Radical Storytelling is an experiential workshop grounded in themes of identity, lineage, community, and growth. Susan Lieu will be teaching the four stages of traumatic healing as a means to explore the stories we carry upon and within ourselves. Through this experience, attendees will individually and collectively reflect upon their lived and inherited pasts to gain a better understanding of how to cherish their stories, share them, and transform them into sources of power. 

Susan Lieu is a Vietnamese-American playwright, producer, and performer who tells stories that refuse to be forgotten. With a vision for individual and community healing—made possible through the interplay of comedy and drama—her work delves deeply into the lived realities of body insecurity, grieving, and trauma.

After a year and a half workshopping her show, Susan premiered her first theatrical solo show, “140 LBS: HOW BEAUTY KILLED MY MOTHER” in Seattle February 2019 with a sold-out run. Later that year, Susan self-produced a nearly sold-out 10-city National Tour with accolades from NBC News, L.A. Times, NPR, The Washington Post (The Lily), American Theatre, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Seattle Times. In February 2020, Lieu held a sold-out World Premiere of the sequel “OVER 140 LBS” at Seattle’s ACT Theatre as their inaugural SoloFest headliner. Lieu has performed iterations of her family’s story 51 times to 6000 people from 2019 to 2020.

Her work has been showcased with The Wing Luke Museum, The Moth at Benaroya Hall, On the Boards, RISK!, Bumbershoot, Seattle Children’s Hospital, The Riveter, and The World Economic Forum. She has also given talks at Harvard College, University of Maryland, Mills College, Bellevue College, Highline College, and Portland State University. In addition, Lieu collaborated with The Seattle Public Library and Book-It Theatre to adapt and play the main character of The Best We Could Do, a graphic novel on the Vietnamese refugee experience as part of the city-wide Seattle Reads program.

Susan began performing comedy in 2011, with sets at the Purple Onion and Carolines on Broadway. Susan has a BA from Harvard and an MBA from Yale. She is also the co-founder of Socola Chocolatier, an artisanal chocolate company in San Francisco. She lives in Seattle with her husband and son and hopes to own a Bernese Mountain Dog one day.

Register for the workshop:
https://tinyurl.com/radicalstorytelling

Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Asian American Studies Center, Asian American Studies Department , UCLA Institute of American Cultures, UCLA Vietnamese Student Union, UCLA Asian Pacific Coalition, UCLA Undergraduate Student Association Council