THE WORLD IS NOT SILENT Playwright’s Reflections

Don X. Nguyen

By Playwright Don X. Nguyen


“This is my most personal play” – Playwright Don X. Nguyen

I’ve always been interested in space and astronomy and remember stargazing as a kid in Nebraska. It wasn’t until the Hubble space telescope started sending back deep space images that I was in awe of all the amazing things out there. What’s funny is that I never looked through an actual telescope until much later in life. I think it was about seven years ago that the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York was doing outreach in my neighborhood and I got to look at the moon, Jupiter and Saturn for the first time and I was totally in awe and vowed to buy my first scope.

Star Trails – Maine House

Star Trails – Maine House
Photo by Don X. Nguyen

I found myself at a low point in my writing career and seriously questioned if I still wanted to do it.  Astrophotography kind of saved me in a way. It gave me something else to focus on and breathed new life into my creativity.  My writing career rebounded, and I was commissioned to write The World is Not Silent.

I then found myself at another low point. I was really struggling to write the play.  I had already finished a few drafts of it but it just wasn’t something I was happy with. I almost gave my commission money back to the theatre because I didn’t know how to make it work.  It was already a play about my father and me, but there was something missing. I struggled with it for a long time and then one day I made a pivotal decision:  I transformed my character in the play into an astrophotographer like me.  Suddenly, everything just fell into place, and now it’s getting a world premiere at Alley Theatre!  It was the second time astrophotography lifted me out of my rut and rescued me artistically.

Geminids Meteor Shower

Geminids Meteor Shower
Photo by Don X. Nguyen

Don X. Nguyen Full-length plays include The Supreme Leader (Alley All New Festival 2019 reading, Dallas Theater Center world premiere); Hello, From The Children Of Planet Earth (The Playwrights Realm); Red Flamboyant (Firebone Theatre); Sound (Azeotrope/ACT); The Commencement Of William Tan (Yale Cabaret); The Man From Saigon (A.C.T New Strands Festival). Recent recipient of the Bogliasco Fellowship in Italy, 2015 GAP Prize from the Aurora Theatre and a NYSAF Founder’s award. Finalist for The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Princess Grace Award, and The Woodward International Playwriting Prize. For more information, please visit: thenuge.com.

 

See more of Don X. Nguyen’s astrophotography portfolio on his website, https://theinterstellarfeller.com/


The World Is Not Silent runs March 22 – April 14. Tickets are available here.