11am-2pm Docents available at the Marion Davies Guest House to discuss the site.
11am-1pm Lucy Wang Office Hours upstairs at the Guest House
2-4pm: Story Circle with Lucy Wang: Theme - New Year, New Beginnings

Playwright and Annenberg Community Beach House 2012 Writer in Residence Lucy Wang starts her 10-week residency off with an afternoon of reflection and sharing. Express your vivid memories and discover new inspirations in an evening of storytelling exchange. Lucy has listed four jumping off points for your stories or discussion - see below.

Lucy Wang: People all over the world celebrate the New Year. Being Chinese American, and part of a Sino‐Semitic couple, my husband & I usher in the New Year three times, in three different ways. We’ll take all the good cheer we can muster, and we think Marion Davies, that quintessential hostess, would approve!

How do you usher in the New Year, and how do you court good fortune? Do you consider yourself a lucky person? Why, or why not?

I never met a special occasion that didn’t involve food. Food often plays a starring role in how we mark time, commemorate milestones, and express love. Birthday Cake. Thanksgiving Turkey.  New Year’s Champagne. Easter Eggs. Chanukah Latkes. Christmas Goose. Chinese New Year Longevity noodles. My friend, who formerly kept kosher, said her first bite into shrimp was a revelation.

What foods mean the most to you? Which foods changed your life?

It’s no fun getting older, especially in Los Angeles, and our birthdays often act as “cataly(s)tic converters.” The film Milk, starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, begins with Harvey’s realization on his 40th birthday that he hasn’t done anything in life he’s proud of. This epiphany propels him to move to San Francisco and change his life. When actress Marion Davies turned 40, she decided she’d had enough of Hollywood and devoted all of her time to her companion, William Randolph Hearst.

What turning points and accomplishments are you most proud of? At what age did you feel most like you, and why? If you had to transcribe your life into music, what does the "mixtape" of your life sound like? Radiohead? John Cage? J.S. Bach? A sonata in three movements with a grand finale?

A followup: when talking pictures arrived, Marion Davies was nervous about her childhood stutter, but she overcame it.

If you know any stories about Marion Davies, what do you think she was most proud of?

Please come share your stories of transformation and transcendence related to the questions/themes above, any way you like it – on paper, on your feet, with or without photographs. Feel free to bring pen and paper, laptop, tablet – if there’s time, and interest, perhaps we’ll do a writing exercise. Come experience the magic and the power of our collective stories, and leave renewed and recharged!

Lucy Wang begins her Residency January 16 and will be working out of an office on the second floor of the Marion Davies Guest House through March 26, 2012. Her plan for the term is to work on a new play. Wang began her career as a bond trader on Wall Street and Deputy Chief of Staff during Mayor Dinkins’ Administration. Awards include a Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, Best New Political Social Play from the Katherine and Lee Chilcote Foundation, Berrilla Kerr Foundation, James Thurber Fellowship, CAPE’s New Writers TV Award, NATPE Diversity Fellow, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Honorary Fellow, and artistic residencies at Hedgebrook, MacDowell, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the Tin Shop in Breckenridge, CO.

Wang's plays have been performed all over, including London and are available at Original Works Publishing and JAC Publishing. In addition to plays, Wang has written a young adult novel and two short films (one of which she directed), sold a pilot to Disney, and performed standup comedy. She was chosen to perform a monologue for the National Theater Conference in Los Angeles this past June. She earned her B.A. in Asian Studies/Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA in Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Her manuscripts are archived at the Huntington Library Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

Stop by early for information on the Beach House by docents from the Santa Monica Conservancy from 11am-2pm.

Tickets are free but seating is limited and reservations are required. If you would like to attend, please reserve online. Please plan to arrive by 1:45pm to retain your reservation. Late seating, even for reservation-holders, is not guaranteed. To adjust or cancel your reservation for this event, email beachhouse@smgov.net. We appreciate your keeping in touch!

Directions: The Beach House is located at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA 90402 on the west side of Pacific Coast Highway, a half mile north of the California Incline and a half mile south of Chautauqua Blvd. Plenty of public parking is available - enter off PCH at the Beach House Way traffic light. The facility is easily accessible by foot or bike from the beach bike path, although the Beach closes at sunset. There is ample bike parking at racks throughout the site - remember to bring your own lock.

Parking: There is an hourly/daily parking charge at the park and pay machines available in three areas of the ACBH parking lot. Fees change but are ~$6 on winter weekdays; please check the website for details.

Other events: To view & make reservations for future free Beach=Culture events, check http://annenbergbeachhouse.com/beachculture.

General Info: For hours, events and more, visit http://www.annenbergbeachhouse.com, or call 310-458-4904. Back on the Beach Café hours.