TWENTYPHO HOUR PLAYFEST - 2021 PROGRAM

During our free Mu-tini Hour on Friday, Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal will randomly group our TwentyPho artists together and give the playwrights their randomized writing prompt. Scripts are due at 11 a.m. CST the next day, and directors and actors have just five hours to rehearse their freshly written plays.

Ready or not, Saturday at 7 p.m. CST, these plays are going to be presented for the first (and perhaps only) time. It’s live theater stretched to the limits—and we haven’t even talked about how we’re pushing the boundaries of virtual theater.

Scroll through the program or jump to the playwrights, directors, actors, production team, or literary, artistic, and front-of-house members. Their bios will appear when you hover over their photos.

TwentyPho Hour Playfest brings together 30 Asian American artists from around the country as well as almost a dozen people behind the scenes. So please, help us thank the entire team for making this demanding, zany, and wonderful event possible for a second year.

* Denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

PLAYWRIGHTS

Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay (she/her) is an award-winning Lao American poet, playwright, public artist, and cultural producer. She’s a recipient of a Sally Award for Initiative from the Ordway Center for Performing Arts which “recognizes bold new steps and strategic leadership undertaken by an individual … in creating projects or artistic programs never before seen in Minnesota that will have a significant impact on strengthening Minnesota’s artistic/cultural community.” She’s the author of the children’s book When Everything Was Everything and is best known for her award-winning play Kung Fu Zombies Vs. Cannibals. She's currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Theater Mu, a McKnight Foundation Fellow in Community Engaged Practice Art, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow in Playwriting, a Minnesota State Arts Board and Forecast Public Art grantee, and serves as a member at large on the City of Saint Paul Cultural STAR Board. @refugenius

Marlina Gonzalez (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist, theater and media curator, writer, and producer who has created numerous international film festivals, multidisciplinary art exhibits, and performances for the Walker Art Center, the former Intermedia Arts, Pangea World Theater, Twin Cities Media Alliance, and the University of Minnesota Katherine E. Nash Gallery, to name a few. She is a recipient of Springboard for the Arts 2021 Creative Economy Fellowship. In 2012, through the Joyce Foundation Award in Theater, Marlina wrote Isla Tuliro, an allegorical play commissioned by Pangea World Theater and Teatro Del Pueblo. In 2018, she conceived a multi-media performance entitled Stop. Look. Listen. for Pangea’s Lake Street Story Circles in partnership with Latinx spoken word artist Trey Porter, Hmong American playwright Sunny Thao, and Japanese American SAORI weaver Chiaki O’Brien. With grant support from Coalition of Asian American Leaders SPARK Leadership Grant and Filipinx for Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice in MN, Marlina is producing Kuwentuhan, a bilingual storytelling podcast with former KFAI radio producer Ramon Hough. Marlina teaches Introduction to Pan Asian Theater at Augsburg University and will be teaching a new course on Black and Asian solidarity with the University of Minnesota’s Asian American Studies.

Keiko Green (she/her) is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and performer, originally from Marietta, Georgia. Her plays have been developed and/or produced by the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, the Playwrights Realm, the New Harmony Project, ACT Theatre, the Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, and the Seattle Repertory Theatre, among others. She is a Core Company member at ACT Theatre in Seattle, as well as a member of Theater Mu’s inaugural Mu Tang Clan new play incubator. Honors include: the Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play; finalist status for the Neukom Literary Arts Playwriting Award, the Blue Ink Playwriting Award, the Leah Ryan Fund, and the Seven Devils Playwrights Festival. She is currently under commission from ACT Theatre (Seattle) and the Old Globe Theater (San Diego). As an actor, Keiko has worked at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, ACT Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and Seattle Repertory Theatre, among others. She received her BFA from New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing and is currently in her third and final year at UC San Diego’s MFA Playwriting Program. She is represented by the Gersh Agency and Anonymous Content. keikogreen.com

Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay

Marlina Gonzalez

Keiko Green

Kathryn Haddad (she/her) is a writer, teacher, speaker, and community organizer whose work explores contemporary Southwest Asian/North African (SWANA) experiences. Kathryn is a 2004-05 recipient of the Archibald Bush Leadership Fellowship. She has received three Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Fellowships as well as several artist awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She was the 2018 Kay Sexton Award honoree for her work with the SWANA Community, and received a 2019-20 Jerome Fellowship in playwriting. Her plays and creative nonfiction have appeared in throughout the United States, with her last full production being Zafira and the Resistance at the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio in 2019. Her play Zafira the Olive Oil Warrior appears in the anthology Contemporary Plays by Women of Color, edited by Roberta Uno, in 2018, and her work has been mentioned in several compilations of important contributions to the SWANA community. Kathryn has worked extensively with Pangea World Theater as a founder, artist, commissioned playwright, and collaborator. She cofounded Mizna where she served as artistic and executive director for 12 years. She is the current artistic and executive director of New Arab American Theater Works where several of her plays have been produced over the last 10 years.

Kathryn Haddad

Alex Lin (she/her) is just a girl from Jersey. As an ex-STEM kid, her work is powered by a drive to bridge the gap between the science and entertainment industries. Her plays have been developed with Women’s Theatre Festival, the Rude Mechanicals, Central Square Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, University of Idaho, Magic Theatre, Spooky Action, the COOP, Alleyway Theatre, and Pace University. As a head writer for A24 Film/GrandArmy’s frontline space media agency, Supercluster, she has had the privilege of collaborating with NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, Netflix, Apple TV, and other entities to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and the popular culture that it influences. She’s also a producer for the Supercluster series, REAL ASTRONAUT / PLAY ASTRONAUT, bringing real life and silver screen space explorers together in conversation. Honors: Ashland New Plays Festival Pass the Pen Nominee (2020 & 2021), Lanford Wilson American New Play Festival Semifinalist (2021), Screencraft Semifinalist (2020), Elizabeth George Commission Recipient at South Coast Rep (2022). Rep: Sam Barickman at ICM Partners.

Alex Lin

Susan Xu (she/her) is a playwright and filmmaker from Davis, California, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Susan is passionate about uncovering the intersection of power and identity. Her Yellow Trilogy includes Yellow Fever (premiered internationally in Shanghai, China to sold-out audiences), Yellow Dream$ (Zarkower Award for Playwriting, PWC Core Apprentice Finalist), and Yellow Mirrors. In her former life, she was a creative executive for DreamWorks China, where she developed the animated movies Abominable and Over the Moon. Other honors include the Kyoto Filmmakers Lab and the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Scholarship for female directors. She received her BFA in Film and Television from NYU Tisch, and is a graduate of Hunter College’s MFA Playwriting program. Instagram @soozxu | New Play Exchange. Rep: Scott Hale at Gramercy Park Entertainment.

Susan Xu

DIRECTORS

Nana Dakin (she/her) is a Thai-American director of new work, classics and devised performance based in NYC. Her work pursues social equity by examining the way culture is constructed and unsettling dormant biases. Upcoming: MAMMELEPHANT (Superhero Clubhouse). Recent: SORRY/NOT SORRY (Ars Nova Digital ANT Fest), SUNWATCHER (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Global Forms Festival, Ancram Opera House Play Lab, Civilians FINDINGS Series), LOVE LETTER TO A SEED (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks), WHITE PEARL (Royal Court Theatre), an all-women and non-binary production of Shakespeare’s RICHARD III (Lenfest Center for the Arts) and DAMAGE JOY (Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting). She has developed new work at Ensemble Studio Theatre, NYTW, the Song Collective, the Tank and Columbia University’s International Play Reading Festival. Past Directing Fellowships: Clubbed Thumb, NYTW 2050, and the Civilians R&D Group. Nana is a core member of B-Floor Theatre, Thailand’s most highly awarded theatre company. MFA Theatre Directing: Columbia University. nanadakin.com

Nana Dakin

Leslie Ishii (she/her) is the AD at Perseverance Theatre. Director: Perseverance Theater, Pangea World Theatre, East West Players, Artists at Play, and more; Oregon Shakespeare Festival: API 2x2 New Works Residency founder/co-producer, dramaturgy, FAIR Program recipient, and co-facilitator of OSF’s E/D/I/A Initiative; Native Voices Dramaturgy, Northwest Asian American Theatre. Actor: Penumbra, Theater Mu, Northwest Asian American Theatre, El TeatroCampesino; American Conservatory Theater; Southcoast Repertory Theatre, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts; Broadway, regional theatre, and film/TV credits upon request. National scope: Consortium of Asian American Theatres & Artists, board president; National New Play Network, membership committee; National BIPOC Theatre Networks Coalition/Commons, founder; artEquity, core faculty; Theatre Communications Group, BIPOC Advisory Circle. Affiliations and awards: Arts For LA ACTIVATE Alumni; Los Angeles County Supervisors’ Cultural Equity Inclusion Initiative; founder, New England Foundation for the Arts Capacity Grant; Doris Duke Charitable Foundation National Theatre Grant; James P. Shannon Leadership Institute; Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Integrity Award; Los Angeles County Teachers Making A Difference Award; SDC E/D/I Standout Moments, 2016, 2017. SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA.

Leslie Ishii

Peter J. Kuo (he/him) is a director, producer, writer, and educator focused on raising the visibility of marginalized communities. Currently, he is the director of the Conservatory at American Conservatory Theater. Peter is an alumnus of Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Directing Corps, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s FAIR program, the Drama League, and Directors Lab West. He is one of Theatre Communication Group’s 2018 Rising Leaders of Color. He is co-founder of Artists at Play, a Los Angeles based Asian American theatre collective. He has held administrative positions at South Coast Repertory, East West Players, LA Stage Alliance, Cornerstone Theatre Company, and Soho Repertory Theater. Previously he has taught and directed at the New School, HB Studio, the Atlantic Acting School, and Redhouse Arts Center. Directing highlights: Lauren Yee’s in a word and Ching Chong Chinaman; Christopher Chen’s Mutt, Adam Gwon’s Ordinary Days, and Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World. MFA: the New School for Drama.

Peter J. Kuo

May Liang (she/hers) is the artistic director of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company, the Asian and Asian American theater in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is also a freelance theater director/artist of color and has worked with the likes of American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Ground Floor Lab, California Shakespeare Theater, and Crowded Fire Theater (Resident Artist). May was a member of the 2017 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab in New York City, a member of the 2019 Directors Lab Chicago and was nominated for Outstanding Direction of a Play at the 2018 Theater Bay Area Awards for Inside Out and Back Again at Bay Area Children's Theatre. May graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and in another life, was a campaign organizer/activist for immigrant rights with ASPIRE—the first pan-Asian undocumented immigrant youth organization housed under Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.

May Liang

Rich Remedios (he/him) is a Minneapolis-based actor, director, and teacher. His acting credits include Broadway productions of An Inspector Calls and Love! Valour! Compassion! He has also performed at a variety of regional theaters around the country. Film and television work includes the films The Public Domain and To Say Goodbye, Drop Dead Diva, and recurring roles on the daytime dramas All My Children and As the World Turns as well as numerous commercials, independent films, short films, and industrial videos. Directing credits include The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh for Theatre Coup d’Etat and the world premiere Trust by John Woehrle at the Black Box Theater in St. Cloud and the Lab Theater in Minneapolis. Rich has a bachelor of arts in theater from California State University, Fullerton, and a master’s of fine arts in acting from the University of South Carolina. He teaches all levels of acting at Augsburg University, Mu Training Institute and in his private studio, Twin Cities Actor Training.

Rich Remedios

Jennifer Weir (she/her) has been passionately studying, performing, teaching, and composing Taiko for more than two decades. Jennifer is the founding executive director of TaikoArts Midwest, artistic director of Ensō Daiko (formerly Mu Daiko), and a performing member of ensemble-MA, led by Iris Shiraishi. Jennifer is also a theater director and dramaturg with Theater Mu, and a past recipient of grants from Live Music for Dance MN, MN State Arts Board, MN Regional Arts Board, Arts International, American Composers Forum, and a Jerome MN Travel Grant. She recently directed the sold out HERbeat concert at the Ordway and is producing a full length documentary film about it, also titled, HERbeat.

Jennifer Weir

ACTORS

Isabella Dawis (she/her) is a performer and playwright. Mu: peerless (opposite sister Francesca), The Mikado, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Filipino Hearts, The Walleye Kid. Her play Bones of a Horse was recently featured in Mu’s You Shall Hear Me audio series and New Eyes Festival. As a librettist, she holds a 2021-23 Composers and the Voice Fellowship with the American Opera Project in NYC. Collaborations with composer Tidtaya Sinutoke include Half the Sky (Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award, 5th Avenue Theatre Radio Play/First Draft Commission, Mu’s New Eyes Festival, Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Festival, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat) and Sunwatcher (Civilians' R&D, Goodspeed’s Johnny Mercer Writers Grove, Ancram Opera House, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Global Forms, Tofte Lake Center). B.M. summa cum laude, piano performance, University of Minnesota; classical voice, New England Conservatory. isabelladawis.com

Roshni Desai (they/she) is a University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program graduate, currently residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are a fierce believer in theater as a way to connect communities, especially marginalized ones. Roshni also works at Project Success as a facilitator where they teach students SEL skills to help make their dreams happen. Roshni just completed her apprenticeship as an artistic and administrative associate at the Playwrights' Center where she got to facilitate new plays and learned how a theater organization is run. Roshni's recent acting roles include: Othello for Nebraska Shakespeare on tour, Lavache in All's Well That Ends Well, priest/ensemble Hamlet  Nebraska Shakespeare, Jane in Miss Bennet at Jungle Theater, and Cassie in The Wickham’s at Jungle Theater.

Edward Hong (he/him) makes his Theater Mu "stage" debut with TwentyPho Hour Playfest and oh my, is he very excited. He somehow is currently making a living doing TV, film, commercials, theatre, and in the past two years, a ton of dubbing over other Korean people in voiceovers. In addition, he has an unhealthy obsession with Cinnabons and is the proud father of three cats. He is represented by Anthony Boyer at DDO Talent Agency and, in voiceover, Heather Dame at Atlas Talent Agency.

Isabella Dawis *

Roshni Desai

Edward Hong*

Kathy Hsieh (she/her) is an award-winning actor, writer, and director. Recent projects include a variety of Zoomlandia projects including Nurse Wong and Mother Cai in Harlequin Productions’ radio theatre production of Snow in Midsummer, Aunt Billy in 14/48 Productions’ It’s a Wonderful Life, and her own one-person show Notes for My Daughter live-streamed by Macha Theatre Works as a part of its 17 Minute Stories. Next up, Kathy can be heard as Constance and Kitty in Book-It’s audio adventure The Three Musketeers, in Macha Theatre Works’ Holiday Celebration, and Pork Filled Productions’ Resilience! An AAPI 24-Hour Play Festival. She has also toured the country with Living Voice and has worked with SIS Productions, ReAct, the Seattle Rep, ACT, Intiman, Taproot, ArtsWest, Sound Theatre, Freehold, Wooden O, The Shattered Glass Project, and more.

Kathy Hsieh

Paul Juhn (he/him) is a Korean American actor and writer based in New York. Theatre credits include: the American premiere of Caryl Churchill's What if if Only (NAATCO); Henry VI (NAATCO); The Great Wave (Berkeley Rep); Hannah and the Dread Gazebo, The Winter’s Tale, Antony and Cleopatra (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Good Person of Szechwan (Public Theater), Sides: the Fear is Real (Mr. Miyagi’s Theatre Company). Film and TV credits include: The Blacklist, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Salt, Quantico, 30 Rock, Person of Interest, Works of ART. Founding member of Mr. Miyagi’s Theatre Company. MFA from UCSD.

Paul Juhn*

Mia Katigbak (she/her) is the co-founder and actor-manager of the award-winning, New York City-based NAATCO, with whom she has acted extensively, most recently in the US premiere of Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only, a remote live production, and Henry VI, Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts. Selected productions include Russian Troll Farm, an online, live-edited play co-produced by TheaterWorks (CT), TheatreSquared (AR), and the Civilians (NY); Headlands (LCT3); The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Transport Group); Recent Alien Abductions (PlayCo); Dear Elizabeth (WP); Ivo van Hove’s Scenes From a Marriage (NYTW); Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry/Public Theater). Other NYC: Soho Rep, New Group, Ma-Yi, Target Margin, Clubbed Thumb, Bushwick Starr, Intar. Regional work: Yale Rep and Long Wharf (CT), the Humana Festival, Actors Theater in Louisville (KY), Two River Theater (NJ), Berkeley Rep (CA), and the Guthrie (MN). International: Manila, Philippines, and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Television credits include How to Get Away With Murder (ABC), The Sinner (USA), Chicago PD (NBC), Mysteries of Laura (NBC), and Conviction (NBC). She is a USA Fellow (2021) and TCG’s 2017 Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellow for Distinguished Achievement.

Mia Katigbak*

Brian Kim (he/him) is a Minnesotan through and through but now calls LA his base of operations. He is the founder of the award-winning Misfit Dog Productions, a creative incubator for marginalized voices. Theatrical credits include You're A Good Man Charlie Brown (South Coast Rep); Interstate (Mixed Blood Theatre); Caught (Full Circle Theater); Aubergine (San Diego Rep); Fast Company, The Korean Drama Addict's Guide to Losing Your Virginity (Theater Mu); Labour of Love (Olney Theatre); Dinner with Georgette (NYTW); The Emperor's Nightingale (Pan Asian Rep); and Gold Mountain (NAAP/Prospect Theater), and he is currently working on Chimerica with Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh. As a voiceover artist, he can be heard on a variety of media including Pokémon, EDF: Iron Rain, Modern Combat Versus, Naughty Nuts, Parcast, Gundam Seed, Mazinger Z: Infinity, and the recent Netflix hit, Squid Game (111). Follow @asian_with_a_camera on Instagram.

Brian Kim*

Su-Yoon Ko (she/her) is excited to be returning to the Mu stage. A few of her past shows include Middle Brother and Twelfth Night with Mu, Failure: A Love Story at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and The Vagina Monologues in Seoul, Korea. Thanks to everyone with the TwentyPho Hour Playfest, Lily, and everyone at Mu for all you're doing!

Su-Yoon Ko

Emily Kuroda (she/her) worked at Theatreworks (Language Archives, Calligraphy), New York Theatre Workshop (Endlings), Pan Asian (Brothers Paranormal), American Repertory Theater (Endlings), Page 73 (Today is My Birthday), Actors Theater of Louisville (we, the invisibles), Huntington Theater (Tiger Style, Woman Warrior), Artists at Play (Two Mile Hollow), South Coast Rep (Fast Company, Ballad of Yachiyo, and Our Town), Alliance (Tiger Style), East West Players, Kirk Douglas, Mark Taper Forum, Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Singapore Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, the Doolittle, LATC, Zephyr, LA Women’s Shakespeare Company, and the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival. Recent TV: All Rise, The Good Doctor, The Resident, Drop Dead Diva, Gilmore Girls, and the upcoming The Power for Amazon. Recent films: Porcupine, Take the 10, Party Boat, RED, The Sensei, and the upcoming Steven Soderbergh’s KIMI for HBO. Awards: Dramalogue for Ikebana, The Maids, Minamata, The Golden Gate, and Visitors from Nagasaki. LA Commendation for About Love. Garland for Straight As a Line. Entertainment Today for Winter People.

Emily Kuroda*

Jeannie Lander (she/her) has numerous on-camera industrials and print media, but her performances in theater include Mu Performing Arts: Fast Company, Into The Woods, Yellow Fever, Kung Fu Zombies Vs. Cannibals, Purple Cloud; Walking Shadow: 36 Views; Bedlam Theatre, 10-Minute Play Festival; nimbus: American Noise.

Jeannie Lander

Wesley Mouri (he/him) is ecstatic to be returning to the Mu stage after appearing in Flower Drum Song and A Little Night Music. Other selected credits include South Pacific, The Cocoanuts, The Music Man (Guthrie Theater); Jesus Christ Superstar, The Broadway Songbook: Rebels on Broadway (Ordway Center for the Performing Arts); Hamlet (Park Square Theatre); Cinderella (Children's Theater Company); Hello Dolly!, The Little Mermaid, Bye Bye Birdie (Chanhassen Dinner Theaters). Wesley's passion for Asian representation in the arts extends behind the scenes through his work as development director for Theater Mu. Love to his new fiance Brandon and their kittens Miso and Mochi.

Wesley Mouri*

Hope Nordquist (she/her) is a multidisciplinary performer in the Twin Cities. She has been seen at Mu in Charles Francis Chan Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, tot: The Untold Story Of A Filipino Hulk Hogan, Twelfth Night, and A Little Night Music. She has been seen at Park Square Theatre, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Umbrella Collective, and the Moving Company. She can be seen every month at the Saloon where she performs as a singer and burlesque artist in Hot Pink. She is excited to be back at Mu for a new adventure!

Hope Nordquist

Taj Ruler (she/her) is a freelance artist with 12 years of experience in improvisation, acting, teaching, and voice over work. She strives to focus on respect and equity while building and maintaining safe, fun spaces for those around her. tajruler.com

Taj Ruler

Janet Scanlon (she/they) is delighted to be making her professional debut with Theater Mu. She recently graduated from the University of Minnesota in human physiology and is grateful to participate (safely) in theatre during COVID. Acting is truly her passion and her way of honoring herself and all others involved. 

Janet Scanlon

Nandita Shenoy (she/her) is an actor-writer living in New York City. She just closed an Off-Broadway production of Persuasion with Bedlam after the pandemic, having acted in another beloved Jane Austen classic, Sense & Sensibility, directly before it. Nandita has starred in the Off-Broadway production of her own play Washer/Dryer at Ma-Yi Theater Company and has originated roles in world premieres of plays by Adam Szymkowicz, Madhuri Shekar, Chelsea Marcantel, Eric Pfeffinger, and Richard Dresser. She spent a season in the Repertory Company at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Television credits include season 3 of Netflix’s Daredevil and The Last O.G. on TBS. As a playwright, her work has been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago as well as in Shanghai. Her latest Rage Play was named to the 2020 Kilroys List. She is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, dtfwaw, the Dramatists Guild, Actors Equity, and SAG/AFTRA. She won a 2020 Obie Award for her work in diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition. Nandita holds a BA in English literature from Yale University. nanditashenoy.com

Nandita Shenoy*

Lily Tung Crystal (she/her) is the artistic director of Theater Mu. She is excited to be collaborating with so many artists in the Twin Cities and beyond for Mu’s TwentyPho Hour Playfest. Acting credits include: Mrs. Shin/God #2/Niece (Good Person of Szechwan, CalShakes), Prosecutor Li (Chinglish, Portland Center Stage/Syracuse Stage), Mother (Interstate, Mixed Blood Theatre), Rachel Li/Rashida (Tough Titty, Magic Theatre), Amanda (Private Lives, Whirligig Theatre), Lulu (Cabaret, SF Playhouse), Mrs. Park (Jay Kuo’s Homeland, Magic Theatre; New World Stages), Korean #2 (Songs of the Dragons, Crowded Fire; BATCC nomination). Film: Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs. Lily is also a director who is a 3-time Theatre Bay Area Award finalist. She is a 2016 YBCA 100 honoree, named by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a “creative pioneer making the provocations that will shape the future of culture.” lilytungcrystal.com, theatermu.org

Lily Tung Crystal*

Keivin (Key-Vin) Vang (he/him) is a performance artist and aspiring professional actor/dancer based in the Minneapolis metro area in Minnesota. With specialties in acting and dancing (B-boying), he has performed regionally for Carved Out Theatre, SouthEast Asian Diaspora (SEAD), and the University of Minnesota’s Department of Theatre Arts and Dance (2018-19 season). He is also the innovator of Asian Collective Theatre (ACT), the first ever Asian-focused theatre group on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus.

Keivin Vang

Greg Watanabe (he/him) made his Broadway debut in Allegiance and was recently seen in Cambodian Rock Band at Victory Gardens, the City Theatre Pittsburgh, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and Hold These Truths at Virginia Stage Company. Other appearances include world premiere productions of The Ballad Of Yachiyo (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Public Theater-New York), The Summer Moon (A Contemporary Theater, South Coast Repertory Theatre), The Happy Ones (South Coast Rep, L.A. Drama Critics Circle nomination for Best Featured Performance) and Extraordinary Chambers (The Geffen Playhouse, Ovation nomination for Best Featured Actor). Other appearances include Golden Child (Signature Theater), Yellow Face (Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego Theater Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play).

Greg Watanabe*

PRODUCTION

Elizabeth MacNally (she/her) has been stage managing in the Twin Cities since 2001 and has made Pillsbury House Theatre her artistic home for the last 10 seasons. Some of her favorite shows in the past include Main Street and Hiding in the Open at the History Theatre; Next Fall and Recent Tragic Events at the Jungle Theater; The Brothers Size, Buzzer, The Children, and Jimmy & Lorraine A Musing at Pillsbury House Theatre, and 9 Parts of Desire at the Guthrie Theater. Elizabeth has a BFA from Rockford University in Rockford, IL, and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Elizabeth is also a McKnight Theatre Artis Fellow at the Playwrights' Center.

Elizabeth MacNally*
production stage manager

Sydni Alise (she/her) is a recent graduate from Iowa State University. She is an aspiring stage manager and playwright from Kansas City, Missouri. She currently works as an apprentice at the Playwrights' Center. Her personal mission statement is “to shed the weight of the past by translating my personal stories into works that can ignite a fire within young women to speak their truth.”

Sydni Alise
assistant stage manager

Laini Devin (she/her) is a Twin Cities based actor, stage manager, director, and teaching artist. Since attending and graduating from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with a BA in performance, she has worked with Children’s Theatre Company, Actors Theater of MN, MN Opera, Minnesota Centennial Showboat, Theater Latté Da, Theatre Unbound, Four Humors, Theatre in the Round, GSVLOC, Public Theatre of MN, the Zephyr Theatre, Ten Thousand Things, National Theatre for Children, BARd Shakes, and Shadow Horse Theatre. Laini is currently apprenticing with the Playwrights' Center, and recently spent several seasons as the education program director for Mill City Summer Opera, where she was instrumental in developing their young audiences performance series. She is thrilled to be working with Mu for the first time! lainidevin.com

Laini Devin
assistant stage manager

Em Friedman (they/them) is a class of '21 graduate of the Theatre and Dance Department at Macalester College. Their previous work includes assistant stage management for Collide Dance Theatre and Penumbra Theatre. They have also operated lights and sound for Theater Latté Da and Park Square Theatre. They are delighted to be working with Theater Mu. Thank you for watching!

Em Friedman
assistant stage manager

Gursimrat (she/her) is a playwright whose work grapples with questions of identity in our modern society and dissects subjects of faith, doubt, and cross-cultural human connection. She was the 2019-2020 Core Apprentice at the Playwrights' Center. Select works include Radiance, At the Battlefront, Julia, Taj, and a modern retelling of a prominent 16th century Punjabi folklore Mirza-Sahiba. Her plays have been developed at the School of Arts Institute of Chicago, Curious Theatre Branch, MOXIE Theatre, Naatak, and HBMG Foundation among others. She is the recipient of the Allan Havis Playwriting Award (UC San Diego) and has been finalist for Jane Chambers Award and ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition. She holds an  MFA from the University of Texas, Austin as a James A. Michener Fellow. She's currently an American Woman Fellow at Dramatic Question Theatre and working as an apprentice at the Playwrights' Center.

Gursimrat Kaur
assistant stage manager

Kalina Ko (she/her) is a Cantonese-American theater director, dramaturg, and generator. She is interested in the radical connection and community building of storytelling. Select credits include directing Paige Conway’s Tag (drafted) and Sophie Poole’s Ethanol (NOMADS), assisting Will Detlefsen on T. Adamson’s The Straights (the JACK, Brooklyn), and script assisting Hansol Jung on Wolf Play (Soho Rep) and Amy Jo Jackson on Hatchetation (National Music Theater Conference). She is currently the artistic apprentice at Roundabout Theatre Company and has worked two summers in the literary department at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Kalina graduated recently from Barnard College (American studies and chemistry). kalinako.weebly.com

Kalina Ko
assistant stage manager

Katey Kraemer (she/her) is so excited to be joining Theater Mu for the first time as an assistant stage manager for TwentyPho Hour Playfest! She most recently worked as a production assistant for A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie, and she has worked as an ASM and wardrobe swing for multiple productions at the Children’s Theatre in Minneapolis. Katey also holds a dual degree in Theatre Performance and Television Arts from Bradley University.

Katey Kraemer
assistant stage manager

Transcend Streaming (streaming producer) elevates digital and hybrid theater out of the world of rectangles and into an art form that’s just as magical as in-person performance. By incorporating design, staging, and a dash of “how did they DO that?!,” co-founders Leanna and Kyra produce projects that are accessible, engaging, and innovative. 

Leanna Keyes (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based theater practitioner and co-founder of Transcend Streaming. Her streaming work was last seen at Theater Mu with Today Is My Birthday. You can find her creative work at leannakeyes.com, including The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays. Leanna co-edited this first-of-its-kind anthology of plays by trans writers about trans characters, which includes her most famous play, Doctor Voynich and Her Children.

Kyra Bowie (she/her) is a multi-hyphenate artist based in Brooklyn and the co-founder of Transcend Steaming. Select credits: ONCE BITTEN (SM, streaming producer), HOW TO REPAIR A MECHANICAL HEART (SM, streaming producer), CAMP MORNING WOOD (PSM, Off-Broadway), OSF O! Staged Reading Series (streaming associate, OSF), Bay Area International Children's Film Festival (streaming associate), WINDOW PAYNE (SM, Royal Family Productions). Never ending gratitude to her chosen family. @KyraBowie kyrabowie.com

Trascend Streaming: Leanna Keyes and Kyra Bowie
streaming producers

LITERARY AND ARTISTIC

Jane Peña (she/her) wears many hats as Theater Mu's office manager and literary associate. She comes from a background in literary management and dramaturgy, having completed a string of literary internships and freelance script supervisory jobs with the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Playwrights' Center, Goodman Theater, Cedar Summerstock Theater, and more. You can find Jane in most Mu production lobbies and live chats as the house manager, helping you with your tickets as the box office representative, and as the friendly voice on the other end of the Mu front desk phone line. She is also thrilled to be on the literary committee along with Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal and Artistic Associate Annie Wang. In that capacity, Jane takes great pride in nurturing and expanding Mu’s community of writers.

Jane Peña
literary associate,
box office and house manager

Annie Jin Wang (she/her) is a first-generation Chinese-American dramaturg, writer, and designer. Recent credits: Today Is My Birthday and peerless (Theater Mu), and Carmen (Croatian National Theatre); she also contributed to projects at Shotgun Players, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company this year. Upcoming: Bloodlines (Faultline Theatre). Annie currently serves as the associate director for programming and communications at PlayCo, the literary manager at Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company, and the artistic associate at Theater Mu. Her writing has been incubated with Fresh Ground Pepper, and she is a member of the 2021-22 PlayGround-NY Writers’ Pool. MFA, Columbia University; BAs, Wellesley College.

Annie Jin Wang
artistic associate