Chay Yew

There’s nothing like developing new play with a dear old friend. In a workshop with Luis Alfaro’s new play THE LABOURS, the Chicano transposition of Euripides’ “Herakles,” at Boston Court Theatre in Los Angeles. Our fabulous cast includes Romi R Dias, Estela Garcia, Stephanie Hoston, Alma Martinez, Xochitl Romero, Alejandra Villanueva, and Sabina Zuniga Varela. In THE LABOURS, Luis Alfaro’s bold new reimagining of Euripides’ Herakles, the mythical Herakles becomes Era (Spanish for Was), a female soldier navigating the disorienting path from military service back to civilian life. Her labours are not the heroic feats of legend, but internal battles —grappling with guilt, loss, and the irreversible harm done to her own family. The military becomes the modern underworld, and the battlefield is now within. This new LABOURS explores the trauma of war, the price of violence, and the long, uncertain road to redemption. For information: bostoncourtpasadena.org/events/nprf-thelabours/

Thanks for the shout out, Sandra Oh! Please be a mentor to the next generation of theatre makers this AANHPI month. Lift them up and light their way. They are our future.

The best way to usher in AANHPI Month is workshopping a new Asian American musical - PAPER MENAGERIE by Thao Nguyen and Lloyd Suh - with these incredible artists. Our wonderful company included Aaron Alcaraz, Marc de la Cruz, Douglas Goodhart, Alexandra Humphries, Liam Oh, Diane Phelan, Sam Poon, and Geena Quintos. Our Music Supervisor was Chris Fenwick, and Score Manager was Jason Belanger. The dramaturg was Christine Mok. Casting by Patrick Goodwin and Priya Gosh at Telsey. Jonathan Castinien was our stage manager and the assistant stage manager was Mesa; Mara Nero was our production assistant. In PAPER MENAGERIE, based on the short story “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu, a biracial son struggles to understand an enduring rift with his Chinese immigrant mother. Through ancestral magic and an array of paper animals his mother breathes to life on stage, this new musical explores the magic that is possible when what was left unsaid is finally heard. For more information: /paper-menagerie

Composer Fabian Obispo and I will be in residence with our musical LONG SEASON at the Maybank Theater in Manila in the fall. From the docks of Manila to the salmon canneries of Alaska, an epic new musical that reclaims a lost chapter of Filipino and Asian American history through a soaring, globally resonant score. LONG SEASON will hold its R&D workshop in Manila - as part of Bridge Project 2026 - at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater from September 14 to October 3, 2026, marking a significant step in the development of a work that brings to life a largely untold chapter of Filipino history. With music by award-winning Filipino composer Fabian Obispo and book and lyrics by internationally renowned playwright Chay Yew, LONG SEASON tells the story of the Filipino Alaskeros - the first wave of Filipino migrant workers who journeyed to Alaska in the early 20th century. Through a sweeping musical language that blends Filipino traditions with jazz and contemporary musical theatre, the work explores themes of migration, identity, resilience, and the enduring search for home. Set in 1928, the musical follows Allos, a young man who leaves Manila and his beloved Flora to seek a better life in the Alaskan canneries. There, amidst brutal labor and racial injustice, he encounters Conrado, a Filipino foreman hardened by assimilation, and Belen, Conrado’s wife, a woman whose yearning for freedom mirrors Allos’s own. Their forbidden relationship becomes the emotional core of the piece: an act of resistance, desire, and fragile humanity within a harsh and dehumanizing world. Directed by Victor Lirio and designed by Miguel Urbino, the R&D workshop will bring together a company of Filipino theatre artists - an all-Filipino cast - to further develop the musical’s text, score, and theatrical language. Now in its third year, Bridge Project 2026 is presented in partnership with the Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. and with the generous support of Manila-based arts philanthropist Mercedes Zobel, whose continued commitment has been instrumental in supporting the Bridge Project programs. If you’re on this side of the world, please come check out our musical.

Please come check out Luis Alfaro’s new adaptation of Euripides’ “Herakles” - THE LABOURS - a modern tragedy seeking redemption—and a community finding reflection. The reading will be a part of Boston Court’s New Play Reading Festival in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 14, at 730pm. Our cast includes Alma Martinez, Alejandra Villanueva, Xochitl Romero, Romi Dias, Sabina Zuniga Varela, and Stephanie Hoston. In THE LABOURS, Luis Alfaro’s bold new reimagining of Euripides’ “Herakles”, the mythical Herakles becomes Era (Spanish for Was), a female soldier navigating the disorienting path from military service back to civilian life. Her labours are not the heroic feats of legend, but internal battles—grappling with guilt, loss, and the irreversible harm done to her own family. The military becomes the modern underworld, and the battlefield is now within. This new LABOURS explores the trauma of war, the price of violence, and the long, uncertain road to redemption. For tickets and information: bostoncourtpasadena.org/events/nprf-thelabours/

“As democracy continues its downward spiral across the world, Lorca’s work reveals a future we are heading toward if we do not change course. At the same time, the depth of the work and the form of the tragedy itself also point toward a humanism that can lead us out.” - OTP Executive Artistic Director Michael Moran. Oakland Theatre Project presents a new dance-theater production of Federico García Lorca’s THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA - adapted by Chay Yew and directed by Michael Socrates Moran - that makes visible what repression tries to crush: desire, rebellion, and the human right to self-determination. The cast features OTP Co-Artistic Director Lisa Ramirez as Bernarda Alba, and Angelina Fiordellisi as Maria Josefa. The performance will run May 22 through June 7 at the Omni Commons, in Oakland, CA For tickets and information: oaklandtheaterproject.org/house For the BroadwayWorld story: /san-francisco/article/THE-HOUSE-OF-BERNARDA-To-Be-Performed-At-Omni-Commons-20260426

Happy opening to all the incredible artists, crew, and theatre staff who breathed beautiful life into the world premiere of OUT HERE at Court Theatre in Chicago! Music by Erin McKeown Lyrics by Erin McKeown and Leslie Buxbaum Book by Leslie Buxbaum Concept by David Levin, Erin McKeown and Leslie Buxbaum Our cast includes Becca Ayers, Cliff Chamberlain, Ellie Duffey, Alex Goodrich, Z Mowry, Amanda Pulcini, and Bethany Thomas. Performances through May 10, 2026. Music Director - Christie Chiles Twillie Choreographer - Breon Arzell Set Design - Drew Boyce and Lauren Nichols Sound Design - Mikhail Fiksel Lighting Design - Lee Fiskness Costume Design - Christine Pascual Production Stage Manager -Katrina Herrmann Assistant Stage Manager - Jaclynn Joslin Our musicians are Maddi Vogel (Percussion); Rachel Schuldt (Celloo); Daniela Bisenius (Violin); and Percy Nesbary III (Guitar). Dawn has a house, a husband, and a family, but she wants more. She wants her ex-girlfriend, Robin. She wants nothing to change and she wants everything to change, and she wants to control all the terms. As she’s caught between what’s been and what’s next, Dawn must learn to reimagine her expectations, harmonize with loved ones, and trust the process. If she can do all that, she might just learn a new song. Strikingly original, OUT HERE explores the unexpected freedom in relinquishing control, and how, sometimes, you have to break something apart to create something better. For tickets and information: /Online/default.asp Photos by Michael Brosilow (and myself during tech)

Excited to share Thao Nguyen and Lloyd Suh’s new musical PAPER MENAGERIE - which we’ve been developing - with New York Stage and Film audiences this summer. PAPER MENAGERIE Based on the Short Story “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu Book by Lloyd Suh Music by Thao Nguyen Lyrics by Thao Ngyuen & Lloyd Suh Directed By Chay Yew Musical Supervision by Chris Fenwick Dramaturgy by Christine Mok In PAPER MENAGERIE, based on the short story “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu, a biracial son struggles to understand an enduring rift with his Chinese immigrant mother. Through ancestral magic and an array of paper animals his mother breathes to life on stage, this new musical explores the magic that is possible when what was left unsaid is finally heard. Presentation will be at 1PM on Sunday, July 19 at The Bardavon. For more information: /paper-managerie

Congratulations, Yuvika Tolani! Artists, playwrights and artist leaders, please support Yukiva in her new chapter as artistic director at Union Arts Center in Seattle. “I really think of theater making and city making as the same work,” she added. “First, you reach people out there in the world, and you convince them to come into this space together, which in this day and age is already a minor miracle. Then you put something in front of them, and you ask them to believe it’s something more — you ask them to follow you in this trust exercise, and just for that moment, you’ve created a social contract. It’s so simple, and it is so radical, and it’s the very same thing that happens when you’re asking a city to think collectively about its future.”

Congratulations to playwright Lauren Yee; our fabulous cast, design team and associate director Graham Schmidt; and artistic director Lily Tung Crystal, the staff and production team at East West Players for receiving the 2025 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle “Best Production” award for CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND. The Los Angeles cast included Kelsey Angel Baehrens, Abraham Kim, Timothy Liu, Jane Lui, Joseph Ngo, and Daisuke Tsuji. The creative team was Jane Lui and Matt MacNelly (Music Directors), Ashphord Jacoway (Additional Costume Design, original costume design by Linda Cho), Derek Jones (Lighting Design), Megumi Katayama and Mikhail Fiksel (Sound Designers), Mina Kinukawa (Scenic Design, original scenic design by Takeshi Kata), Jason H. Thompson (Projections Design), Yoko Haitz (Hair & Make-Up Design), Glenn Michael Baker (Properties Coordinator), Cesar Cipriano (Fight Director), and Edward Khris Fernandez (Stage Manager).

First preview of OUT HERE, a world premiere musical by Leslie Buxbaum, David Levin, and Erin McKeown, at Court Theatre in Chicago. Our incredible cast includes Becca Ayers, Cliff Chamberlain, Ellie Duffey, Alex Goodrich, Z Mowry, Amanda Pulcini, and Bethany Thomas. Performances through May 10, 2026. Music Director - Christie Chiles Twillie Choreographer - Breon Arzell Set Design - Drew Boyce and Lauren Nichols Sound Design - Mikhail Fiksel Lighting Design - Lee Fiskness Costume Design - Christine Pascual Dawn has a house, a husband, and a family, but she wants more. She wants her ex-girlfriend, Robin. She wants nothing to change and she wants everything to change, and she wants to control all the terms. As she’s caught between what’s been and what’s next, Dawn must learn to reimagine her expectations, harmonize with loved ones, and trust the process. If she can do all that, she might just learn a new song. Strikingly original, OUT HERE explores the unexpected freedom in relinquishing control, and how, sometimes, you have to break something apart to create something better. For tickets and information: /Online/default.asp

Larissa FastHorse’s FANCY DANCER comes to History Theatre in St. Paul this fall. “The season’s opener and autobiographical coming-of-age drama FANCY DANCER, written by Broadway playwright Larissa FastHorse and directed by Chay Yew, tells the story of half-white half-Lakota Larissa growing up in South Dakota. After a leg injury puts her in physical therapy, Larissa’s once crushed hope renews after hearing the story of Osage prima ballerina Maria Tallchief. With sights on a professional dance career, the story makes you wonder if the young ballerina’s dreams will come true. FANCY DANCER will premiere on September 12 to October 4, 2026.” The design team is Junghyun Georgia Lee (Scenic), Mary Kelsay (Costume), Geoff Korf (Lighting), Robertson Witmer (Sound), and Caite Hevner and Ann Slote (Projections). For tickets and information: /2026-27-season