I’m a playwright, but until eight years ago, I had never written a play about my ethnic heritage. As a first generation Asian American immigrant who grew up on the east coast, attended a college with a 4% Asian population, and now lives and teaches in the Midwest, I have always had an “assimilated” “American” voice. I thought that was the default and was proud of it even – that my plays were accessible, relatable, and unalienating.

I’ve only recently started centering Asian American female protagonists. I’ve only recently shifted my playwriting pedagogy, telling students, “Yes, specify ethnicity because we don’t want to assume a default.” It’s daunting to finally make a private identity public, but I don't necessarily want to become a mouthpiece or merely take advantage of the cultural zeitgeist. I hope to speak for myself, and I hope that's enough.