Ma-Yi Theater Company is a professional, not-for-profit, Obie Award and

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

-winning theater company based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

that was founded in 1989. Ma-Yi Theater is headed by executive director Jorge Ortoll and artistic director Ralph Peña. Some of its recent notable productions include: * Lonnie Carter's '' The Romance of Magno Rubio'' * Ralph Pena's ''Flipzoids'' *

Qui Nguyen Qui Nguyen is an American playwright, television writer, director and screenwriter. He is best known for his plays, ''She Kills Monsters'' and "Vietgone." He is also known for writing ''Raya and the Last Dragon'' and '' Strange World''. Care ...

's ''Soul Samurai'' and ''Agent G''. *Michi Barall's ''Rescue Me: A postmodern classic with snacks'' * Michael Lew's ''Microcrisis'', ''Bike America'' and ''Teenage Dick.'' *Carla Ching's ''Sugar House'' *Jason Kim, Helen Park, and Max Vernon's ''KPOP,'' produced with Ars Nova and Woodshed Collective. *Lloyd Suh's ''Children of Vonderly'', ''American Hwangap,'' co-produced with The Play Company, ''Jesus in India,'' and ''The Chinese Lady.'' *

Hansol Jung Hansol Jung is a South Korean translator and playwright. Jung is a recipient the Whiting Award in drama and three of her plays were listed on the 2015 Kilroys' List. Jung is a member of the Ma-Yi Theater Writers' Lab and was a Hodder Fellow at ...

's '' Among the Dead'' In 2006, Ma-Yi Theater Company's production of Warren Leight's ''No Foreigners Beyond This Point'' received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Play. In 2010, Ma-Yi Theater received a Special Drama Desk Award for Excellence. ''Savage Stage: Plays by Ma-Yi Theater Company'' is an anthology of selected new works developed and produced by the company since its founding. Edited by Ma-Yi's Literary Manager, Joi Barrios, ''Savage Stage'' was published in 2007. Ma-Yi Theater Company is a participant in "Artography: Arts in a Changing America", a pilot program launched by LINC (Leveraging Investments In Creativity) that seeks to map new arts practices in the United States resulting from demographic shifts.

History

Ma-Yi did not start out to be an

Asian American theatre Asian American theatre is theatre written, directed or acted by Asian Americans. From initial efforts by four theatre companies in the 1960s, Asian-American theatre has grown to around forty groups today. Early productions often had Asian themes ...

company. Founded in 1989 by Chito Jao Garces (artistic director), Ralph Pena, Margot Lloren, Ankie Frilles, Luz de Leon, Isolda Oca, Arianne Recto, Cristina Sison, and Bernie Villanueva, its first productions were

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

and

Filipino-American Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...

plays and adaptations. Also instrumental in the founding of Ma-Yi was Chris Millado, who served as advisor to their first performance and returned to write and direct for the group. Jorge Ortoll joined the company a year later in 1990, and became its executive director in 1991, the same year that Ma-Yi became a non-profit company and established a Board of Directors. Ralph Peña and Betty Mae Piccio became co-artistic directors in 1995, and when Piccio moved to Philadelphia in 1996, Peña became its sole artistic director. Ortoll and Peña have since organized a support staff that has included Lourdes Obillo as accountant, Vince Hokia as technical director, Daniel Rech as marketing manager, and Andrew Eisenmann and Suzette Porte as associate artistic directors. Since its inception, Ma-Yi has benefited from the involvement of Filipino theatre artists based in New York, including production designer and director Loy Arcenas, composer Fabian Obispo, veteran actors Ching Valdez-Aran and Mia Katigbak, and novelist and playwright

Jessica Hagedorn Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn (born 1949) is an American playwright, writer, poet, and multimedia performance artist. Biography Hagedorn is an American of mixed descent. She was born in Manila to a Scots-Irish-French-Filipino mother and a Spanish Fi ...

. Other Filipino artists and writers have also been involved with Ma-Yi, such as director Behn Cervantes; playwright and actor Rody Vera; playwright Marina Feleo-Gonzalez;

National Artist of the Philippines The Order of National Artists of the Philippines (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas'') is an Order (distinction), order bestowed by the Philippines on Filipino people, Filipinos who have made s ...

for Literature

Bienvenido Lumbera Bienvenido or bienvenidos may refer to: Entertainment * ''Bienvenidos'' (album), a 2006 album by Cabezones * ''Bienvenidos'' (Chilean TV series), a Chilean morning show * "Bienvenido" (song), Spanish version of the 2011 song "Benvenuto" by La ...

and Virgilio Almario; scholars Preachy Legasto,

Nicanor Tiongson Nicanor G. Tiongson is a critic, creative writer and academic from the Philippines. He holds a Bachelor of Humanities degree from the Ateneo de Manila University, and M.A. and Ph.D. in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines. A ...

, and Roland Tolentino; and choreographer-dancer Potri Rangkamanis. In 2003, while in the United States as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the

University of California Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

, Joi Barrios joined the group as its Literary Manager. In 1998, Ma-Yi Theater expanded its mission to include works by other, non-Filipino, Asian American writers. This move was largely prodded by the company's recognition of the need for more developmental venues for new Asian American plays. Some of Ma-Yi Theater's recent productions include ''Sides: The Fear is Real'', ''The Romance of Magno Rubio'' (Obie Award), ''No Foreigners Beyond This Point'' (Drama Desk nomination), and ''Trial By Water''. The Ma-Yi Writers Lab was founded in 2004 by Sung Rno in connection with the TCG/NEA Playwright's Residence Program, and is currently led by Co-Directors Michael Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza. The Lab is Ma-Yi's resident company of emerging professional writers, and represents the largest group of professional Asian American playwrights ever assembled. In 2005, the Ma-Yi Theater was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. In November 2015, Ma-Yi Theater Group member and playwright Lloyd Suh asked that a student production of his play ''Jesus in India'' be shut down at Pennsylvania's Clarion University because the school ignored the play's requirement of using South Asian actors. It was later found that Clarion University had never secured the playwright's permission to use his play, much less adapt it into a musical, although it had been cleared by the author's agent. Absent a signed contract, Clarion University proceeded to change the material and schedule a public performance that the author only found out about through social media.

Awards

* 1997 Obie Award, Performance, Ching Valdes Aran for Ralph Peña's ''Flipzoids'' * 2002 Obie Award Grant * 2003 Obie Award for Loy Arcenas, Arthur Acuña, Lonnie Carter, Ron Domingo, Jojo Gonzales, Ramon Ocampo, Orlando Pabotoy, and Ralph Peña, for their work on Lonnie Carter's ''The Romance of Magno Rubio'' * 2006

Nomination, Best Play for Warren Leight's ''No Foreigners Beyond This Point'' * 2006 Henry Hewes Design Nominations for Loy Arcenas (Scenic Design), and Fabian Obispo (Sound Design and Original Music) for their work on Warren Leight's ''No Foreigners Beyond This Point'' * 2010

for Theater Excellence * 2014 Off Broadway Alliance Award, Best Family Play, Lloyd Suh's ''The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go!'' * 2018

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...

for Outstanding Musical "KPOP," with Ars Nova and Woodshed Collective * 2018

Nomination for Outstanding Musical, "KPOP" with Ars Nova and Woodshed Collective * 2018 Obie Award Ross Wetzsteon Award

References

External links

Ma-Yi Theater Company official website

A/PA archives survey of Ma-Yi Theatre Co.'s records
{{Authority control Obie Award recipients Asian-American theatre Theatre companies in New York City Non-profit organizations based in New York City