Two years after Ma-Yi Theatre Company last welcomed in-person audiences, the Off-Broadway favorite will present Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady in February 2022 at The Public Theater. The upcoming season will also feature four digital premieres coming out of Ma-Yi Studios, which launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to support virtual theatre endeavors.

The 2021-2022 season begins with the digital premiere of Decolonization: Living the Questions (September 6–December 31). Created by Mia Katigbak, this short video features a group of theatre artists answering the question, “What is your experience with colonization?” Participants include Charles Browning, Peter Jay Fernandez, Peter Kim, Deepa Purohit, Aya Ogawa, Clint Ramos, Jon Norman Schneider, Isuri Wijesundara, Jorge I. Cortiñas, Luke De Silva, Rohini De Silva, Deepti Gupta, David Lee Huynh, Gloria Majule, Thavro Phim, and Adelaida Reyes.

Up next is Matt Park and Paul Lieber’s Singing in the Apocalypse Now (October 7–December 31), a time-jumping song cycle that ties the current pandemic to historical traumas experienced by Park’s Korean American family. Then, playwrights Michi Barall and Sung Rno build on last year’s Sophocles in Staten Island, starring Ron Domingo, as he and his family move beyond the Greeks to embrace the social protest theatre of American playwright Clifford Odets in Odets in Staten Island (November 3–March 31). The play is directed by Jack Tamburri.

In partnership with ALL ARTS, Ma-Yi will premiere The First Twenty: 20 Years of Asian American Playwriting November 9. Created by Ma-Yi Producing Artistic Director Ralph B. Peña, this 30-minute documentary showcases the evolution of the Asian-American playwright over the last 20 years, taking a close look at the shift in how Asian-American plays are broadly perceived, as well as the widening scope of subjects tackled by Asian-American writers that move far beyond identity politics. Talking heads include David Henry Hwang, Young Jean Lee, Mike Lew, Rehana Lew Mirza, Lauren Yee, and Chay Yew.

Peña then returns in February 2022 to direct The Chinese Lady, presented by The Public. Suh’s play, inspired by the true story of 16-year-old Afong Moy—the first Chinese woman to step foot in America, was presented by Ma-Yi at Theatre Row in 2018, starring Shannon Tyo and Daniel K. Isaac. Casting will be announced at a later date.

Visit Ma-YiTheatre.org for more information.