Tracy Held

Tracy Held

Tracy Held (she/they) is a hapa Asian American award-winning playwright and screenwriter committed to understanding the complexity and nuance of being human. She is the Artistic Director of All Terrain Theater and Co-Founder of the 31 Plays in 31 Days Project. Her plays have been produced across the country and her political musical short films and web series are available online. She has a BS in Conservation...
Tracy Held (she/they) is a hapa Asian American award-winning playwright and screenwriter committed to understanding the complexity and nuance of being human. She is the Artistic Director of All Terrain Theater and Co-Founder of the 31 Plays in 31 Days Project. Her plays have been produced across the country and her political musical short films and web series are available online. She has a BS in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC, Berkeley and an MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University with Rob Handel (13P). She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America.

Plays

  • Plastic Nest by Tracy Held
    Recommendations: 10
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: marriage, ecology + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: marriage, ecology, birds, divorce, Berkeley, plastic pollution
    When a married couple moves into their first house together, they have to find a way to renovate the home and let go of the past while a pair of nesting scrub jays outside their window struggles to care for their chicks in a neighborhood littered with trash.

    This play was developed through the Carnegie Mellon University Dramatic Writing program New Works series, The Reading Series in Los Angeles...
    When a married couple moves into their first house together, they have to find a way to renovate the home and let go of the past while a pair of nesting scrub jays outside their window struggles to care for their chicks in a neighborhood littered with trash.

    This play was developed through the Carnegie Mellon University Dramatic Writing program New Works series, The Reading Series in Los Angeles, and the HBMG Foundation's National Winter Playwrights Retreat.
  • Intertwined by Tracy Held
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6–9
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    Genre: drama, period
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    Keyword: chinese, Multiracial + 3 more
    Genre: drama, period
    Keyword: chinese, Multiracial, multi-cultural, anti-miscegenation law, San Francisco
    It's 1906 and Chinese immigrant Win Chow has fled his home country to create a better life for himself in San Francisco. After establishing a successful business, Win gets closer to his dream, but laws banning interracial marriage are pulling him from the woman he loves while anti-immigration laws push him towards a Chinese woman he barely knows.
  • Sweet, Sweet Revolution by Tracy Held
    Cast: 
    15–30
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    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 1 more
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    Keyword: farm, agriculture + 6 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, political
    Keyword: farm, agriculture, Monsanto, family, chinese, central valley, multi-cultural, Multiracial
    To save her family’s orange grove, a young woman is forced to take on the all-powerful Monsanto Corporation.

    This large-cast play follows a multiracial family of 14 as they try to determine whether they can continue to run their family farm or whether they have to sell it in the shadow of the large corporate farms.
  • A is for Adeline by Tracy Held
    Cast: 
    6–8
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: women's suffrage, language + 3 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period, political
    Keyword: women's suffrage, language, women entrepreneurs, activism, religion
    Inspired by Adeline Dutton Train Whitney's early entrepreneurship as the inventor of alphabet blocks and her vehement opposition to women's suffrage, "A is for Adeline" is a fictionalized story of the movement towards suffrage with additional characters inspired by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Emma Goldman.

    This play was commissioned by Loud & Unladylike and...
    Inspired by Adeline Dutton Train Whitney's early entrepreneurship as the inventor of alphabet blocks and her vehement opposition to women's suffrage, "A is for Adeline" is a fictionalized story of the movement towards suffrage with additional characters inspired by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Emma Goldman.

    This play was commissioned by Loud & Unladylike and was featured in its 2015 festival.
  • Suddenly Split & Swiping Over by Tracy Held
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    1
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: dating, breakup + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: dating, breakup, online dating, Relationships
    Kelly has been waiting forever for her long-term boyfriend to just propose already, so when he suggests they see other people, she is unprepared to begin dating in the digital age. Follow Kelly’s fun and sexy journey of starting over in a world where her next love could be one swipe away.

    This is a 50-minute solo performance piece in which the actor plays multiple parts.

    We...
    Kelly has been waiting forever for her long-term boyfriend to just propose already, so when he suggests they see other people, she is unprepared to begin dating in the digital age. Follow Kelly’s fun and sexy journey of starting over in a world where her next love could be one swipe away.

    This is a 50-minute solo performance piece in which the actor plays multiple parts.

    We toured this show to the Hollywood Fringe Festival and to San Francisco, and here are some of the responses:

    “The show is brilliantly written and produced by Tracy Held Potter,” writes Bob Leggett from Indie Voice.

    Audiences seemed to like us! Here are comments from the Hollywood Fringe website:

    “Very funny and very sexy”
    “Loved it!"
    “I laughed the whole time”
    “Incredibly relatable”
    “The script was full of detail and insight"
    “Beautiful mix of belly laughs in the audience coupled with poignant honesty"
  • Princess Audrey by Tracy Held
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama, young audiences
    Genre: drama, young audiences
    Aunt Beth is determined to empower her niece with bedtime stories featuring multi-dimensional female protagonists, but all Audrey is interested in are princess stories. Can these two wants co-exist before Audrey's bedtime?

    This 8-minute play questions how stories influence our views of the world and challenges what it means to be a feminist.

  • Public Transportation by Tracy Held
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama, political
    Genre: drama, political
    Years after a devastating shooting involving racial profiling by police, can two passengers on a train bridge the racial divide?

    This 10-minute play is inspired by the aftermath of the killing of Oscar Grant, a black unarmed passenger, on a public BART train by a white BART police officer in 2009. The story explores the nuanced ways in which race impacts how members of the same community interact...
    Years after a devastating shooting involving racial profiling by police, can two passengers on a train bridge the racial divide?

    This 10-minute play is inspired by the aftermath of the killing of Oscar Grant, a black unarmed passenger, on a public BART train by a white BART police officer in 2009. The story explores the nuanced ways in which race impacts how members of the same community interact with each other and recover from tragedy.