Diana Son | |
|---|---|
| Born | Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Education | New York University |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, producer, writer |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Spouse | none |
| Children | 3 |
Diana Miae Son is an American playwright,[1] television producer, and writer.[2] She is known for her work onAmerican Crime,Law & Order: Criminal Intent,Southland, andBlue Bloods. She, along withBrian Yorkey, has also served as theshowrunner for13 Reasons Why.
Son was born inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania and raised inDover, Delaware,[3] which Son has described as a very small town with very fewAsian Americans.[4] Son has an older brother, Grant Son.[5]
Son's father, Yong Sup Son, and mother, Soon Chum "Ruby" Son, were both fromKorea.[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 theUniversity of the Sciences) and her mother was an exchange nurse atLankenau Medical Center.[6] They moved to Dover in 1967, where they owned and operated the Town Drug Store in the Milford Shopping Center inMilford, Delaware.[5] Son grew up working in the drug store.[2]
Son credits seeingJoseph Papp's production ofHamlet at theJoseph Papp Public Theater andNew 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 atNew York University. When she was a senior in college she interned atLa MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, anoff-off Broadway theatre and cultural institution.[4]
Son's first play was calledWrecked 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 playBOY premiered atLa Jolla Playhouse in 1996 and was directed by Michael Greif. The storyline forBOY 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 playFishes premiered at New Georges in New York City. Son wrote the short playR.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 producedOff-Broadway in 1998 atThe Public Theater in New York City. It was extended three times.[12] The play's initial run featuredJessica 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 includegay bashing and identity.
After the first night's performance ofStop 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 thePasadena Playhouse, where it made theLos Angeles Times' "Best of 2014" list.[14]
In 2006, Son wroteSatellites, a playSandra Oh starred in that was directed byMichael Greif atThe Public Theater.[15][16][17][13]
Son has worked in television since 2000, starting out as a story editor forThe West Wing.[18] She was Playwright in Residence at the Taper during the same period. She has also worked onLaw & Order: Criminal Intent,Southland, andBlue Bloods.[19]
In March 2015, Son began work on the ABC seriesAmerican Crime.[20] At the 2015TCAs,NBC ordered the pilot forLove is a Four Letter Word.[21] It will be produced by20th 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]
Son has taught playwriting atYale University andNew York University.[9] As of 2015[update], Son is the Playwriting Program Chair of theDramatists Guild of America's Fellows Program, a mentorship and support program for playwrights and musical theater writers.[24] She is a member of theDramatists Guild of America, Women in Theatre, and theWriters 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 colonyThe Writers' Room inGreenwich Village.[25]
Son lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Son has said her parents are very supportive of her writing career.[4]
| 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 by (13 episodes), Story by (12 episodes), Written by (1 episode); Executive Story Editor (17 episodes) |
| 2010 | Southland | Consulting Producer (6 episodes); Story by (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 | Executive Producer (8 episodes); Story by (2 episode), Teleplay (2 episodes) | |
| 2010-2014 | Blue Bloods | Co-Executive Producer (13 episodes), Consulting Producer (10 episodes); Written by (4 episodes), Story by (1 episode) |
| 2015 | Love is a Four-Letter Word | Executive Producer; Written by |
| 2015-2016 | American Crime | Co-Executive Producer (20 episodes); Written by (2 episodes) |
| 2017 | 13 Reasons Why | Executive Producer (13 episodes); Teleplay by (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) |
| 2021 | Genius | Executive producer (8 episodes); Story by (1 episode), Teleplay by (1 episode), Written by (2 episodes) |
| 2025 | Butterfly | Executive producer (6 episodes); Written by (1 episode) |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
