Theater Mu announces members of its 2021/22 Mu Tang Clan
Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, Marlina Gonzalez, Keiko Green, Kathy Haddad, Alex Lin, and Susan Xu
Theater Mu announces the members of its first playwrights’ incubator program titled the Mu Tang Clan. Designed specifically for emerging and experienced Asian American playwrights from across the country by cultural producer and Theater Mu’s Mellon Foundation Playwright-In-Residence Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, the 2021/22 Mu Tang Clan includes Marlina Gonzalez (Minneapolis, MN), Keiko Green (La Jolla, CA), Kathy Haddad (Minneapolis, MN), Alex Lin (Saddle River, NJ), and Susan Xu (San Francisco, CA).
“The quality and caliber of the playwrights who applied were incredible,” says Vongsay. “Their experiences, voices, interests, and goals were richly varied. I came into my role as the Playwright-In-Residence at Mu knowing in my heart and belly that I wanted to grow with a community of Asian American playwrights.”
The universal desire for community became glaringly apparent when Theater Mu unexpectedly received nearly 100 applicants to the incubator. “When we first conceived of the Mu Tang Clan,” says Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal, “We thought we’d receive maybe 15 or so applicants, and it would be a way for us to meet and develop new Asian American writers and give space for more established playwrights to write and support each other. We never imagined we’d get such a huge response from around the country.”
“Many expressed their need for empowering programs like Mu Tang Clan that offer intentionally safer spaces for Asian American writers—spaces where you don’t have to include asterisks or italicize anything about yourself. You won’t always find that in ‘traditional’ American theater spaces.”
—Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay
Adds Tung Crystal, “It’s heartening and exciting to see so many talented and experienced Asian American writers giving voice to our stories, especially during this time of intense anti-Asian violence. Telling our narratives gives a face and a voice to those in our community. The more people who know our stories, the more they’ll see us as the true Americans that we are. The sheer volume of applicants shows that these spaces are needed now more than ever.”
Tung Crystal plans to keep this sentiment in mind as Theater Mu launches a second playwriting incubator designed by Mu’s Literary Associate Jane Peña and Artistic Associate Annie Wang. Intended for new and emerging playwrights, this cohort will focus on mentorship and developing a body of work. More information will be available in January 2022.
Finalists to the 2021/22 Mu Tang Clan cohort included Boni Alvarez (Los Angeles, CA), Gursimrat Kaur (Austin, TX), and Geetha Reddy (Burlingame, CA). Semi-finalists included Kat Agudo (Austin, TX), Jeesun Choi (Brooklyn, NY), Damon Chua (New York, NY), Tracy Held (Burbank, CA), Michelle de Joya (Minneapolis, MN), Tessa King (Mill Valley, CA), Kathy Ng (Providence, RI), Matthew Park (New York, NY), Nicholas Pilapil (Santa Ana, CA), Jasmine Sharma (Evanston, IL), Gregory Keng Strasser (Washington DC), Sango Tajima (Oakland, CA), and Oanh Vu (Minneapolis, MN).
The Mu Tang Clan will meet bi-monthly over Zoom beginning this summer through December, with public presentations in August 2021 and January 2022. Click HERE for more information including full bios and headshots of the Mu Tang Clan.
This program is made possible through a generous grant from the Science Museum of Minnesota’s 2021 Race Exhibition Mini Grants and through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.