MAGGIE CHUN’S FIRST LOVE & LAST WEDDING

Supplementary Document

Summary

After committing to spending the rest of her life in the small town of Windser, Ontario (yes, with an E) the arrival of Maggie Chun’s middle school crush on her wedding day forces her into an abrupt awakening.

Reviews

Broadway World: “This acclaimed play from Helen Ho is a love letter to coming of age comedies, home sweet home, and the heartache of self-discovery.”
Intermission Magazine: “Maggie Chun’s First Love and Last Wedding is a whimsical yet emotional production that showcases quick, snappy writing with the well-deserved title of winner of the Toronto Fringe New Play Contest.”
My Entertainment World: “Fringe’s New Play Contest is an easy way to find a good script in the very large sea that is the festival and Helen Ho’s comedy about first love and small towns is just that.”

Background & PRODUCTION HISTORY

Maggie Chun’s First Love & Last Wedding was my second full-length script. Written in May 2021, it received first place in the 2022 UofT Spotlight Playwriting Competition (adjudicated by Polly Pokheev and Anusree Roy), as well as first place in the 2023 TO Fringe New Play contest (adjudicated by Yousef Kadoura, Gloria Mok, and Elena Reyes). The latter awarded a slot in the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival, as well as financial support provided by the Aubrey and Marla Dan Charitable Foundation.

Maggie Chun’s First Love & Last Wedding was selected as one of the Toronto Star’s ‘Must-Watch’ shows.

The show was directed by Julia Edda Pape, stage managed by Riley Stefan and assistant stage managed by Jo Tamaru. Pape also served as a co-producer alongside me. A full list of cast/crew can be found here.

We began production in April 2023. Maggie Chun’s First Love & Last Wedding ran 7 shows in Toronto’s historic Factory Theatre Mainspace from July 4-16 2023.

This play was later published by the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada (PGC), and is available for purchase on the Canadian Play Outlet.

INSPIRATION & THEMES

Maggie Chun features themes of queer identity, queer love, platonic relationships, and coming-of-age. As a queer Chinese woman, I wanted to write a show that could reflect on my own lived experience – without needing the protagonist to have to ‘come out’. I also wanted Maggie’s time in her small hometown to feel safe and comforting, as I did not want to write another scene where a queer person gets confronted on stage.

The small town of Windser is named after the real life Windsor, Ontario. A theme in the script is that the town is so small, everything and everybody ‘doubles’ as something else: the church is also a hotel, the confessional is also a photo booth. This highlights Maggie’s struggle in living her ‘double’ identity: she is entering a heterosexual marriage with her boyfriend Rob, while harbouring homosexual feelings for her crush, Charlie.

I was largely inspired by another play written by friends, that also takes place in a small town, The First and Last Teen Mayor of Davenport Ontario. Other inspirations included: Sky High, and the young man who gave me my first real heartbreak.