2020-2021-season/hold-these-truths/

Capital Stage Presents:
The Great Leap by Lauren Yee
Directed by Jeffrey Lo

San Francisco, spring 1989. Manford Lum, locally renowned on the sidewalk basketball courts of Chinatown, talks his way onto a college team, just before they travel to Beijing for a “friendship” game. When they arrive, China is in the throes of the post-Cultural Revolution era, and Manford must juggle international politics and his own personal history. Inspired by events from the playwright’s father’s life and (short-lived) basketball career.

Hillbarn Theatre Presents:
Laughter on the 23rd Floor by Neil Simon
Directed by Jeffrey Lo

This comedic play is inspired by the playwright Neil Simon’s youthful experience as a staff writer on Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows.” It features all the attendant comic drama as the harried writing staff frantically scrambles to top each other with gags while competing for the attention of star madman “Max Prince.” Simon is widely regarded as one of the most successful, prolific and performed playwrights in the world, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor was hailed by Variety as “the funniest comedy on Broadway in years and likely to remain the funniest comedy on Broadway for years.”

Palo Alto Players Presents:
A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath
Directed by Jeffrey Lo

Nominated for eight Tony Awards in 2017, this sharp-witted sequel to Ibsen’s masterpiece begins with a knock at the door.  15 years ago Nora walked out that same door, leaving behind her husband and children to pursue a life as a fiercely independent woman.  Now Nora writes scandalous novels that encourage women to break free from the bonds of marriage and find their own destiny. When a powerful judge blackmails Nora she comes home to ask for help from the family she abandoned.  What happens when the mother and wife that walked out the door has to confront the family she left behind?  A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2 is a blistering and very funny meditation on marriage and the high cost of personal fulfillment.

“A smart, funny and utterly engrossing play!” –The New York Times

THEATREWORKS SILICON VALLEY PRESENTS:
THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE BY JULIA CHO
DIRECTED BY JEFFREY LO

SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE FOR WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS

A quirky, comic drama about communication—its potential and its limits —this romantic parable for our times features a linguist at a loss for words, especially the vocabulary of the heart. Balanced delightfully between affection and adversity, it is the whimsical, life-affirming chronicle of a brilliant scientist who fights to preserve the dying languages of far-flung cultures, only to neglect the promise and passion of his own.

“Passionate. Wise and wonderful.” 
Talkin’ Broadway

Los Altos Stage Company Presents:
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, adapted by Frank Galati
Directed by Jeffrey Lo

The Joad family is traveling from Oklahoma to California to escape the ravages of the Dust Bowl. Fiercely proud but reduced to poverty, volatile young Tom Joad grows increasingly impatient with the intolerance and exploitation the family encounters on their journey. The Grapes of Wrath is a soaring and deeply moving affirmation of the indomitability of the human spirit, and the essential goodness and strength which resides in the hearts and minds of the “common man” throughout the world.

A thrilling theatrical achievement that gets its power from the still sharp relevance of its human message.– The New York Post

The Pear Theatre Presents
Spending the End of the World on OkCupid by Jeffrey Lo
Directed by Michael Champlin

This wonderfully quirky play portrays a modern day prophet predicting the disappearance of half the world's population and warns those remaining that when the clock strikes midnight, they are the next to go. With 12 hours to live, some spend time with their friends, most spend time with their family, others spend the end of the world on OkCupid.

For Tickets: https://www.thepear.org/season17/okcupid

DISCLAIMER: Spending the End of the World on OkCupid is not produced or endorsed by, or in any way affiliated with Match Grouo, LLC or Humor Rainbow Inc., the exclusive owners of the OKCUPID trademarks.

San Jose Stage Company Presents:
Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Gurguis
Directed by Jeffrey Lo

Retired cop and recent widower Walter "Pops" Washington slings back whiskey while his newly paroled son and friends wander in and out of his longtime apartment on Riverside Drive. The dog is a nuisance, the landlord wants him gone, and the NYPD is demanding a settlement on an outstanding lawsuit. After an enlightening encounter, Pops decides to take things in his own hands with a final ultimatum, while everyone else hustles to get what they think they deserve.

• "Somewhere south of cozy and north of dangerous, west of sitcom and due east of tragedy." -Ben Brantley, The New York Times

• 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

• 2015 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play

Hillbarn Theatre Presents:
Noises Off by Michael Frayn
Directed by Jeffrey Lo

Hailed as “the funniest farce ever written,” Noises Off presents a manic menagerie of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing’s On. Doors slamming, on and offstage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious and classically comic play.
Winner! 1982 Olivier Award, Best Play
Winner! 1982 London Evening Standard Award, Best Comedy
Nominee! 1984 Tony® Award, Best Play
Nominee! 1984 Drama Desk Award, Best Play

BETWEEN US
Repertory begins February 18. Runs through March 10.
Live Oak Theater, Berkeley
Theatrefirst.com for more info and tickets

The personal is political in seven intimate portraits over two programs in repertory.

BETWEEN US invites you to meet a leader of the Delano Grape Strike, a woman attending her first protest, a voodoo queen, the Uruguayan woman who will fight her government to get justice for her murdered sister, a black woman contemplating the first MLK day, a US general who foils a coup on Roosevelt and one of the woman who led the redress movement for the over 100,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII.

PROGRAM A

LAVEAU: A Conjuring of Marie Laveau
By Brit Frazier
Directed by Margo Hall
Dezi Solèy/Marie Laveau

SEVEN FINGERS: The Story of Larry Itliong
Written and directed by Jeffrey Lo
Mike Sagun/Larry Itliong

PUSSY HAT: The Story of One Woman’s March
By Katie May
Directed by Phoebe Moyer
Jennie Brick/Sharon

JUST ONE DAY: A Story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy
Written by Cleavon Smith
Directed by Elizabeth Carter
Sam Jackson/Esther

**

PROGRAM B

LA PROFESORA: The Story of Nibia Sabalsagaray
Written and directed by Noelle Viñas
Virginia Blanco/Nibia Sabalsagaray

THE RACKET: The Story of Smedley Butler
By James Tracy and Jon Tracy
Directed by Robert Parsons
Aaron Murphy/Smedley Butler

TURNING THE PAGE: The Story of Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga
By Jeanne Sakata
Directed by Jeffrey Lo
Heidi Kobara/Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga

At the tail end of 2017, I heard an interview with writers Ta-Nehisi Coates and Bill Simmons where they likened the act of writing for a writer to training for a boxer. The more disciplined you are with it, the sharper you stay, the better you become. This inspired me to commit to writing a play a day in 2018. Much like the amazing Suzan-Lori Parks, I want to promise myself the time each day to stay present, stay focused and stay dedicated to my craft. Who knows if anything will come of these pieces after the fact, but I will be posting these plays each day of 2018 hoping to become a better artist and perhaps learning a bit about myself along the way. To read the plays, click here.