“What Lieu gets done offstage is as impressive as the moving narrative she performs onstage.”
About Susan
Susan Lieu is a Vietnamese-American playwright, performer, activist, and author 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. Her forthcoming memoir, The Manicurist’s Daughter, will be published in March 2024 (Celadon/Macmillan).
After a year and a half workshopping her family story, 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 60 times to 7000 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, UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine. 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 is an alum of Harvard, Yale, Coro, and Hedgebrook. 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.