MOCA PERFORMS – Three Lives

THREE LIVES is an autobiographical solo show that follows Alex Xander Luu and his family’s escape from war-torn Saigon in 1975 to America. Journeying across continents and generations, “Three Lives” presents the Vietnam War story through the eyes and experiences of its oft-forgotten casualty - - its refugees - - his father, grandfather, and Luu himself as their lives are violently uprooted and resettled in the “promised land.” With equal doses of laughter and heartbreak, Three Lives combines humor, kinetic physical movement, and raw storytelling that peels back the layers of the standard Hollywood narrative of the Vietnam War and instead gives a front and center portrait of the equally comical and painful effects of assimilation, the loss & reclaiming of identity, and the strength of the human spirit. Coming on the heels of 2025’s 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, Three Lives frames the personal immigrant narrative and its timeless themes against the universal backdrop of today’s fraught political climate. ABOUT Alex Xander Luu Alex Xander Luu is a solo performance/theater artist, writer/director, and Teaching Artist who graduated from UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. His one-man show “Three Lives” & other performance works (“Toytown USA,” “Saigon in April” “Singing”) have played to sold-out audiences at theaters, art spaces, and campuses, garnering critical acclaim from publications such as Backstage West, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Asian New Yorker, Rafu Shimpo, LA Weekly, South End News, OC Register, and LA Alternative Press. A Lifetime Teaching Artist with the Los Angeles County Arts Ed Collective (and former Teaching Artist with East West Players and Ford Theatre), Alex teaches My Own Story (MOS), an autobiographical writing/storytelling/performing workshop for students/people of color at theaters, arts orgs, and campuses nationally as artist-in-residence and guest artist lecturer. He was also Editor/Film Editor of YOLK Magazine and is a host on the OG YOLK Podcast. Alex can also be seen in the Netflix show “The Brothers Sun,” the feature “Tricked ‘n Treated” and the upcoming film “Free Speech Costs Plenty”