THE KOREA TIMES: Jesse Jae Hoon's ‘Saved’ explores political roots, emotional aftermath of adoption →

Written by Antonia Giordano for The Korea Times.

Though it had its premiere reading on the opposite side of the world from Korea, on a stage in New York City, Jesse Jae Hoon’s "Saved" spoke directly to the hearts of many in both countries.

Divided into two parts, the first part of "Saved," titled "The Girl and the Sky," debuted at The Public Theater in New York on April 21 as part of its Emerging Writers Group Spotlight Series. The one-night-only event offered audiences a glimpse into a bold new voice in American theater — one shaped by lived experience and a fierce commitment to truth-telling.

With nuance and emotional depth, the play explored the complexities of adoption — not merely as a legal process or an act of “saving” a child, but as a personal journey shaped by love, loss, identity and history. It served as a reminder that questions of origin and belonging are deeply human — and often entangled in geopolitical forces far beyond an individual’s control.

EWG Spotlight Series Reading of "Saved, Part One: The Girl and the Sky"

The Public Theater presented two sold-out readings of Saved, Part One: The Girl and the Sky as part of their EWG Spotlight Series on 21 April 2025. The reading was directed by Taylor Reynolds and featured Kelley Curran, Michael Gaston, Heesun Hwang, Daniel K. Isaac, Zoë Kim, Jully Lee, Liz Leimkuhler, Kelly McAndrew, Joe Tapper, Shannon Tyo, Jeena Yi, and Estelle Lee. It featured dramaturgy by Harris Kiernan.

Thanks to everyone who came out!

"SAVED, PART ONE: THE GIRL AND THE SKY" in the Public Theater's EWG Spotlight Series →

The Public Theater will present a reading of Saved, Part One: The Girl and the Sky as part of the 2025 Emerging Writers Group Spotlight Series. The reading will take place on 21 April 2025 at 1:30PM and 6PM. Taylor Reynolds will direct, Harris Kiernan will be dramaturg, and the cast of 12 includes Kelley Curran, Michael Gaston, Christine Heesun Hwang, Daniel K. Isaac, Zoë Kim, Jully Lee, Liz Leimkuhler, Kelly McAndrew, Joe Tapper, Shannon Tyo, Jeena Yi, and Estelle Lee. Tickets are available here – both readings are “sold out,” but there will be a standby list prior to each performance and patrons often get in that way, so it’s recommended to come 15-30 minutes before the performance begins.

The EWG Spotlight Series will also feature readings from Karina Billini, Tommy Endter, Humaira Iqbal, Celeste Jennings, Nina Ki, Gloria Oladipo, Valen-Marie Santos, Amita Sharma, and Al Sierra. Please come and see these fantastic, exciting new plays by these brilliant writers. The series will run 21 April through 20 May.

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Saved, Part One: The Girl and the Sky is the first play in a two-part drama about the South Korean adoption industry, from its Cold War origins to its transformation into a lucrative business empire built by systemic fraud and negligence. Three epic stories spanning six decades across Oregon; Washington D.C.; Vermont; Seoul; and Jeju Island, Saved explores what happens when we kill the parents and raise the children.

A Weekend in 2025

A few updates from the beginning of 2025:

On February 2, I workshopped a small selection of Do You Think I’m Annoying? at Theater J as part of the culminating event for their “Expanding the Canon” cohort. The selection was directed by Shannon Tyo and featured Sun Mee Chomet, Sydney Lo, and Alex Palting.

On February 3, New York Theatre Workshop hosted a Monday @ 3 Reading of I’ve Got A Sinking Feeling in the Pit of My Stomach. The reading was directed by Iris McCloughan and featured Blake DeLong, A.J. Ditty, Sam Gonzalez, Emma Kikue, Alex Lin, Nadine Malouf, and Ben Langhorst.

McNally Reading of I'VE GOT A SINKING FEELING IN THE PIT OF MY STOMACH at Rattlestick

On 10 September 2024, Rattlestick Theater, in association with The Terrence McNally Foundation and Tom Kirdahy Productions, presented a reading of I’ve Got A Sinking Feeling in the Pit of My Stomach, directed by Tea Alagić and featuring Ryan Andes, Leela Bassuk, A.J. Ditty, Emma Kikue, Ashton Muñiz, Yên Sen, and Ben Langhorst. The reading was presented as a culmination the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator, alongside Sam Mueller and Eliana Theologides Rodriguez.

DO YOU THINK I'M ANNOYING? workshopped in D.C.

After coming back from the O’Neill, I went to Theater J to workshop my commissioned play called Do You Think I’m Annoying? It culminated in a small invited reading, directed by Shannon Tyo and featuring Sydney Lo, Momo Nakamura, Sarah Suzuki, and Grace Carter.

12 CHAIRS at the O'Neill

I spent a month at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center as part of the National Playwrights Conference. I workshopped 12 Chairs with my director Charlotte Murray, dramaturg Charles Haugland, literary associate Aysha Zackria, and the cast – featuring Amanda Centeno, Arielle Gonzalez, Shawn Jain, Ben Langhorst, Angel Lin, Frankie Placidi, and Jack MacGregor. The workshop culminated in two presentations on July 4 and 6, respectively.

The Lehrstücke at Ma-Yi + 2g

In June, Ma-Yi Theater Company and 2g presented readings of my Lehrstücke BAGS and Always Eat the Food at the GLOW Cultural Center in Flushing, Queens. A culmination of my 2-year Creatives Rebuild New York residency with the Artist Employment Program at Ma-Yi Theater Company, the plays were presented directly to working-class Asian American community members, with food provided and panel discussions organized by Nancy Bulalacao and led by State Senator Julia Salazar, organizer and former Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, organizer Rima Begum, and organizer Hailie Kim.

BAGS was directed by Chongren Fan and featured Sonnie Brown, Katie May Porter, Jillian Sun, and Anzi DeBenedetto.

Always Eat the Food was directed by Aneesha Kudtarkar and featured Purva Bedi, Golam Sarwar Harun (who also translated the play into Bangla), Jasmine Sharma, and Arjun Dhawan.

ON THE CLOCK at Egg & Spoon Incubate NYC

A reading of On the Clock will be presented by Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective on 7-8 June 2024 @ 7:30PM at the Secret Theater in Queens. The reading will be directed by Colm Summers.

Presented this year in Queens & The Bronx, Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective’s INCUBATE NYC develops and presents workshop performances from writers who reside/have roots to NYC's outer boroughs.

RSVP for free here >

12 CHAIRS part of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2024 Summer Season →

12 Chairs will be workshopped as part of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s 2024 summer season, its 60th anniversary! Staged readings of the play will take place on July 4 and 6.

The National Playwrights Conference — the O’Neill’s founding program — is a national laboratory offering resources vital to creative risk-taking. Every year, innovative, unproduced works are selected from a pool of 1,300+ submissions to be developed with the support of a professional company of actors, designers, dramaturgs, and directors. For this development, the Conference proudly implements a staged reading process born of the workshop model developed early in the O’Neill’s history by its founder, George C. White, and NPC’s inaugural artistic director, Lloyd Richards. The remaining time in each writer’s four-week residency is self-directed — to think, create, and interact with other artists. This year’s talented group of writers join a cadre of O’Neill playwright alumni who have reimagined the American theater in fundamental ways, including August Wilson, David Henry Hwang, Wendy Wasserstein, Jeremy O. Harris, Dominique Morisseau, Martnya Majok, and more.

Rattlestick Theater's Terrence McNally New Works Incubator →

Rattlestick Theatre, the Terrence McNally Foundation, and Tom Kirdahy Productions revealed the Terrence McNally New Works Incubator Cycle 2 Fellows: playwrights Jesse Jae Hoon, Sam Mueller, and Eliana Theologides Rodriguez.

As a continuation of Terrence McNally’s singular legacy of mentorship, and his commitment to fostering bold new voices in the American theater, the Incubator is designed to support these ambitious early-career playwrights by giving them time and space to develop their work, professional mentorship with veteran playwrights, and access to the community of artists and work being developed at Rattlestick and Tom Kirdahy Productions. Inaugural fellowships were awarded in 2023 to Molly Herron Bicks, HyoJeong Choi, and Haygen-Brice Walker.

“We are thrilled by the success of our inaugural cohort in 2023, and could not be more excited to develop the work of the exceptional playwrights in our second cohort,” saya Will Davis, Rattlestick Theater Artistic Director. “We are so thankful to partner with the Terrence McNally Foundation and Tom Kirdahy Productions to offer this crucial, one-of-a-kind fellowship to emerging writers in New York."

The Cycle 2 Fellows were selected from a pool of 500 applications, in consultation with the Playwrights Advisory Council, which includes: Sheila Callaghan, Halley Feiffer, Madeleine George, Mike Lew, donja r. love, Rehana Mirza, and Lynn Nottage. This year's Incubator Finalists include Marvin González De León, Mary Hamilton, Chad Kaydo, Stefani Kuo, Elia Monte-Brown, Gage Tarlton, and Max Yu.

Part of Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective's Incubate NYC Series

Jesse Jae Hoon and Christin Eve Cato are named Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective’s INCUBATE NYC Playwrights.

Presented in Queens & The Bronx, INCUBATE NYC develops and presents workshops from writers who reside/have roots to NYC's outer boroughs. This program is generously supported by NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

The 2023 Idea Awards for Theatre →

The Bret Adams and Paul Resich Foundation gave out the 2023 Idea Awards for Theatre December 4 at a private ceremony held at The Players. The evening saw three categories of grants awarded to new voices in playwriting and musical theatre along with the visionary playwrights that inspired them. See photos from the event below.

The Tooth of Time Distinguished Career Award went to Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart), which includes a $25,000 prize.

Jesse Jae Hoon took the Ollie New Play Award, while Brandy Hoang Collier, Grace McLean, and the team of Clare Fuyuko Bierman and Erika Ji both received Vivace Musical Theatre Awards. Each recipient of those honors also receives a $25,000 prize.

All six Idea Award winners also received a stone statuette hand carved by Bruce Ostler.

Visit BretnPaulFoundation.org.

Winner! 2023 Ollie New Play Award →

The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of their 2023 Idea Awards for Theatre; three categories of grants awarded to adventurous new voices in playwriting and musical theatre, as well the visionary playwrights who have inspired and blazed trails before them.

The 2023 Tooth of Time Distinguished Career Award will be presented to Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart, The Miss Firecracker Contest). Honoring accomplished playwrights who have created significant, idea-driven works throughout their career, the Tooth of Time Distinguished Career Award is given with a $25,000 prize for the recipient.

Jesse Jae Hoon is the recipient of this year’s Ollie New Play Award. Two Vivace Musical Theatre Awards will be presented; one to Brandy Hoang Collier, Clare Fuyuko Bierman and Erika Ji; and another to Grace McLean. Recognizing emerging talent and original work with ambitious theatrical ideas, both awards are bestowed to each recipient with a $25,000 prize. 

Each of the six artists will also receive a unique stone statuette hand carved by Bruce Ostler.

The 2023 Idea Awards for Theatre will be presented on Monday, December 4, 2023, in a private ceremony (by invitation only) at The Players (16 Gramercy Park South, NYC). Entertainment will feature live performances by this year's Vivace Musical Theatre Award winners. 

Theatrical Agent Bret Adams and his partner Dr. Paul Reisch loved the theatre with great passion. As a theatrical agent, Bret shepherded the careers of many actors, writers and directors and designers, including Phylicia Rashad, Judy Kaye, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Sherman Helmsley, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Eve Arden, Christine Ebersole, Kathleen Marshall, Jayne Wyman, Andre DeShields, Kathy Bates, Susan H. Schulman, Jack Heifner, Philip McKinley and Robert Harling, among many others. After Bret and Paul’s passing, in 2006 and 2015 respectively, their eponymous foundation was created at their bequest. The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation champions visionary theatre writers in their creation of expansive, illuminating, and idea-driven theatre. Embracing diversity in all its forms, The Foundation encourages artists with fresh perspectives - particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds - to create idea-driven new plays and musicals reflecting on multivalent themes. Nominations for all three awards are accepted exclusively from The Foundation’s Board of Artistic Advisors. For more information, visit www.BretnPaulFoundation.org.

The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation created the ‘Idea Awards for Theatre’ to encourage expansive, idea-driven artworks with inherently theatrical ways of illuminating big ideas and concepts,” says Sheilah Rae, V.P. and Board Member of The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation. “With our financial awards, we are encouraging artists to grapple with and dramatize the big ideas that the world is engaged with. This money will give them needed time and space to explore and write. We are proud to award the Ollie Award for the most ambitious big idea new play, the Vivace Award for a big-idea new musical that makes you want to get up and dance, and the Tooth of Time Award to encourage accomplished artists to continue their personal evolution in examining big ideas. We are giving these Awards to dare these writers to theatricalize something wild and brave.”

"Beth Henley is one of our most important living dramatists and a defining voice of the American South," says Kate Bussert, Executive Director of the BAPR Foundation. “Grace McLean is a truly multi-hyphenate, idea-driven artist who uses all of her skills to amplify her artistic vision and creates work unlike any other. And as we look to the new generation of writers in all disciplines, we are thrilled to support rising playwright Jesse Jae Hoon, whose work critiques systemic injustice with humor and heart, and the emerging musical theatre writing team of Clare Fuyuko Bierman, Brandy Hoang Collier, and Erika Ji, three incisive and intersectional artists redefining the Asian-American theatre canon. We are honored to support these six artists as they create exciting new work.

MacDowell Fellowship 2024

In Somebody is Looking Back At Me, Olivia receives a writing residency that’s very closely based on MacDowell. I’ve received a fellowship from MacDowell for the Fall-Winter 2023-2024 season! I will be spending several weeks in the woods working on my new plays I’ve Got A Sinking Feeling in the Pit of My Stomach, BAGS, Standardized, and more.

Now participating in Ma-Yi + 2G's SHORT STACK 2

Jesse Jae Hoon will write a short play, directed by Nana Dakin, for the second iteration of Ma-Yi + 2g’s Short Stack Play Festival. Plays by Vichet Chum, Lisa Sanaye Dring, Nina Ki, Roger Q. Mason, Rehana Lew Mirza, Seyoung Yim, Max Yu, and David Zheng; with direction by Dakin, Cara Hinh, Kalina Ko, Carol Ann Tan, and Shannon Tyo.

The Parsnip Ship Announces 2023 Radio Roots Fellowship with Playwright Jesse Jae Hoon

The Parsnip Ship (Artistic Director/Host, Iyvon E.) announces the Radio Roots Fellowship with playwright Jesse Jae Hoon as a part of their Radio Roots program. The Fellowship will include a live audio recording of his play, 12 Chairs (directed by Charlotte Murray) and will become a part of The Parsnip Ship’s catalog of recorded theatrical experiences, including live music from a musical guest and an interview with the playwright. The cast will include Ben Langhorst, Angel Lin, Frankie Placidi, Amanda Centeno, Brandon Bogle, and Arielle Gonzalez.

In addition, the Fellowship includes weekly dramaturgy sessions, a writer’s retreat, and a private developmental reading.

The Radio Roots program exists to support emerging playwrights interested in re-engaging with playwrights through audio-focused storytelling, breaking away from modern traditions of visual storytelling. Much like all programming on The Parsnip Ship’s platform, Radio Roots seeks to cultivate distinct voices in theater by providing resources for the development of innovative and accessible stories for radio drama. Jae Hoon joins The Parsnip Ship as the first fellow of the Radio Roots program.

The Parsnip Ship created the Radio Roots program in 2019 to develop original radio play commissions through weekly dramaturgical and artistic support. The first iteration of the program was a writers’ group that brought together four New York City-based playwrights with varying experience with audio storytelling. Now reimagined in 2023 as a Fellowship, Radio Roots supports the fellow through the adaptation of an existing stage play into a radio play. Jae Hoon will adapt and present his satirical comedy 12 Chairs, itself an adaptation of the 1928 novel The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov.

The Radio Roots program is facilitated by Al Parker (Associate Artistic Director, The Parsnip Ship) and Gabriella Steinberg (Dramaturg).

The play development process includes a deep partnership with the director and a sound designer for a fully realized sound design, accumulating in the presentation of 12 Chairs on Monday, June 12, 2023.