Founded in 2004 by Sung Rno in connection with the TCG/NEA residency program, the Ma-Yi Writers Lab is the largest resident company of Asian American playwrights in the country. The Lab is a professional peer-based workshop in permanent residence at Ma-Yi, designed to nurture and showcase Asian-American playwrights across the country.
The Lab is a community resource, braintrust, and safe home for artistic growth for its members. The supportive space of the Lab empowers writers with resources to experiment, to take risks, and to refine work in progress, regardless of whether or not the work has outside support. The Lab is also one of Ma-Yi’s primary resources for production material, with many works developed in the lab receiving productions both within and outside of Ma-Yi Theater Company.
Membership
The Writers Lab is undergoing significant changes in 2023, and our application process will
evolve as well. New membership applications will be announced in the latter part of 2023 on
this website.
Legacy Labbies
A National Presence
Writers Lab Production and Honors
Sam Chanse | The Lark | Venturous Playwright Fellowship
Dustin Chinn | Ars Nova | Member, PlayGroup
Mia Chung | Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting
Clarence Coo | 2017 Whiting Awards
Hansol Jung | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center | 2019 Summer Season for Musical Theater
Mrinalini Kamath | Queens Council on the Arts|Grant, Everyone’s Got Something to Lose
Kimber Lee | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center | 2019 National Playwrights Conference
Mike Lew | Drama League Award Nominee | Outstanding Production of a Play
Mike Lew & Rehana Lew Mirza | Richard Rodgers Award | Bhangin’ It
Qui Nguyen | National Endowment for the Arts | Art Works Grant
Kyoung Park | Dramatist Guild Fellowship
Madhuri Shekar | Jeff Award | Best New Play | Queen at Victory Gardens Theater
Leah Nanako Winkler | The Actor’s Fund and Playwrights Horizons annual Mark O’Donnell Prize
Lauren Yee | Signature Theatre Company | Residency 5
David Zheng | 2018 Van Lier New Voices Fellowship
Funders
The development of works of Mike Lew and Rehana Mirza as our National Playwrights in Residence are made possible with the support of the Mellon Foundation’s National Playwright Residency Program administered in partnership with HowlRound.
Government Support
