Ma-Yi Theater Company has announced Lisa Sanaye Dring (SUMO) has been awarded a 2024 Tow Foundation Playwright Residency. The company also announced its 2024 Ma-Yi Writers Lab cohort, which is the largest collective of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) playwrights in the country. 

New members of the Writers Lab cohort are Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin, Katelynn Kenney, Ankita Raturi, Ren Dara Santiago, Minghao Tu, and Liqing Xu; joining legacy members Naveen Bahar Choudhury, Mia Chung, and Maureen Sebastian. 

The professional workshop, which was founded in 2004, is designed to nurture and showcase Asian-American playwrights across the country. Ma-Yi will provide the Writers Lab with rehearsal facilities as well as development support for workshops and readings. 

“Investing in outstanding talent like Lisa Sanaye Dring reinforces Ma-Yi’s commitment to nurturing emerging Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) playwrights,” Ma-Yi’s associate producer, Jakob Carter, said in a statement.

During Dring's residency, she will work closely with Ma-Yi's Producing Artistic Director Ralph B. Peña to refine and enhance her play SUMO, which had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in a co-production with Ma-Yi in October 2023. The play, which gives audiences a look into the highly ritualized and hierarchical world of sumo wrestling, is slated for a New York premiere in 2024. 

Visit Ma-YiTheatre.org.