MOCA PERFORMS - Two Stop

The Museum of Chinese in America is honored to host playwright David Johann Kim for a presentation of his poignant play Two Stop, which premiered last year at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in Los Angeles.

Set against the backdrop of the Los Angeles Riots (April 29, 2025 marks its 33rd Anniversary), in the tiny Two Stop market, a headstrong Black teen, her fierce mother and a lone Korean émigré shop owner reach back decades and even across the globe through war, strife, love and heartbreak to find connection and even hope? …but will it be enough?

DAVID JOHANN KIM

David's plays PANG SPA and TWO STOP had their Los Angeles premiere produced by Chalk Rep and Ensemble Studio Theatre LA in Spring of 2024 and both received critical praise including Outstanding Production of a Drama (Intimate Theater) for both. TWO STOP was named BEST SHOW in the 2024 LA Theatre Bites Awards. Both plays were funded in part by VENTUROUS THEATER FUND and LA New Play Project. As a young actor, David fell hard for new play development while working with powerhouse dramaturgs Mame Hunt (at Berkeley Rep) and Morgan Jenness ( NYSF’s New Works Now Festival and NY Theatre Workshop’s Dartmouth retreat). Mabou Mines’ Ruth Malaczech asked David to be part of the writers group when she was devising A Drop In The Ocean in residence at New York Theater Workshop. Les Waters selected him to be part of the devising team for their Joint Stock-style production, Act 3 Sc 2 of Life at UC San Diego. He later lead Watts Village Theatre Company in the Joint Stock process for their production of B-Flight. His plays Two Stop and Pang Spa were awarded the 2022 Los Angeles New Play Project Award and Grant. as well as Venturous Theatre Fund Grants. Two Stop was workshopped in 2023 at The Inkwell Theater. Pang Spa was a semifinalist for the 2018 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Ashland New Play Festival and Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the final round of Dennis and Victoria Ross Foundation Playwrights Program.

David spent the first half of his career in the theatre primarily as an actor. He originated lead roles in new plays including Han Ong’s Reasons To Live..., Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Innocent Erendira, Milton Murayama’s All I Asking For Is My Body, Larry Yep’s Dragonwings, Alan Cook’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East Of Eden, Lynn Manning’s Up From The Downs, and Jessica Hagedorn’s Holy Food. He performed at theatres on both coasts including: The Public Theatre, NY Theatre Workshop, The Lark, Mabou Mines, Repertorio Espanol, La Mama ETC in NYC and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, Asian American Theatre Co. and El Teatro Campesino in California.

He holds an MFA from UC San Diego and is a member of The Dramatists Guild, The Playwrights Union, Circle X Theatre's 2024 Evolving Playwrights Group, Chalk Rep’s Writers group, Playwrights ThinkTank, EST/LA’s Playwrights Unit and is a co-founder of EST/LA’s Ignite Project.

His latest play IMAGINED NOISE... is currently in development.

*All ticket sales are final. Unfortunately, we are unable to issue refunds under any circumstances at this time. This ticketing policy is not intended to create barriers based on financial status but rather to ensure the sustainability of our practice—allowing us to compensate artists while keeping our events accessible and welcoming to everyone.

**MOCA members are required to present their MOCA ID at check-in.

Host or Publisher Museum of Chinese in America