‘Exotic Deadly’ @ Theatre Off Jackson

Writer Keiko Green, who splits her time between Seattle and Los Angeles, is having a well-deserved moment.

In addition to screenwriting credits on Hulu’s “Interior Chinatown” and Apple TV’s upcoming “Margo’s Got Money Problems,” her onslaught of plays have been opening across the country to great fanfare on both a critical and audience level. And this month, two of them will open locally within a week of each other.

One, “Hell’s Canyon” at Washington Ensemble Theatre, is an Oregon-set horror that contends with the region’s bloody past. The other, “Exotic Deadly: or The MSG Play,” is a boisterous time-travel comedic adventure about a shy Japanese American high schooler who discovers her family’s involvement in the creation of MSG, or monosodium glutamate, the controversial flavor enhancer.

Coproduced by Pork Filled Productions and SIS Productions — whose tremendous production of “Vietgone” won the top prize at last year’s Gregory Awards — “Exotic Deadly” makes Theatre Off Jackson a must-visit venue for thoughtful, crowd-pleasing theater.

“[Green] went full out and created this wild metaphysical ride of reality crashing into fantasy that is absolutely glorious!” said SIS executive director Kathy Hsieh. “The pandemic was also a time with a lot of anti-Asian sentiment as many in our country blamed Asian people for the start of COVID.”

“I love how Keiko has created such a fantastically fun play that doesn’t shy away from the dark reality of what Asian Americans have always endured,” Hsieh continued. “SIS Productions produces plays with humor and heart that reveal the full humanity of Asian American women, and PFP produces Asian American genre plays, especially ones that imagine fantastical, inclusive and fun universes — ‘Exotic Deadly’ is the perfect marriage of a play for us to co-produce together.”