Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristina Wong signs with CAA; Solo show “Sweatshop Overlord” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

EXCLUSIVE: Performance artist, comedian, actress, playwright and ambassador-elect of Koreatown Los Angeles, Kristina Wong, has signed CAA throughout.

Wong has presented several solo shows here in Los Angeles, and her most recent Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, was named a finalist for last year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Sweatshop Overlorda co-production between the Center Theater Group and East West Players currently on view at the Kirk Douglas Theater until March 12.

Sweatshop Overlord follows Wong as, during the pandemic, she formed an 800-man group called the Auntie Sewing Squad, made up primarily of Asian women, who sewed and donated more than 300,000 masks for frontline workers and vulnerable communities when Covid- PPE was scarce. The show had a critically acclaimed premiere at the New York Theater Workshop and was a New York Times “Choose critics.”

Yesterday, Wong received a $550,000 grant from the Doris Duke Foundation, which is awarded to individuals for outstanding achievement in their fields. Sweatshop Overlord also received a veritable awards show, including the Drama Desk Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.

Wong also wrote the introduction The Auntie Sewing Squad’s Guide to Mask Making, Radical Caring and Racial Justicepublished by University of California Press.

Wong’s other major social justice-driven one-man shows include Wong flew over the cuckoo’s nest, turned green The Wong Way, The Wong Street JournalAnd Kristina Wong for public office. Wong flew over the cuckoo’s nest has been running for eight years since 2006, researching mental illness, particularly in Asian American women. Kristina Wong for public office talked about her time as a candidate for the Wilshire Center Koreatown Ward Council. The show was streamed by Kirk Douglas in November 2020. In her role as an elected representative, Wong advocates for the needs of displaced people in her neighborhood.

Other works by Wong have been exhibited in North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa. She has also held artist residencies at MacDowell, Hermitage, Montalvo and Ojai Playwrights Festival. Her work has been recognized with awards from Creative Capital, The MAP Fund, Center for Cultural Innovation, National Performance Network, a COLA Master Artist Fellowship from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, nine Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence awards, Center Theater Group’s Sherwood Award and the Art Matters Foundation.

Wong has appeared on late night shows on Comedy Central, NBC and FX. As a published author, her work has been included in Routledge Contemporary plays by Women of Color.

Other career highlights include East West Players’ Visionary Award, KCET/PBS Local Hero Of The Year nominee, Fuse TV’s Asian Pacific Honoree and Los Angeles Best Of Arts Edition LA weekly.

She is currently developing new work during her three-year artist-in-residence at ASU Gammage.

Wong will continue to be represented by Lillian LaSalle at Sweet 180 Talent and Literary Management.

Watch the trailer Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord under: