Ma-Yi Writers Lab now accepting membership applications through August 1, 2007
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 ever assembled. Currently led by Co-Directors Qui Nguyen and Lloyd Suh, the Lab is a professional peer-based workshop in permanent residence with the OBIE Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company, designed to nurture and showcase emerging and early-career Asian American playwrights in New York City.
Activities and institutional support of the Lab include:
- Bi-weekly meetings at which members are encouraged to present their works-in-progress for peer-based workshop, with developmental, dramaturgical and professional support;
- Annual presentation of each member's brand new full-length plays in LabFest, a staged reading festival. In the past, LabFest has showcased the largest number of new full-length plays by Asian American writers presented in one stand, anywhere, ever. These staged readings are designed as developmental showcase presentations, with a professional director and cast, open to industry professionals and the greater public, free of admission;
- Frequent presentation of members' shorter (one-act or ten-minute) plays and excerpts in showcase settings at theatres throughout the city. Past presentations have been hosted by New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre (in partnership with Youngblood), the Ohio Theater, the Culture Project, La MaMa, and others;
- Formal submission of member work, when appropriate, to theater producers, publishers, agencies, contests and fellowship programs;
- Submission of applications, when appropriate, on behalf of writers for commissions, grants and foundation support;
- Group participation in partnership events with other theater companies and organizations towards the development and presentation of new work; and
- As appropriate, writer's retreats in conjunction and partnership with various organizations and events. Forthcoming retreats include subsidized travel to the Lexington Center for the Arts in the Catskills, with Youngblood and Ensemble Studio Theatre, as well as subsidized travel to Atlanta for the US Social Forum.
The Ma-Yi Writers Lab is focused on works written for the stage. While screenwriters, poets, and fiction and creative nonfiction writers are encouraged to apply, the Lab cannot and does not provide institutional support for writing in such forms, and during their residency members are expected to create works for the stage. Applicants should be based in the New York area.
Additionally, while we are an organization specifically designed to support Asian American writers and their works, the power of the Lab exists in the diversity of individual voices within it. Our goal as a collective is to provide support to amplify those voices on an individual level within a community-minded, movement-building setting, and we therefore do not impose any requirements in terms of form, style, or theme. In other words, we do not limit our interest to plays and playwrights that specifically address a fixed concept of "Asian American issues", or some prescribed notion of "The Asian American Experience". As an arts organization dedicated to providing a platform for the diversity of experience within our community, we have no interest in defining or limiting the scope of what that experience might be. So please don't worry about such formal restrictions, and simply send us work that matters to you. Regardless of whether your application is selected, it will matter to us as well.
If selected, membership in the Lab shall be granted beginning in the 2007-08 season. Membership shall continue indefinitely as long as mutually determined, with no formal expiration set. There are no dues or fees of any kind associated with membership. Incoming members will be chosen by August 31st. Any interviews or follow-up queries that may occur will take place during the month of August.
To apply, please submit the following:
- a cover letter with all relevant contact information;
- an artistic resume;
- a one-page artist's statement describing your interest in the Lab and how you hope it will benefit your work and your further development as a writer; and
- a writing sample or samples of any length (10 page minimum, no maximum), preferably recent work written for the stage.
Materials may be submitted electrionically by August 1 (with attachments) to:
or by regular mail (must be received by August 1 - NOT A POSTMARK DEADLINE) to:
Ma-Yi Writers Lab
Membership Applications
520 8th Avenue, Suite 309
New York, NY 10018
Due to postal restrictions, application materials cannot be returned to you.
Please address all questions to mayilab@gmail.com
The Ma-Yi Writers Lab:
Michi Barall
Nancy Bulalacao
J.P. Chan
Nora Chau
Carla Ching
Dustin Chinn
Deborah S. Craig
Mrinalini Kamath
Michael Lew
Rehana Mirza
Qui Nguyen
A. Rey Pamatmat
Kyoung H. Park
Ralph B. Peña
Sung Rno
Maureen Sebastian
Lloyd Suh
