Diana Son

Diana Miae Son is an American playwright,[1] television producer, and writer.[2] She is known for her work on American Crime, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Southland, and Blue Bloods. She also serves as the showrunner for 13 Reasons Why.

Diana Son
Born
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
EducationNew York University
OccupationPlaywright, producer, writer
Years active1998–present
Spouse(s)Michael Cosaboom
Children3

Early life

Son was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Dover, Delaware,[3] which Son has described as a very small town with very few Asian-Americans.[4] Son has an older brother, Grant Son.[5]

Son's father, Yong Sup Son, and mother, Soon Chum "Ruby" Son, were both from Korea.[5][6] Son's mother came to the United States in 1963.[5] She had six sisters in Korea.[4] Son's parents met in Philadelphia, where her father was a student at the College of Pharmacy (now the University of the Sciences) and her mother was an exchange nurse at Lankenau Hospital.[6] They moved to Dover in 1967, where they owned and operated the Town Drug Store in the Milford Shopping Center in Milford, Delaware.[5] Son grew up working in the drug store.[2]

Son credits seeing Joseph Papp's production of Hamlet at the Joseph Papp Public Theater and New York Shakespeare Festival on a 1983 high school senior class trip for her inspiration to be a playwright.[6][7] Diane Venora starred in the lead role of Hamlet.[7] Hamlet was the first play she saw, and it was her first visit to a theater.[8]

Son studied Dramatic Literature at New York University. When she was a senior in college she interned at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, an off-off Broadway theatre and cultural institution.[4]

Theater

Son's first play was called Wrecked On Brecht and was published in 1987.[9] For eight to 10 years, she wrote and produced short plays in the downtown area of Manhattan.[4] Her play BOY premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 1996 and was directed by Michael Greif. The storyline for BOY is based on Son's mother's family adopting a male cousin.[4] It is a story in which a young girl's parents decide to raise her as a son.[4] In 1998, her play Fishes premiered at New Georges in New York City. Son wrote the short play R.A.W. ('Cause I'm A Woman), which explores how men view Asian-American women.[4]

Her first full-length play, Stop Kiss, debuted in 1998.[4] It was critically acclaimed.[10][11] The play was produced Off-Broadway in 1998 at The Public Theater in New York City. It was extended three times.[12] The play's initial run featured Jessica Hecht, Saul Stein, Sandra Oh, Saundra McClain, Kevin Carroll, and Rick Holmes. Son met Oh—who has participated in readings of every play by Son since they met—in 1995 in Los Angeles while involved in the New Works Festival.[13] The play features two women who kiss on the street, and are "grievously injured" in an attack.[4] Themes include gay bashing and identity.

After the first night's performance of Stop Kiss, Son realized she would no longer have to do "copyediting, proofreading, waitressing, and temping"—jobs she took to support herself before the play came out.[4] It has since been produced by hundreds of theaters.[7] In 2014, Stop Kiss was produced at the Pasadena Playhouse, where it made the Los Angeles Times' "Best of 2014" list.[14]

In 2006, Son wrote Satellites, a play Sandra Oh starred in that was directed by Michael Greif at The Public Theater.[15][16][17][13]

Television

Son has worked in television since 2000, starting out as a story editor for The West Wing.[18] She was Playwright in Residence at the Taper during the same period. She has also worked on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Southland, and Blue Bloods.[19]

Recent work

In March 2015, Son began work on the ABC series American Crime.[20] At the 2015 TCAs, NBC ordered the pilot for Love is a Four Letter Word.[21] It will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Red Arrow’s U.S. scripted arm, Fabrik Entertainment.[22] Son will write and executive produce with Mikkel Bondesen and Kristen Campo.[23]

Personal life

Son has taught playwriting at Yale University and New York University.[9] As of 2015, Son is the Playwrighting Program Chair of the Dramatists Guild of America's Fellows Program, a mentorship and support program for playwrights and musical theater writers.[24] She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Women in Theatre, and the Writers Guild of America, East. Son is an alumna of New Dramatists.[9] Son has written much of her work (plays and television) at the non-profit urban writer's colony The Writers' Room in Greenwich Village.[25]

Son lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband Michael Cosaboom and their three boys, the youngest of whom are twins.[13][18][26] Son met Cosaboom, an Interactive Telecommunications Program major, when she worked at NYU in that department.[6]

Son has said her parents are very supportive of her writing career.[4]

Filmography
Year Title Notes
2000 The West Wing Story Editor (2 episodes)
2004-2008 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Supervising Producer (23 episodes), Co-Executive Producer (22 episodes), Co-Producer (22 episodes), Producer (21 episodes); Teleplay (13 episodes), Story (12 episodes), Written by (1 episode); Executive Story Editor (17 episodes)
2010 Southland Consulting Producer (6 episodes); Story (1 episode), Written by (1 episode)
2012 NYC 22 Co-Executive Producer (12 episodes); Written by (1 episode)
2013 Do No Harm Consulting Producer (12 episodes); Written by (1 episode)
Jo Teleplay (2 episodes)
2010-2014 Blue Bloods Co-Executive Producer (13 episodes), Consulting Producer (10 episodes); Written by (4 episodes), Story (1 episode)
2015 Love is a Four-Letter Word Executive Producer; Writer
2015-2016 American Crime Co-Executive Producer (20 episodes); Written by (2 episodes)
2017 13 Reasons Why Executive Producer (13 episodes); Teleplay (2 episodes)
Law & Order: True Crime - The Menendez Murders Consulting Producer (8 episodes); Written by (2 episodes)
2018-2019 Dirty John Co-Executive producer (7 episodes), Consulting producer (1 episode); Written by (1 episode)

Awards and grants

Works and publications

Short plays
  • Son, Diana. Wrecked On Brecht. 1987
  • Son, Diana. Stealing Fire. 1992
  • Son, Diana. 2000 Miles. 1993.
  • Son, Diana. R.A.W. ('Cause I'm a Woman) 1993.
  • Son, Diana. Happy Birthday Jack. Dixon, Michael Bigelow, and Amy Wegener. Humana Festival '99: The Complete Plays. Lyme, NH: Smith and Kraus, 1999. ISBN 978-1-575-25207-0
  • Son, Diana. The Moon Please. Lane, Eric, and Nina Shengold. Take Ten II: More Ten-Minute Plays. New York: Vintage, 2003. ISBN 978-1-400-03217-4
  • Son, Diana. BOY. Yew, Chay. Version 3.0: Contemporary Asian American Plays. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2011. ISBN 978-1-559-36363-1
  • Son, Diana. R.A.W. ('Cause I'm A Woman). Perkins, Kathy A., and Roberta Uno. Contemporary Plays by Women of Color: An Anthology. London: Routledge, 1996. pp. 289–296. ISBN 978-0-415-11377-9
  • Son, Diana. Fishes. 1998.
  • Son, Diana. Siberia. 2003.
  • Son, Diana. The Moon Please. Great Short Plays: Volume 10. New York: Playscripts, 2013. pp. 63–74.
  • Son, Diana. Blind Date. 2011.
  • Son, Diana. Axis. Tricycle Theatre. The Bomb: A Partial History. London: Oberon Books, 2012. ISBN 978-1-849-43152-1

Full length plays
  • Son, Diana. Stop Kiss. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-879-51737-3
  • Son, Diana. Satellites. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2008. ISBN 978-0-822-22227-9

Essay

References
  1. "Biography – Diana Son". American Theatre Wing. February 2006. Archived from the original on 16 June 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  2. "Back to Work" (Video). The New York Times. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  3. "Diana Son". The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 2001. Archived from the original on 2015-01-18. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  4. Winer, Linda (6 June 2003). "Diana Son" (Video interview). Women in Theatre: Dialogues with Notable Women in American Theatre (CUNY TV). League of Professional Theatre Women. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  5. "Son, Soon Chum". Delmarva Obits. 15 December 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  6. Yurgaitis, Daniel (11 December 2006). "Director's Notes on the NSU Theatre presentation of Stop Kiss". Northern State University. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  7. Sherman, Howard (December 2009). "The Play That Changed My Life (Working In The Theatre #385)" (Video interview). American Theatre Wing. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  8. Chapin, Ted (16 February 2006). "ATW's Working in the Theatre #341 The Playwright (Winter 2005–06)" (Video interview – panel). American Theatre Wing. CUNY TV. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  9. Phillips, Jean (14 February 2011). "The Life of Diana Son (So Far): Diana Son Biography". Asian American Theatre. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  10. Brantley, Ben (7 December 1998). "Theater Review; Comic in Spirit, Serious at Heart". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  11. Saltzman, Simon (27 January 1999). "New York Review: `Stop Kiss'". U.S. 1 Newspaper. Archived from the original on 16 December 1999. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  12. Sommer, Elyse (5 December 1998). "A CurtainUp Review: Stop Kiss". CurtainUp. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  13. Zinoman, Jason (18 June 2006). "Candor as a Cure for Writer's Block". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  14. McNulty, Charles (19 December 2014). "Charles McNulty's best stage shows of 2014". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  15. Brantley, Ben (19 June 2006). "Settling Down on Shaky Ground, in Diana Son's 'Satellites'". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  16. Harrah, Scott (21 June 2006). "Sandra Oh helps put 'Satellites' back in orbit". The Villager. 76 (5). Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  17. Rooney, David (18 June 2006). "Review: 'Satellites'". Variety. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  18. Son, Diana (11 May 2011). "How a Nice Playwright Like Me Starting Plotting Murder". Writers Guild of America, East. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  19. Son, Diana (8 June 2011). "Location, Location, Location". Writers Guild of America, East. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  20. LeBleu, Monique (12 November 2014). "Stopping the hate with laughter and a kiss at the Playhouse". Courier. Pasadena City College. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  21. Littleton, Cynthia (15 January 2015). "NBC Orders 2 Drama Pilots: 'Curse of Fuentes Woman,' 'Love Is a Four Letter Word'". Variety. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  22. Andreeva, Nellie (15 January 2015). "Silvio Horta Magical Latino Family Drama, Marriage Show Get NBC Pilot Orders". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  23. Goldberg, Lesley (15 January 2015). "'Ugly Betty' Creator's Latino Drama Gets NBC Pilot Pickup". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  24. "Fellows Program". Dramatists Guild of America. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  25. Son, Diana (20 May 2011). "What Do You Get When You Put Writers in a Room..." Writers Guild of America, East. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  26. Son, Diana. "Write On – Author Archive: Diana Son". Writers Guild of America, East. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
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