Nina Ki

Silver and Richie are siblings without parents. As the two grow up, they cling to one another as each other's family, and help one another navigate their positions as social outsiders - Silver as a genderqueer weirdo, and Richie as a drug dealing gangbanger. In a parallel world, Bear is ousted from his clan and through a gesture of filial piety, is turned by Hwanung, a gay Korean god, into a human woman. S/he is then coerced into being Hwanung's pregnant beard, and has Hwanung's child. As family bonds begin to disintegrate, and the god-world begins to crumble, Silver and Bear must redefine home for themselves, to find power through the magic of stories.

Yuli, a teenage vampire hunter, moves across the country after a run-in with a vampire who kidnapped her sister, and left her scarred. Deeply withdrawn, she begins to open up to her school counselor and a love interest named Arsenic; as these relationships begin to deepen, however, she begins to suspect her neighbor of being the vampire who attacked her. Yuli breaks into his apartment with Arsenic in order to rescue her sister, but instead comes face to face with the traumatic events of her past.

Kam, queer Korean adoptee and former reality TV star, has just been broken up with by her longtime girlfriend. She quickly re-immerses herself in the alcohol- and lust-fueled world of the Los Angeles queer scene, where she uses and is used by women, and has sex without the burden of intimacy. Though a series of casual hookups, Kam moves from enjoying these casual hookups to questioning her value as a person - and finally reaches rock bottom in the form of a moment of intimacy with the one person who has always loved and believed in her: her best friend, Hyun-Joo.

Told between alternating storylines in the past and present, “Egghead” is the story of Jane Park, a young Korean American woman who struggles with the projections placed upon her based on her identity as an Asian femme. In the past, she is overwhelmed by the immense pressure that her immigrant father places on her to achieve, as well as the stereotypes and micro-aggressions she experiences from her white peers. When Jane plagiarizes an English paper—and is discovered, she is rejected from all of the colleges she has applied to. She lies to her parents about her acceptance into college and masquerades as a med student, fnding freedom through her job at a cafe and her relationship with her white boyfriend, Jordan. Eventually, Jane's parents catch on to her lies, and force her to remain against her will at her childhood home. Meanwhile, in the present, Jane is detained by police, and jailed for the crimes of conspiring to commit a home invasion, and the murder of her mother. Her support systems fall away, including support from her father and Jordan, until there is only one person left who still believes in her—her younger sister, Claudia. With Claudia, Jane confronts the truth of what actually happened on the night of the home invasion—and examines the events and societal conditions that lead her to participate in it.

Rin - closed off and still coping with the loss of a previous dog - takes on the responsibility of caring for a special needs dog named Hannibal. Can the two open their hearts to one another, to become the family they both need - or will all the trauma they've experienced get in the way?

"OriGen Story" is a biomythographical play collage about the life experiences of queer Korean American playwright, Nina Ki. The play itself deals with themes of queer femme identity, Korean American identity, assimilation, immigrant experiences, generational trauma, and chosen family. While the play in its entirety consists of 86 parts, the work invites collaboration and requires directors or performers to collage (i.e. choose any number of pieces, in any order) the play's pieces together for performance. The pieces themselves takes on a variety of forms, including diagrams, poetry, monologues, and dialogue.

Angel, a late bloomer and newly queer woman, moves to a new city to follow her dreams of becoming a writer. She meets Sylvie, another queer Asian woman, and falls quickly, deeply in love. At the same time, Angel works on an adaptation of a traditional Korean folktale called "The Fairy and the Woodcutter"- in this fantastical world, a Fairy has her magical clothes stolen by a Woodcutter, who traps her on earth and blackmails her into being his wife and bearing his children. As Angel and Sylvie's dynamic takes a turn for the worse - and as the Fairy adapts to her new life on the earth - the two stories begin to influence each other, until both Angel and the Fairy must both make choices about what freedom and love mean to them, and what kinds of love they will choose to accept in their lives.

Rory is an elderly Japanese American woman and hoarder who is haunted by the mistakes of her past. She lives alone with an imagined version of her family, until one day, she is visited in real life by her estranged non-binary child, J. At the same time, Rory's house begins to show signs of a demonic infestation - the demon begins taking over Rory's mind and home, and Rory believes it to be her deceased daughter, Franny. As J struggles to connect with Rory and address Rory's mental health issues, the demon demands that Rory give it her soul - until an encounter with J forces Rory to make a decision about whether to live in the present, or die with the ghosts of the past.

"White Tiger" follows Khloe, a Korean American high school student and artist, and her immigrant mother Young-Mi. Khloe wants to attend art school after she graduates, but Young-Mi is firmly against it, preferring her daughter remain close to home and work at the family laundromat. Khloe begins having mysterious dreams about a genderqueer Korean immigrant named Gil and their mother Dal-Rae as they emigrate from Korea to a henequen plantation in Mexico in the early 1900s. As the political and social tensions in both the past (the Mexican Revolution) and the present (the first Trump presidency) rise, both mother-child pairs experience deep interpersonal conflict - Khloe with Young-Mi because Khloe has secretly applied and gotten into art school, and Gil with Dal-Rae because of Gil’s insistence in joining the civil war. These rifts set off a series of events that cause reverberations across time.

Jimmy, Jinho, and Yoon are three generations of Korean men who have emigrated to America. In the present, Jimmy, a gangbanger and new father, dreams of making money through drug dealing to open up his own martial arts studio. In the past, Jinho, Jimmy's father, aspires to be a singer and guitarist. Yoon, Jinho's father, wants simply to be given the chance to learn. Enmeshed in a cycle of alcoholism and abuse, each struggles against their filial duties and responsibilities as jangsons (oldest sons) and their own hopes and dreams for themselves. In the end, Jimmy must decide whether to continue the cycle, or forge ahead in his own version of the American dream.

A three part radio drama series, originally commissioned by Yale Summer Cabaret.

For Benjamin, coming to America has been an opportunity for him to explore his orientation and identity – even while he carries with him his parents’ dream of him returning to Korea to settle down and take over the family business. Benjamin, who has always had a gift for being able to speak with the dead (and has always hated it) is visited late one night by the ghost of his ex-boyfriend Leon. He reveals that he was murdered by a serial killer targeting gay Asian men, and asks Benjamin to help him find the protective necklace that he always wore – an act which will finally bring him peace. The request leads Benjamin to find allies, re-examine his past with Leon, and finally – come to terms with who he is.

A young Korean American girl struggles to grow up without her mother, who has been deported. A sea lion pup is forced to take on the duties of an adult sea lion, when his mother and he are affected by climate change. A play that examines loss, healing, and the connection between all living things.

Grandmother Choi, a North Korean defector, encounters Death during her escape from North Korea - and comes face to face with the choices she made, to get here.

In old Korea, a shy girl named Yuwul lives with her father, a retired admiral, just outside of a sleepy little fishing village near the ocean. Then, one day, the Old Admiral - as well as all the able-bodied men of the village - are called away to fight in another war. When Yuwul discovers it is just a trick to attack the village, she calls upon her wits, bravery, and her animal friends to save the day.

Former high school queen bee Jiwon is mysteriously invited to a Zoom conference with two other members of her old posse. As the mystery of why they were invited unravels they must ask themselves - can you ever escape who you were and the terrible things you did in high school? Or do some things never die?

Sick, a member of the gang KTG, Mina, a painter and pastor's kid, and Isobel, an adoptee, delve into their life experiences to explore what being queer Korean women means, to them. As they come up against oppression - in dealings with police, within education, and within personal relationships - they find power together in a cacophony of truth.

Azad, a proudly Armenian trans masc/non-binary person and drag king, revisits his relationship with his mother before his drag performance. A play about memory, pomegranates, the effects of immigration, and parent-child relationships in regards to queer identity.

Kyle, a gay Korean man, looks back on the past and his struggle to reconcile his version of the American dream with his mother's.

Charles, a teenage boy, asks his father to tell him he loves him - but his father says men don't say "I love you" to each other.

Yuri, a Korean American, is haunted by a Gawi demon - and her experiences with whiteness - throughout her life.

Delilah, who is in the throes of a midlife crisis, is in the process of putting her dog William Jones down when she discovers that Earth is being invaded by aliens, and it is up to her to save the human race.

Local Korean mafioso Brian Park conducts a series of interviews with people named Kim Seonwoo, trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious incident involving his favorite grandmother - and also practices his English.

One wants their reflection, Eno, to talk to them - but Eno refuses, only copying what One says.

Jimmy, an idealistic young pothead, wanders through the forest and accidentally crosses into territory protected by a mutant dolphin of the One Spotted Flipper clan.

Luis and Tommy discover that their father has sold their dog Ranger to a man who lives up north. Younger brother Tommy reveals that he has money saved up, money that could buy their dog back. But Luis has other ideas: he wants to use the money to escape the small town that he's always hated. Can he say goodbye to everything he's ever known, including the brother who loves him?

Evie, a high school student, faces an uncertain future - her school's administration is considering suspending her for punching a classmate who has outed her. Her former girlfriend is distancing herself by denying the whole relationship. Her parents, who are divorced, are arguing about whose fault it is and what they should do with her. Desperate, Evie calls on the only friend who has always been there for her, to help- her childhood imaginary friend, Mr. Fluffles.