Hansol Jung

At age six, Jung and her family moved to apartheid-era South Africa.{{Cite web|last=Tran|first=Diep|date=2018-11-08|title=Lost and Found With Hansol Jung|url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/11/08/lost-and-found-with-hansol-jung/|access-date=2020-02-22|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|language=en-US}} At age 13, Jung and her family returned to South Korea. At age 20, Jung studied abroad as an exchange student at New York University; three years later, she moved to the United States.{{Cite web|last=Kramer|first=Elizabeth|date=March 18, 2016|title=Violence, faith subject of Hansol Jung's play|url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/entertainment/theater/humanafestival/2016/03/18/violence-faith-subject-hansol-jungs-play/81266630/|access-date=2020-02-22|website=The Courier Journal|language=en}} Jung began an MFA in musical theatre directing at Pennsylvania State University, before transferring to receive an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.{{Cite web|last=Chon|first=Walter Byongsok|date=February 14, 2019|title=Navigating Korea and America: Meet Hansol Jung, Playwright of "Wild Goose Dreams" and "Cardboard Piano"|url=https://thetheatretimes.com/navigating-korea-and-america-meet-hansol-jung-playwright-of-wild-goose-dreams-and-cardboard-piano/|access-date=April 18, 2020|website=The Theatre Times|language=en-US}} Jung graduated from Yale in 2014.

Jung has translated over thirty English-language musicals into Korean, including Spamalot, Dracula, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Evita. She has also worked as a theatre director and lyricist in South Korea.{{Cite web|title=Hansol Jung|url=https://timelinetheatre.com/person/hansol-jung/|access-date=2020-02-22|website=TimeLine Theatre|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Hansol Jung|url=http://ma-yitheatre.org/labbies/hansol-jung/|access-date=2020-02-22|website=Ma-Yi Theater Company|language=en-US}}

In 2015, Jung participated in a residency at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, where she developed her play Cardboard Piano.{{Cite web|last=Waits|first=Keith|date=November 17, 2015|title=OUR WRITERS DEFINE THE WORLD WE LIVE IN NOW.|url=https://arts-louisville.com/2015/11/17/our-writers-define-the-world-we-live-in-now/|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=arts-louisville.com}} That year, Jung was one of three playwrights to be selected for the New York Theatre Workshop's 2050 Fellowship.{{Cite web|last=Clement|first=Olivia|date=July 20, 2015|title=New York Theatre Workshop Announces Artists for the 2050 Fellowship|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/new-york-theatre-workshop-announces-artists-for-the-2050-fellowship-com-353644|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=Playbill|language=en}} Jung was the 2016 Playwriting Fellow at Page 73 Theatre. While working at Page 73, Jung developed three plays: Wolf Play, Wild Goose Dreams, and an untitled play about drugs.{{Cite web|last=Myers|first=Victoria|date=November 7, 2016|title=Playwrights of Page 73: Hansol Jung, Clare Barron, and Caroline V. McGraw|url=https://www.theintervalny.com/interviews/2016/11/playwrights-of-page-73-hansol-jung-clare-barron-and-caroline-v-mcgraw/|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=The Interval|language=en-US}} Jung is also a member of the Ma-Yi Theater Writers' Lab.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2FhDgAAQBAJ&q=Helen+Merrill+Award+hansol+jung&pg=PT154|title=The Kilroys List, Volume One: 97 Monologues and Scenes by Female and Trans Playwrights|publisher=Theatre Communications Group, Inc.|year=2017|isbn=978-1-55936-856-8|volume=1|via=Google Books}}

Jung's plays Cardboard Piano, No More Sad Things, and Wolf Play were all listed on the 2015 Kilroys' List, which recognizes excellence in un-produced or rarely produced works by women, transgender, and non-binary playwrights. Jung was the playwright with the most plays on the list that year.{{Cite news|last=Weinert-Kendt|first=Rob|date=June 22, 2015|title=The Kilroys Make Another List of Plays by Women You Should Know|url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2015/06/22/the-kilroys-make-another-list-of-plays-by-women-you-should-know/|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|language=en-US}} Wild Goose Dreams was listed on the 2016 Kilroys' List.{{Cite web |date=2016-06-21 |title=The Kilroys List 32 Unproduced Works by Women and Trans Playwrights |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2016/06/21/the-kilroys-announce-32-new-plays-on-3rd-annual-edition-of-the-list/ |access-date=2020-06-11 |website=AMERICAN THEATRE |language=en-US}}

For the 2019/20 academic year at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, Jung was one of five Mary Mackall Gwinn Hodder Fellows and the only playwright of the five artists. During the Hodder Fellowship, Jung worked on her audio-feed play Window House.{{Cite web|date=December 6, 2018|title=Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton announces five Hodder Fellows for 2019-2020|url=https://arts.princeton.edu/news/2018/12/lewis-center-for-the-arts-at-princeton-announces-five-hodder-fellows-for-2019-2020/|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=Lewis Center for the Arts|language=en-US}}

In 2020, Jung was commissioned by Alliance Theatre to write an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as part of their Classic Remix Project.{{Cite web |date=March 11, 2020 |title=Alliance Theatre Announces New Classic Remix Project |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2020/03/11/alliance-theatre-announces-new-classic-remix-project/ |access-date=June 1, 2020 |website=AMERICAN THEATRE |language=en-US}} A reading of this adaptation occurred online with Two River Theatre in 2020. In April 2023, the adaptation was staged at Two River.{{Cite web |last=Rabinowitz |first=Chloe |date=2022-08-11 |title=Single Tickets on Sale This Week for Two River's 2022/2023 Season Featuring the LIVING AND BREATHING World Premiere |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/new-jersey/article/Single-Tickets-on-Sale-This-Week-for-Two-Rivers-20222023-Season-Featuring-the-LIVING-AND-BREATHING-World-Premiere-20220811 |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-08-11 |title=Two River Theater to put Single Tickets for 2022-23 Season on sale August 16th |url=https://www.newjerseystage.com/articles2/2022/08/11/two-river-theater-to-put-single-tickets-for-2022-23-season-on-sale-august-16th |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=NewJerseyStage.com |language=en}} It had a run off-Broadway in 2023 with the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), featuring an all Asian cast.{{Cite web |last=Tran |first=Diep |date=2023-05-17 |title=Why Rewrite Shakespeare Into Modern English? Why Not, Says Playwright Hansol Jung |url=https://playbill.com/article/why-rewrite-shakespeare-into-modern-english-why-not-says-playwright-hansol-jung |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=Playbill}} In 2024, an audio-version of this adaptation was released by Portland's Play On Shakespeare.{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Margaret |date=2023-12-12 |title=Hansol Jung's Romeo and Juliet, More in Play On Shakespeare's 2024 Season |url=https://playbill.com/article/hansol-jungs-romeo-and-juliet-more-in-play-on-shakespeares-2024-season |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=Playbill}}

Jung participated in the 24 Hour Plays project in March 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Jung wrote the monologue "Cocktail Class" which was then performed by Ashlie Atkinson.{{Cite web|last=Dessem|first=Matthew|date=2020-03-19|title=Watch Six Compelling Short Plays Inspired by the Coronavirus Pandemic|url=https://slate.com/culture/2020/03/viral-monologues-24-hour-plays-dratch-wilson-cross-atkinson-kind.html|access-date=2020-06-01|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Brantley|first=Ben|date=2020-03-20|title=In 'Viral Monologues,' Theater Mutates Into Online Deliverance|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/theater/viral-monologues-coronavirus.html|access-date=2020-06-01|issn=0362-4331}} A year later, the Jung wrote a second play for the project to celebrate the one-year anniversary.{{Cite web|last=Thomas|first=Sophie|date=2021-03-16|title='24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues' mark one year virtual anniversary|url=https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/news-features/24-hour-plays-viral-monologues-mark-one-year-virtual-anniversary|access-date=2021-03-20|website=New York Theater Guide|language=en}} Jung was commissioned to create work for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and the Telephonic Literary Union's telephone theatrical event, Human Resources.{{Cite news|last=Wren|first=Celia|date=2020-10-07|title=At Woolly Mammoth, a 'play' you access only by telephone|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/theater-dance/human-resources-at-woolly-mammoth/2020/10/06/1d224af6-03e9-11eb-897d-3a6201d6643f_story.html|access-date=2020-10-08|issn=0190-8286}}

In 2022, New York's Tripwire Harlot Press announced they would be releasing a collected edition of some of Jung's works as part of their "Sledgehammer Series," which aims to publish more plays by writers of colour. Jung's volume is titled Doodles from the Margins: Three Plays and will feature Wolf Play, No More Sad Things, and Wild Goose Dreams and will include doodles and notes from Jung in the margins.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-05-25 |title=Tripwire Harlot to Publish 'Sledgehammer Series' of BIPOC Plays |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2022/05/25/tripwire-harlot-to-publish-sledgehammer-series-bipoc-plays/ |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=American Theatre |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Rabinowitz |first=Chloe |date=2022-05-20 |title=Tripwire Harlot Press to Publish Plays By Ground-Breaking BIPOC Writers in Sledgehammer Series |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Tripwire-Harlot-Press-to-Publish-Plays-By-Ground-Breaking-BIPOC-Writers-in-Sledgehammeer-Series-20220520 |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}

Jung was part of the entirely LGBT writing staff of the 2019 Netflix miniseries Tales Of The City. Jung wrote the series' third episode, "Happy, Now?".{{Cite news|last=Bendix|first=Trish|date=2019-06-05|title='Tales of the City': What to Know Before Watching the Netflix Reboot|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/arts/television/tales-of-the-city-netflix.html|access-date=2020-04-19|issn=0362-4331}} In 2021, Jung was selected to be a participant in the Writers Guild of America, East's first Showrunner Academy program.{{Cite web |last=Earl |first=William |date=2021-10-07 |title=WGA East Sets First Class for Showrunner Academy Program |url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/ziwe-hilary-bettis-wga-east-showrunner-academy-1235083488/ |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} She was also a writer for the 2022 Apple TV+ show, Pachinko. Jung is writing a television adaptation of C Pam Zhang's novel How Much of These Hills is Gold.{{Cite web |last=Ramachandran |first=Naman |date=2021-07-07 |title='The Night Manager' Producer The Ink Factory, Endeavor Content Board C. Pam Zhang Novel Adaptation |url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/the-night-manager-endeavor-content-c-pam-zhang-how-much-of-these-hills-is-gold-adaptation-1235013653/ |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Kanter |first=Jake |date=2021-07-07 |title=Endeavor Content-Backed The Ink Factory Adapts C Pam Zhang's 'How Much Of These Hills Is Gold' For TV |url=https://deadline.com/2021/07/the-ink-factory-adapts-c-pam-zhang-how-much-of-these-hills-is-gold-1234787577/ |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}

{{Main|Among the Dead}}

Among the Dead was the first play Jung wrote, which she also used to apply for the Yale School of Drama. The plot of the play spans a total of 30 years and explores legacy, impact, and experiences of the Korean 'comfort women' of World War II.{{Cite web|last=Rosenfeld|first=Alix|date=May 14, 2019|title=Theatre Exile presents Hansol Jung's 'Among the Dead'|url=https://www.broadstreetreview.com/theater/theatre-exile-presents-hansol-jungs-among-the-dead|access-date=April 18, 2020|website=www.broadstreetreview.com}}{{Cite news|last=Wren|first=Celia|date=February 19, 2019|title=Review {{!}} Hansol Jung's 'Among the Dead' unwinds a strange, time-hopping trip of war|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/hansol-jungs-among-the-dead-unwinds-a-strange-time-hopping-trip-of-war/2019/02/19/e25cff80-339a-11e9-8375-e3dcf6b68558_story.html|access-date=June 1, 2020|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en}} Among the Dead premiered at HERE with the Ma-Yi Theatre Company in November 2016.{{Cite news|last=Collins-Hughes|first=Laura|date=2016-11-26|title=Review: 'Among the Dead' Deals in War and Family Mysteries|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/theater/among-the-dead-review.html|access-date=2020-02-22|issn=0362-4331}}

{{Main|Cardboard Piano}}

Cardboard Piano is a two-act play set in Uganda. The first act takes place on the eve of the new millennium when two teenage girls, one American and one Ugandan, perform a makeshift wedding only to be interrupted by a child soldier. The second act takes place on their 'wedding' anniversary in 2014 and follows the American as she returns to Uganda.{{Cite web|title=Cardboard Piano|url=https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/61800/cardboard-piano|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=Concord Theatricals|language=en}} Cardboard Piano premiered the 2016 Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. The premiere was directed by Leigh Silverman.

No More Sad Things follows a 42-year-old tourist in Maui who becomes romantically involved with a 15 year old.{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Chris|date=November 23, 2015|title=Review: She's 32, he's 15? 'No More Sad Things' will still make you smile|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-no-more-sad-things-review-ent-1124-20151123-column.html|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=chicagotribune.com}} No More Sad Things co-premiered in November 2015 at Sideshow Theatre in Chicago, Illinois and Boise Contemporary Theatre in Boise, Idaho.{{Cite web|last=Lark|first=The|title=Hansol Jung|url=https://www.larktheatre.org/about-us/playwrights/hansol-jung/|access-date=2020-02-22|website=The Lark|language=en|archive-date=2020-02-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222205555/https://www.larktheatre.org/about-us/playwrights/hansol-jung/|url-status=dead}} Hansol Jung's brother, Jongbin, co-wrote music for the play with Hansol.{{Cite web|last=Tran|first=Diep|date=2015-11-24|title='No More Sad Things'? A Tender, If Impossible, Wish|url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2015/11/24/no-more-sad-things-a-tender-if-impossible-wish/|access-date=2020-02-22|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|language=en-US}}

Wild Goose Dreams is a love story between a North Korean defector, Nanhee, and Minsung, a South Korean Goose-father, who meet online.{{Cite magazine|last=Fan|first=Jiayang|date=November 19, 2018|title=Awkward Love in Hansol Jung's "Wild Goose Dreams"|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/26/awkward-love-in-hansol-jungs-wild-goose-dreams|access-date=2020-02-22|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Gillinson|first=Miriam|date=November 29, 2019|title=Wild Goose Dreams review – endearing online-offline romance|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/29/wild-goose-dreams-review-endearing-online-offline-romance|access-date=June 1, 2020|issn=0261-3077}} Jung wrote the first thirty pages in Korean before translating them into English.{{Cite web|last=Myers|first=Victoria|date=2018-11-19|title=Wild Goose Dreams with Hansol Jung|url=http://www.theintervalny.com/interviews/2018/11/wild-goose-dreams-with-hansol-jung/|access-date=2020-02-22|website=The Interval|language=en-US}} Wild Goose Dreams premiered in 2017 at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego under the direction of Leigh Silverman.{{Cite web|last=Levitt|first=Hayley|date=September 3, 2017|title=Playwright Hansol Jung and Director Leigh Silverman Analyze Their Wild Goose Dreams|url=https://www.theatermania.com/san-diego-theater/news/silverman-jung-wild-goose-dreams-interview_82227.html|access-date=April 18, 2020|website=www.theatermania.com|language=en-US}}

Wolf Play is about a Korean boy who is adopted in American and is "re-homed" after the original adoptive parents have a biological baby. He is then "second-chance-adopted" by a lesbian couple. In the play, the boy, Jeenu, believes himself to be a wolf but is really a puppet.{{Cite web|last=Clay|first=Carolyn|date=February 4, 2020|title=Company One's 'Wolf Play' Explores What It Means To Have A Pack|url=https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/02/04/company-one-wolf-play-review|access-date=2020-03-02|website=www.wbur.org|language=en}} Jung was inspired to write Wolf Play after reading a news article about Facebook and Yahoo groups used by some adoptive parents to re-home their adopted children, usually from other countries.{{Cite news|last=Hong|first=Cathy Park|date=2020-05-21|title=A Season to Celebrate Asian-American Theater Is Lost to Pandemic|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/theater/asian-american-playwrights.html|access-date=2020-06-01|issn=0362-4331}} Wolf Play premiered in March 2019 at the Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon.{{Cite web|last=Acena|first=TJ|date=March 28, 2019|title=Artists Repertory's Wolf Play: Puppets Are Back! Second Chance Adoptions Are Real!|url=https://www.portlandmercury.com/theater/2019/03/28/26222769/artists-repertorys-wolf-play-puppets-are-back-second-chance-adoptions-are-real|access-date=2020-02-22|website=Portland Mercury|language=en}}

Merry Me is a queer sex comedy that plays with and references 17th century restoration comedies, Angels in America, Sappho, and Euripedes, among others.{{Cite web |last=Robbins |first=Regina |date=2023-10-31 |title=Review: Merry Me (★★★★) is a ribald comic paean to lust |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/merry-me-review-nytw |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=Time Out New York |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Zachary |date=2023-10-31 |title=Review: Merry Me and the Diminishing Potency of "Queer" as a Verb - TheaterMania.com |url=https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-merry-me-and-the-diminishing-potency-of-queer-as-a-verb_1719811/ |access-date=2024-01-17 |language=en-US}} It follows Lieutenant Shane Horne, who attempts to convince the others on her naval base that her therapist's conversion therapy, invented by Horne, has turned her straight in a riff off The Country Wife, so she can spend time with married women.{{Cite web |last=Merrill |first=Amelia |date=2023-10-31 |title='Merry Me' review — queer comedy romps through romance |url=https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/reviews/merry-me-off-broadway-review |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=New York Theatre Guide |language=en}} Merry Me premiered off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2023 under the direction of Leigh Silverman.{{Cite web |last=Brunner |first=Jeryl |date=2023-11-03 |title=This Visionary Tony-Nominated Director Has Another Hit With 'Merry Me' |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerylbrunner/2023/11/03/this-visionary-tony-nominated-director-has-another-hit-with-merry-me/ |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

Writer:

• Tales of the City (2019)
• Pachinko (2022)

• {{IMDb name|id=10399659}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jung, Hansol}}

Category:South Korean women screenwriters

Category:South Korean women dramatists and playwrights

Category:South Korean LGBTQ screenwriters

Category:South Korean LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights

Category:21st-century South Korean women writers

Category:David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni

Category:Women television writers

Category:Princeton University fellows

Category:South Korean translators

Category:English–Korean translators

Category:21st-century translators

Category:LGBTQ women writers

Category:Date of birth missing (living people)

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century screenwriters

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:American LGBTQ people of Asian descent

Category:21st-century South Korean LGBTQ people