Koreatown resident's solo play about running an army of face mask-sewing volunteers was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Performance artist Kristina Wong’s latest solo play, “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord,” seems straightforward at the outset.
Before her 90-minute comedy even begins, she has quietly taken a seat at center stage behind her Hello Kitty sewing machine, speed-stitching cloth face masks amongst a sea of massively oversized pincushions, bolts of fabric and spools of thread designed by Junghyun Georgia Lee. But within minutes, the Los Angeles actor’s battle against the spread of COVID has mushroomed into an all-out war against self-doubt, racism, medical misinformation, political fascism and her own life choices.
The play, which opened Saturday in its West Coast premiere at La Jolla Playhouse’s Potiker Theatre, was named a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It chronicles Wong’s pandemic-fueled project, where over 504 days, she created and marshalled a volunteer army of nearly 800 sewing enthusiasts nationwide.
In one of the show’s best bits on opening night, Wong asks the audience to donate their excess elastic to the cause and within moments, scrunchies, hairbands and, yes, bras, were sailing through the air toward the stage. Projection designed by Caite Hevner spotlights the many lows of the past two and a half years, including the murder of George Floyd, anti-Asian attacks, anti-mask rallies and the Jan. 6 insurrection, all of which Wong touches on with a mix of seriousness and humor.
Following the arrival of vaccines and cheap masks in stores, ASS disbanded on Sept. 25, 2021, but Wong says this group of selfless aunties — which Wong said is a nice word for old “spinsters” like herself — remain devoted to one another. Early in the play, Wong questions her decision of choosing the solitary life of an artist over starting a family. But through her sewing squad, she ended up with hundreds of new chosen family members.: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 8 p.m.
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