Ma-Yi Theater Company Writers Lab

Ma-Yi Theatre Company is seeking new members for the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Applications will open on Monday, July 1st and will close on Wednesday, July 31st, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST or when 100 applications are received. There is no fee to apply.

The Ma-Yi Writers Lab is the largest resident company of Asian-American playwrights ever assembled. Founded in 2004 by Sung Rno in connection with the NEA/TCG Playwright’s Residency program, the Writers Lab underwent a shift in 2022. Now led by Gaven Trinidad and Kalina Ko, the Ma-Yi Writers Lab has welcomed new emerging AAPI playwrights each year in the Playground Program. Former Playground Labbies include Claro De Los Reyes, ayla xuân chi sullivan, Seayoung Yim, Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin, Ankita Raturi, Minghao Tu, and Liqing Xu.

The Playground Program is a six-month program where four writers meet in-person every month along with two directors and three actors. Writers are encouraged to bring no more than ten pages of material each month for the director and actors to the stage. The goal is to play with space, movement, and staging to get a sense of how these pages and words might live in bodies and three-dimension. Members will collaborate with directors and actors from the Ma-Yi community and beyond. The four writers selected for the program will be chosen based on an application process. Self-identifying emerging writers from the AAPI diaspora are encouraged to apply. This program is for NYC-based playwrights.

The Ma-Yi Theatre Company strives to ensure that each cohort collectively represents a diverse set of worldviews, backgrounds, and aesthetics. Special attention is given to elevating new voices that revel in the theatrical and have interesting inquiries about the world they live in.

Requirements

Application Requirements Include:

1) Responses to the following application questions:

Where are you in your life (both in playwriting/theatre and generally) right now?
What is exciting to you? What is challenging?
What are you trying to solve or learn about in your writing process?
Can you tell us about a moment of discovery in a collaborative process that affected your writing going forward?
What does a playwright driven development process look like?

2) A 20 page sample of your work and an explanation for why you selected those pages

3) Your resume

The next cohort for the Ma-Yi Writers Lab’s Playground Program will run from January - June 2025. Applications open on Monday, July 1st, and will close either Wednesday July 31st at 11:59 PM EST, or when 100 applications are received.

If you have any questions, please email lab-cocoordinators@ma-yitheatre.org.

Application Instructions

Access the application portal here: https://ma-yitheatre.org/shows/lab/