Jesse Jae Hoon

Jesse Jae Hoon

Jesse Jae Hoon combines raucous comedy with a deeply felt sense of urgency to investigate power relationships, class & labor dynamics, generational politics, the energy of activism, and our responsibility towards a broader community.

Currently the CRNY Resident Artist at Ma-Yi Theater Company, a 2023-2025 member of the Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group, a 2024 MacDowell Fellow, and...
Jesse Jae Hoon combines raucous comedy with a deeply felt sense of urgency to investigate power relationships, class & labor dynamics, generational politics, the energy of activism, and our responsibility towards a broader community.

Currently the CRNY Resident Artist at Ma-Yi Theater Company, a 2023-2025 member of the Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group, a 2024 MacDowell Fellow, and a 2022-2023 Writing Fellow at The Playwrights Realm. Under commission by Theater J.

Plays include SOMEBODY IS LOOKING BACK AT ME, EMERGENCY WINE & CHEESE FUNDRAISER OF THE AMAGANSETT DEMOCRATS' ASSOCIATION (Finalist: O'Neill 2022), DONG XUAN CENTER (Finalist: Princess Grace 2022, O'Neill 2019), 12 CHAIRS, THE HOUSE OF BILLY PAUL, I'VE GOT A SINKING FEELING IN THE PIT OF MY STOMACH, and CHICKEN IS CONDEMNED TO BE FREE.

Member of the Orchard Project's Inaugural Adaptation Lab (2022); Page Break; LIT Council w/ TANK NYC, The COOP Clusterf*** cohort (February 2021). 2022 semifinalist for the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission.

BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch/Playwrights Horizons, MFA in Playwriting from CUNY Hunter College.

Plays

  • Somebody is Looking Back At Me by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: Asian American, community + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, experimental, political, satire
    Keyword: Asian American, community, creation of identity, class, housing crisis, public housing, American political protest
    In this time-jumping fever dream satire, bestselling Asian American author Olivia returns to the Chinatown she wrote about, but the only thing that feels welcoming in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood is a group of successful old college classmates who have recently moved in and are suddenly very excited to hang out with her. Olivia believes she has finally found her community — but the more she learns about...
    In this time-jumping fever dream satire, bestselling Asian American author Olivia returns to the Chinatown she wrote about, but the only thing that feels welcoming in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood is a group of successful old college classmates who have recently moved in and are suddenly very excited to hang out with her. Olivia believes she has finally found her community — but the more she learns about her new friends’ role in transforming the area, the more she feels like she has to choose between the lifestyle her career has afforded her and the values she preaches in her writing.
    --
    SOMEBODY IS LOOKING BACK AT ME was developed as part of The Playwrights Realm’s Writing Fellowship (Katherine Kovner, Founding Artistic Director | Roberta Pereira, Executive Director).
  • I've Got a Sinking Feeling in the Pit of My Stomach by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: mystery/thriller, political + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Berlin, Germany + 8 more
    Genre: mystery/thriller, political, tragedy
    Keyword: Berlin, Germany, Weimar Republic, coup, Political Thriller, Romantic, historical fiction, fascism, Boxing, Women's boxing
    The Great War is over. The Kaiser has abdicated. Chaos rules in 1920 Berlin. Communist Greta and Liberal Christa spend their days on opposite sides of the boxing ring and their nights cuddling in a disheveled Neukölln apartment. But they will soon find themselves on opposite sides of a building coup d'etat in this tragic romantic thriller about loyalty, courage, the rise of the far right, and the fight to stay alive.
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, Am I Irredeemable? by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: benedict cumberbatch, lehrstück + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental, political, satire
    Keyword: benedict cumberbatch, lehrstück, learning play, capitalism, Hope, ethics, anti-capitalism, Individualism and Collectivism
    Best friends Irene and Mandip can't focus on their jobs at the nameless national coffee chain and want to change the horrifying shit around them – not knowing where to turn, they seek answers from their personal moral compass: actor Benedict Cumberbatch. A dark satire and a riff on Bertolt Brecht's JASAGER and NEINSAGER, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, AM I IRREDEEMABLE? teaches about the dangers of seeking...
    Best friends Irene and Mandip can't focus on their jobs at the nameless national coffee chain and want to change the horrifying shit around them – not knowing where to turn, they seek answers from their personal moral compass: actor Benedict Cumberbatch. A dark satire and a riff on Bertolt Brecht's JASAGER and NEINSAGER, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, AM I IRREDEEMABLE? teaches about the dangers of seeking change through rugged individualism and consumption. A Lehrstück created in collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater Company as part of Creatives Rebuild New York's Artist Employment Program.
  • Do You Think I'm Annoying? by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: adoptee, Mental Health + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: adoptee, Mental Health, Jews of Color, young adult, coming of age, OCD, mental illness, anxiety
    Kayla and Brenna have it all together – as long as Kayla knows you don’t hate her and Brenna has an exacting plan to anticipate your needs. They don’t need to think about the adoption agency they keep saying they’ll go to for information about their frist family or the codependent ticking time bomb of their friendship! EVERYTHING. IS. FINE. It is, right? You’d tell them if it wasn’t, right? DO YOU THINK I'...
    Kayla and Brenna have it all together – as long as Kayla knows you don’t hate her and Brenna has an exacting plan to anticipate your needs. They don’t need to think about the adoption agency they keep saying they’ll go to for information about their frist family or the codependent ticking time bomb of their friendship! EVERYTHING. IS. FINE. It is, right? You’d tell them if it wasn’t, right? DO YOU THINK I'M ANNOYING? is an anxious coming-of-age cyclone of obsessive compulsion, debilitating self-hatred, and the agonizing fear of being unlovable.

    DO YOU THINK I'M ANNOYING? was originally commissioned by Theater J’s Expanding the Canon Program.
  • BAGS by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: food scarcity, poverty + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political
    Keyword: food scarcity, poverty, gentrification, Chinese American, shame, food
    This play is a circle. When federal funding for food banks can only provide blocks of fortified cheese, Diana Song and Lanie set out against all the odds to feed their neighborhood. Part Lehrstück and part raucous comedy, BAGS explores the dishearteningly cyclical nature of organizing and teaches about the importance of continued engagement & the power of mutual aid.
  • 12 Chairs by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–7
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 6 more
    ·
    Keyword: Screwball Comedy, adventure + 6 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy, farce, movement/physical, parody/spoof, political, satire
    Keyword: Screwball Comedy, adventure, chase, Soviet Union, Russian, collective good, individual gain, Brechtian
    Former nobleman Ippolit Mateyevich Vorobyaninov’s dreary life in the early Soviet Union is about to change forever when he discovers his spiteful mother-in-law hid the family jewels in one of their dining room chairs before the Revolution. Together with a dashing con artist, Vorobyaninov must embark on an epic quest across Russia to recover the lost riches. Based on the 1928 novel by Ilya Ilf & Evgeny...
    Former nobleman Ippolit Mateyevich Vorobyaninov’s dreary life in the early Soviet Union is about to change forever when he discovers his spiteful mother-in-law hid the family jewels in one of their dining room chairs before the Revolution. Together with a dashing con artist, Vorobyaninov must embark on an epic quest across Russia to recover the lost riches. Based on the 1928 novel by Ilya Ilf & Evgeny Petrov, 12 CHAIRS is an epic adventure satire exploring glory, greed, and a country desperate for the advancement of the collective good. It is a commentary on the Soviet Union and nothing else. Yeah, nothing else. You can’t prove otherwise, you haven’t even seen it. Wow, maybe you should see the play before contradicting us, you ever think about that? Wow. There’s always one. Do better.
  • Dong Xuan Center by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–9
    ·
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Reunified Germany, vietnam + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic, political
    Keyword: Reunified Germany, vietnam, Asian immigrants, Migrant workers, racism
    In the newly created center of Berlin’s Northern Vietnamese community, Lili, a 14-year-old Vietnamese middle school student, and her sister Nathalie struggle to repair their relationship after the death of their late mother. When Lili befriends her German former bully – who has a dark secret of his own – the sisters' relationship to their adopted country and to each other will be pushed to the brink.
  • Emergency Wine & Cheese Fundraiser of the Amagansett Democrats' Association by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    10–11
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: democratic party, dark comedy + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental, horror, political, satire
    Keyword: democratic party, dark comedy, liberalism, Existential Dread, climate change, activism, democratic socialism, corruption, racism, systemic racism
    A group of young socialists crash a lavish Democratic Party fundraiser and come face to face with the end of the world. A horror-satire about corruption, organizing, and hope in the face of impending doom.
  • The House of Billy Paul by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Cast: 
    9–10
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Youtube, Influencer + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, satire, tragedy
    Keyword: Youtube, Influencer, social media, vlogger, grooming, abuse
    Inspired by Euripides’ THE BACCHAE, THE HOUSE OF BILLY PAUL follows Rachel, an impressionable young YouTuber as she is swept into the orbit of her longtime YouTube hero Billy Paul. But when her sister, Lara, discovers the YouTube star’s horrifying past, and with no help from her family, it will be up to Lara to get her sister out before it’s too late.
  • Chicken Is Condemned To Be Free by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Chickens, Sartre + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, melodrama, satire
    Keyword: Chickens, Sartre, death, optimistic nihilism, Existential Dread, Existential Crisis, existential questioning
    Two chickens have their heads removed and will die in ten minutes but shit, man, death is scary!
  • Helena and Elizabeth in the Lobby of the Drake by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: the drake hotel, class + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, satire
    Keyword: the drake hotel, class, a political social satire, betrayal, friendship
    Hahahaha oh darling What an absolutely divine day for Helena and Elizabeth to reminisce and dish in the lobby of the Drake Hotel. Betrayal is in the air!
  • I'm Going To Make an Academy Award®-Winning Movie by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, movement/physical, political, satire
    Delia and Nora seek an answer to the everpresent question of how to solve racism under neoliberal capitalism, and Delia has a great idea: she's going to make an Academy Award®-winning movie.
  • 12 Chairs (Audio Version) by Jesse Jae Hoon
    Cast: 
    6–7
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: Screwball Comedy, adventure + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, comedy, dark comedy, parody/spoof, political, satire
    Keyword: Screwball Comedy, adventure, chase, Soviet Union, Russian, collective good, individual gain, Brechtian
    AUDIO PLAY VERSION – COMMISSIONED BY THE PARSNIP SHIP'S RADIO ROOTS FELLOWSHIP

    Former nobleman Ippolit Mateyevich Vorobyaninov’s dreary life in the early Soviet Union is about to change forever when he discovers his spiteful mother-in-law hid the family jewels in one of their dining room chairs before the Revolution. Together with a dashing con artist, Vorobyaninov must embark on an epic...
    AUDIO PLAY VERSION – COMMISSIONED BY THE PARSNIP SHIP'S RADIO ROOTS FELLOWSHIP

    Former nobleman Ippolit Mateyevich Vorobyaninov’s dreary life in the early Soviet Union is about to change forever when he discovers his spiteful mother-in-law hid the family jewels in one of their dining room chairs before the Revolution. Together with a dashing con artist, Vorobyaninov must embark on an epic quest across Russia to recover the lost riches. Based on the 1928 novel by Ilya Ilf & Evgeny Petrov, 12 CHAIRS is an epic adventure satire exploring glory, greed, and a country desperate for the advancement of the collective good. It is a commentary on the Soviet Union and nothing else. Yeah, nothing else. You can’t prove otherwise, you haven’t even seen it. Wow, maybe you should see the play before contradicting us, you ever think about that? Wow. There’s always one. Do better.