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The Green Room: Chay Yew

November 19, 2021

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Welcome to Episode 1 of Writers Theatre's new podcast - The Green Room. Each month we'll be joined by some of the industry's most illustrious artists for intimate conversations about art, theatre, and the world around us.

This month, we're joined by ⁠Chay Yew⁠, director of the first show of our 30th Anniversary Season - ⁠Dishwasher Dreams⁠. Chay joins Interim Artistic Director Bobby Kennedy as they discuss how it's been to return to the theater, the importance of immigrant narratives, and what compels us to tell stories with one another. Yew is an Obie award-winning director and playwright who lead Chicago’s ⁠Victory Gardens Theater⁠ as Artistic Director from 2011-2020. Yew also directed the world premiere, regional and New York productions of Cambodian Rock Band by ⁠Lauren Yee⁠, and the world premiere and New York production of Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles by Luis Alfaro. His most recent directing project was ⁠Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord⁠ at New York Theatre Workshop.

Dishwasher Dreams runs December 9, 2021 — January 16, 2022.

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Host - Bobby Kennedy

Producer - Melissa Rosenberg

Audio Engineer - Amanda Hosking

Editor - McKenzie Wilkes

Featuring

Chay Yew

Guest

His New York credits include the Public, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature, New York City Center Encores!, Flea, Playwrights Realm, Audible, Rattlestick, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. His regional credits include the Goodman, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, Arena, American Conservatory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Alley Theatre, Goodspeed, South Coast Rep, Old Globe, Center Theatre Group, Denver Center Theater, Huntington, Seattle Rep, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens, amongst others. His opera credits include Perelman Performing Arts Center, Tanglewood, and LA Philharmonic. He is a recipient of the 2024 Doris Duke Artist Award, and the OBIE for direction.

Bobby Kennedy

Host

Bobby Kennedy is the Director of Artistic Development at Writers Theatre. He has been the resident dramaturg at the theatre since 2008 and has led the theatre's new work program since 2014. Highlights of his tenure include the world premieres of Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol, Wife of a Salesman by Eleanor Burgess, Dishwasher Dreams by Alauddin Ullah, Witch by Jen Silverman, Trevor by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick-Davis, and Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf by Tim Sniffen; the national premieres of Quixote: On the Conquest of Self by Mónica Hoth, Claudio Valdés Kuri, and Georgina Escobar, and The Dance of Death by Conor McPherson; and the Chicago premieres of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, A Distinct Society, Tiger Style!, Athena, The Last Match, The Niceties, Smart People, and Marjorie Prime. In addition to his dramaturgy work at WT, his credits also include the world premieres of Give It All Back (SideShow Theatre Company), Body and Blood (The Gift Theatre), Ibsen is Dead (Interrobang Theatre Project) and The Peacock (Jackalope Theatre Company), as well as the midwest premiere of The Luck of the Irish (Next Theatre Company). Kennedy co-founded The Spontaneous Theater Project in Boston and has also worked with Huntington Theatre Company and New Repertory Theatre. He is an alumnus of Boston University.

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