NAATCO Commissions Alumna Samantha Chanse To Co-Write ‘Out Of Time’

By
Robbie Armstrong
April 15, 2021
Sam Chanse

The National Asian American Theatre Company, (NAATCO) has commissioned five Asian American playwrights, including alumna Samantha Chanse ’12 to collaborate on Out Of Time. This piece will be a collection of monologues, written for characters who are 60 years of age or older. Chanse is one of five Asian American women writing a monologue, including Jaclyn Backhaus, Mia Chung, Naomi Iizuka, and Anna Moench. The five monologues collectively will be performed together.      

NAATCO was founded in 1989 by Mia Katigbak and Richard Eng to assert the presence and significance of Asian American theatre in the United States. Out of Time was conceived by Director Les Waters, who will also direct the piece. Each monologue in Out of Time will be at least 30 minutes in length, allowing each character ample time for an engaging performance. Waters shared his desire for older actors in the piece, stating "Wouldn't it be wonderful to make a piece for older actors saying wonderful words and one wonderful actor following another.” 

Samantha Chanse is the author of plays including Trigger, Monument, or Four Sisters (A Sloth Play)The Opportunities of ExtinctionFruiting BodiesThe Other InstinctWhat You Are NowLydia’s Funeral Videoabout that whole dying thing, and Asian American Jesus. Her work has been developed and produced with the Lark, the Civilians, New York Stage & Film, Ars Nova, Engarde Arts, Ma-Yi Theater, Magic Theatre, Cherry Lane, Leviathan Lab, Broken Nose, and Ensemble Studio Theater/Sloan Project. Her work is published by Kaya Press (Lydia’s Funeral Video) and TCG (The Kilroys List). She is a resident playwright of New Dramatists, a Lark Venturous Fellow, and a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. She has taught writing and playwriting at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Rochester. Chanse formerly served as the artistic director of Kearny Street Workshop and co-director of Locus Arts in San Francisco. She currently writes on ABC’s The Good Doctor.

NAATCO intends to develop the collection of monologues and prepare it for live performances as soon as theatres are able to reopen.