Alvin Eng
Author Interview - Alvin Eng
Author of Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond
From behind the counter of his parents’ laundry and a household rooted in a different century and culture to the turbulent, exciting streets of 1970s New York City, playwright Alvin Eng shares his riveting, tender story of finding voice, identity and community through the transformative power of Asian American arts, activism, punk rock and theater.
Author Interview - Alvin Eng
Author I draw inspiration from: The recently deceased Jeffery Paul Chan. He was one of the pillars and pioneers of Asian American literature and Asian American studies…as well as a great mentor and friend. His novel, “Eat Everything Before You Die” and his co-editing of the first anthologies of Asian American literature, the "Aiiiiieee" series, will be read and researched forever. These works paved the way for all who follow––like myself.
Author Interview - Alvin Eng | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: When the weather is right, in gazing distance of the fountain in City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan. In inclement weather, wherever there is time, space, quiet and light to truly focus.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Working from playwright Lisa Kron’s credo, “The first time you tell a story it’s fact. The second time it’s fiction,” I would choose Joe Gould from "Joe Gould’s Secret" by Joseph Mitchell. Yes, this is a non-fiction book from the legendary New Yorker writer, but Joe Gould is such a singular and controversial NYC Urban Legend, literary and oral history enigma of a character. He would have endless tales, fiction, non-fiction and nonsensical––spoken in English and “seagull”––his preferred tongues though not necessarily in that order. I’d be so engrossed in our pondering of his world that I wouldn’t even notice that the elevator was stuck! Although when happy hour rolls around I would have to find some way to get Mr. Gould a dirty gin martini with three olives.
Author Interview - Alvin Eng | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I grew up personally as a rock & roll fanatic and garage band rhythm guitarist and songwriter that also wrote rock articles. I grew up professionally as a playwright in a Creative Writing class in Queens College back in Flushing. The professor, Tom Frosch, assigned us to write a dramatic scene. So, I did and submitted the assignment. The next class, Professor Frosch called me a young playwright and asked me to read my scene in front of the class. It felt good to be called a “young playwright.” These days, I’m just called a playwright.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Hardback during the day and an iPad eBook at night. The weight of the book and iPad is proportional to the weight of the world on your shoulders during those times of the day and night.
The last book I read: "The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice" edited by Mai-Linh K. Hong, Chrissy Yee Lau, Preeti Sharma with Rebecca Solnit & Kristina Wong. An inspiring collection of essays, observations and even a few recipes that all add up to a moving tale of community, sister-darity, self-care and health care from the beginning of the pandemic to wherever we are now.
Author Interview - Alvin Eng | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Both. First, long hand drafts and riffs go into the computer. From there I print out and revise on hard copies with cross-outs notes and riffs in margins on the other side of the paper and wherever there’s room…then back to the computer…write…revise…repeat.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: In some ways, I’d hate to remove a character from their book and posit them in the temporal or “real” world. Inevitably, they cannot sustain the solidarity and love you feel with them as they exist within the pages of a book and your imagination. There are no limits to imagination…but in “reality,” there are all too many, As such, I would never subject my literary friends to the “real world”––why mess up a good thing if you don’t have to? That said, I would love to walk the streets of New York City with Julius from Teju Cole’s "Open City." I would give it my all to try to be a world class NYC flâneur just like him.
Author Interview - Alvin Eng | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: A writer, just half-kidding. Is an author a writer who gets published, or, if writing plays, gets produced? I also love cooking and playing music…but I imagine doing that for living would take the joy and spontaneity out of it. First choice would still be a NYC flâneur.
Favorite decade in fashion history: The 1970s––particularly the glam rock, disco and punk rock worlds where preconceived notions of style and taste were indelibly changed with every twirl on the dance floor and stage dive into the crowd…forever not necessarily for better. But I’ll take it every time.
Place I’d most like to travel: I can never spend enough time in Paris. Every street is like a short story, every arrondissement like a work of theatre. All together a beautiful musical, architectural and cultural composition. I guess being a flâneur there wouldn’t be too bad either.
My signature drink: Red wine, sometimes a dirty gin martini with olives. (I am a Gemini.)
Favorite artist: Again, as I am a Gemini, I will choose two, painter Alice Neel and sculptor Alberto Giacometti––though I love Giacometti’s paintings and drawings just as much. These two artists also inspired the first of my two Portrait Plays series of historical dramas about artists and their relationship with their models. The “Giacometti play,” Three Trees, was also recently published by No Passport Press.
Number one on my bucket list: To live long enough and create enough work and happiness for those I love that I no longer have to worry about a bucket list.
Anything else you'd like to add: Hope you enjoy my memoir, "Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond." I am also trying to get this made into a film. Thank you for having me!
Find more from the author:
@alvin.eng8 (Instagram)
@alvineng8 (twitter)
https://www.facebook.com/alvin.eng.144/
Author Bio: ALVIN ENG is a native NYC playwright, performer, acoustic punk rock raconteur, and educator. His plays and performances have been seen Off-Broadway, throughout the U.S., as well as in Paris, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou, China. Eng is the editor of the oral history/play anthology, "Tokens? The NYC Asian American Experience on Stage" (Temple, 2000). His Portrait Play, "Three Trees", was recently published by No Passport Press. plays, lyrics, and memoir excerpts have also been published in numerous anthologies. His storytelling and commentary have been broadcast and streamed on National Public Radio, among others. www.alvineng.com
