Chris Collins

From an early age, Collins was immersed in the world of theatre. Growing up in San Francisco, he developed a passion for the stage while watching his father perform in a college production of Macbeth. Theatre remained a constant throughout his family, with siblings, nieces, and extended relatives contributing as actors, directors, and designers over the years.

After earning a Master of Arts in English from the University of Iowa and spending time working in a shipyard, Collins relocated to Los Angeles, where he built a career on the corporate side of the motion picture industry while continuing to pursue his passion for playwriting.

His debut play, Victorian, was staged at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood. The drama follows a veteran police officer whose lifelong commitment to emotional restraint is challenged by changing social values and devastating family tragedy. Collins continued to explore the forces that shape human relationships in The Song of St. Rose and Weapons, examining how family obligations, financial pressures, love, and guilt influence the possibility of personal transformation.

His later works, Fuchou with Bourbon, Ayano, and Achilles in Arcadia, shift their focus to the Los Angeles area, where stories of love, betrayal, and cultural intersection unfold within families navigating both Asian and Western traditions. These plays reflect Collins’ ongoing interest in the emotional tensions that arise when personal desires collide with family expectations and cultural identity.

The latter four plays in his body of work were directed by acclaimed director Kiff Scholl, whose collaborations helped bring Collins’ nuanced storytelling to the stage.

Collins cites Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, and August Wilson among his greatest artistic influences. Their enduring commitment to deeply human storytelling continues to inform his own work, which seeks to illuminate the emotional truths that connect people across generations and cultures.