Our Laundry, Our Town with Alvin Eng and Shoshana Greenberg

In this episode, playwright and memoirist Alvin Eng joins Shoshana Greenberg of the Thornton Wilder Society to discuss his book Our Laundry, Our Town. Eng reflects on growing up as the son of Chinese immigrants in 1970s Flushing, Queens—balancing life inside his parents’ hand laundry with the turbulent, inspiring world outside. His memoir traces the journey from punk rock and downtown theater to discovering the Chinese influence on Thornton Wilder’s Our Town––a result of Wilder spending part of his childhood in China.  This discovery of this influence, ultimately, helped Eng to reconnect with his ancestral and artistic roots in China. Together, Eng and Greenberg explore themes of identity, culture, and storytelling, while considering Wilder’s lasting legacy in American theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices