Chay Yew, born 1965, is a playwright and stage director who was born in Singapore. As of 2007 he lives in New York City.
Career
Yew's plays include As if He Hears, Porcelain, A Language of Their Own, Red, A Beautiful Country, Wonderland, Question 27, Question 28, and Long Season. His adaptations include A Winter People (based on Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard) and Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. In 1989, the government in Singapore banned his first play As If He Hears because the gay character acted "too sympathetic and too straight-looking". The plays appear in numerous anthologies. His plays are published by Grove Press. He is presently editing an anthology of contemporary Asian American plays, "Version 3.0," for TCG Publications. Yew was the director of the Mark Taper Forum's Asian Theatre Workshop for 10 years. As of 2007 he serves on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group. He also serves on the Executive Board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Yew's plays have been produced by many prestigious outlets, including the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater in New York City and the Royal Court Theatre in London. Yew has also directed plays at outlets like the Mark Taper Forum and East West Players, and his productions have included such performers as Dennis Dun, Tamlyn Tomita, Sandra Tsing Loh, Margaret Cho, Rha Goddess and Brian Freeman. He also directed the world premieres of David Henry Hwang's and Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music and Rob Zuidam's Rage D'Amors (Tanglewood). Yew has directed numerous productions by other writers, including Naomi Iizuka's plays, "Strike-Slip" at Actors Theatre of Louisville/Humana Festival and "Citizen 13559" at the Kennedy Center; and Julia Cho's Durango at the Public Theater and Long Wharf Theatre. Yew is also the recipient of the 2007 OBIE Award for Direction.
