Godfather Prize: Legacy. Resistance. Evolution
Nov 16, 2026 | VIRTUAL ONLINE FESTIVAL
2026 Godfather Prize and 10-Minute Playwriting Festival: Legacy. Resistance. Evolution.
CAATA’s first 10-Minute Playwriting Festival and the inaugural year of the Godfather Prize!
As theater artists, we carry the stories of those who came before us, even as we write the stories that will shape what comes next. We see this as a moment to honor where we come from and who we are becoming. A moment to remember. A moment to resist. A moment to evolve.
The 2026 festival celebrated new 10-minute plays by eight finalists from AANHPI, SWANA, MENA, and Mixed-Race communities across the nation. Each playwright was paired with a director, a dramaturg, and professional actors. Then we gathered online as a community to witness their work through live-streamed presentations and post-show conversations, and to celebrate the first recipient of the Godfather Prize.
This festival was made possible through the foundational support of Roger W. Tang.
GODFATHER PRIZE FINALISTS
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Aidaa Peerzada
Aidaa Peerzada (She/her) is a Black and Pakistani American multi-disciplinary theatre maker. She is a 2026/27 resident Playwright with the Playwrights Foundation. She was part of Crowded Fire Theater’s 2024/26 R&D Lab, and her play "Lenora 2" was part of CFT’s 2025 Matchbox Reading Series. Her play "Children of the Wise" was commissioned by Prop Thtr and was part of the 2024 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She co-wrote the book for the new musical "Sunflowered," which premiered at Northern Sky Theatre in 2023. Her short play “Aliyah and The Princess Jasmine Doll” has been presented at Meet Cute LA, The Kitchen Table Festival (NYC), and Catalyst: C3T (Davis, CA). Aidaa is a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts and went on to earn her BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University. She is part of the artistic staff at SFBATCO, where she supports other artists through SFBATCO’s educational and new play initiatives. You can find her at Aidaapeerzada.com or @mixed.millennial on IG
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Christopher Reyes
Christopher Reyes (he/they) is a Filipino-American performer, writer, and arts marketer. He received a BA in Theater Arts from Drew University with a minor in Communications and Film & Media Studies. His plays are often inspired by stories of his upbringing in the Philippines and his subsequent experience of immigrating to America. He was chosen as a Writing Fellow at The Playwrights Realm during the 2019/20 Season, where he developed first full-length play, Balikbayan, which was then presented as part of the INK’D Festival of New Plays.
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Emma Y. Lai
Emma Y. Lai is a Taiwanese writer, new works director, and producer. She delights in writing romantic comedy, political satire, and stories with happy endings! Emma’s plays have been developed with Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Workshop Theatre, Theatre Mu, The Tank NYC, Melancholics Anonymous, Jersey City Theatre Center, Picnic Basket Theatre, and Frank Silvera’s Writers Workshop. She was a Finalist for Pipeline Theatre Co. 's 2024 PlayLab and the BIPOC Festival at Boise Contemporary Theatre, and a Semi-Finalist for The Many Voices Fellowship at Playwrights’ Center and the Signpost Fellowship. Her favorite directing/assisting credits include: The Garden: A New Folk Musical by Hannah Bakke (Minnesota Children' s Theatre Company TAT), devoured by Liqing Xu (Playwrights Center/Southern Theatre), Your Own Personal Exegesis by Julia May Jonas (dir. Annie Tippe; LCT3), and Vietgone by Qui Nguyen (dir. Mina Morita, Guthrie Theater). Emma is currently attending Carnegie Mellon University for a MFA in Dramatic Writing. emmaylai.com
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Jyotsna Hariharan
Jyotsna Hariharan is an screenwriter and playwright from India, based in New York. Film and TV credits include Modern Love: Mumbai (Amazon Prime) and Fursat (Apple/Media Arts Lab). Her independant short I’m Dead Right? starring Sakina Jaffrey, premiered at the 2025 IFFLA and iSAFF festivals, and her radio play, Rebuttal, was produced by HarperCollins Audio and nominated for a 2018 Audie Award for Best Original Work. Her humor writing has been published in The New Yorker, McSweeneys, The Mary Sue, and more. MFA Dramatic Writing, NYU Tisch (2017).
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Nico Pang
Nico Pang is a Cantonese writer and director exploring diasporic belonging, ancestral memory, and queerness as possibility. Plays include: I Think I Was Born Missing You (developed with IAMA Theatre Company, O’Neill 2026 NPC semifinalist), Moonbow (Hantext New Works Festival at East West Players), and My Body Is a Season (SpeakEasy Stage). Nico is the 2025 recipient of the Artists at Play Emerging Playwright Commission and was a finalist for the East West Players 2028 Open Call Commission. They are the director of Trans Lineage, a trans-centered new works program at Celebration Theatre, where they guide projects from pitch to world premiere. Nico’s directing credits include Celebration Theatre, Center Theatre Group, IAMA Theatre, The Theater Offensive, CHUANG Stage, and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. nicopang.com
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Matthew Chong
Matthew Chong is a playwright, librettist and screenwriter. His plays have been developed by Red Bull Theater, the Atlanta Opera and South Coast Repertory. He is the recipient of the ASCAP Cole Porter Prize and the Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award at the Kennedy Center. He was a writer-in-residence at the New Harmony Project, served as co-artistic director of the Yale Summer Cabaret 2025 and worked in television production at Netflix. Matthew's work has been published by Stage Rights. MFA: Yale.
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Rebs Chan (張麗珠)
Rebs Chan (張麗珠) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist based between Shanghai and metro Detroit. As a queer, Chinese-American storyteller, their work tells the stories of queer diaspora through language and structures with the slipperiness of diasporic experience. Rebs has developed and presented original work through Yun Theatre, the Berkeley Rep Artistic Fellowship, the Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai Theatre Academy, The 24 Hour Plays, Taipei Shorts 6, Festival Playhouse, Queer Theatre Kalamazoo, the Theatre Kalamazoo New Playfest, and the Asian American Music Video Fest. M.A. – Shanghai Theatre Academy, Intercultural Communication Studies (current student) B.A. – Kalamazoo College, Honors in Theatre Arts
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Shanti Reinhardt
Shanti Reinhardt, an actress and playwright was raised in the Hawaiian tradition of hānai by a Filipino/Hawaiian family on the island of Kaua’i. She is a graduate of The American Conservatory Theater. Her most recent play, A Glass Darkly, was chosen to be part of NJ Rep’s 2026 Theatre Brut Festival. She has also recently finished a trilogy of plays set in 1970’s Hawaii. Lehua’s Blood; 2025 Playwrights Foundation’s Bay Area Playwrights Festival (Semi-Finalist), 2026 Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Arts Foundation (Finalist), The trilogy also includes Yamaguchi Store and Kill ‘Em With Aloha; Or, Da Big Mouth Pidgin English Play. Yamaguchi Store: (Winner) Kumu Kahua Theatre's Hawai'i Prize, The Relentless Award (Honorable Mention), Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference (Semi-Finalist), The Leah Ryan Fund (Finalist), Frank Moffet Mosier Fellowship for Works in Heightened Language (Semi-Finalist). Kill ‘Em With Aloha; Or, Da Big Mouth Pidgin English Play: Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference (Finalist), ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition (Quarterfinalist), Austin Film Festival (2nd Rounder) was optioned by CBS Television Studios and is currently in development with producer Lynnette Ramirez and Anonymous Content. Awards and distinctions include Ashland New Plays Festival (Finalist), Futurefest (Finalist), and Parity Development Award (Honorable Mention) for her play, Otis. Otis debuted in a workshop production at The Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, CA. Plays have been produced and/or developed at Great Plains Theatre Conference, NJ Rep Theatre, Theatre of NOTE, The Road Theatre Company, Pacific Resident Theatre, Inner-City Arts, and LA Made series at The Mark Taper Auditorium under a grant from The Los Angeles Public Library. Her critically acclaimed one-woman show (L.A. Times, L.A. Weekly) Hollywood Hanai premiered at Theatre of NOTE and presented at the HBO workshop. Shanti is a member of The Dramatists Guild, Playwrights' Center, New Play Exchange, and Pacific Resident Theatre.
Selection Committee Members
First Round Review – CAATA Staff Committee
The first-round committee will read the 200 submissions and collectively determine the 30-40 plays that will move to the next round.
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Alexandria Chua (she/her) is a third year BFA Lighting design student at Mason Gross, Rutgers University. She is looking forward to working with CAATA to build upon her knowledge of the professional industry, as well as be a part of the organization’s mission to bring together Asian theatre makers! Born and raised in Malaysia, she is deeply connected to her family and culture. In her free time she loves to cook and spend time with her dog Marley, and cat, Romeo!
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Anna J Zheng (any) is a Brooklyn-based director, deviser, and dramaturg originally from Atlanta, Georgia. She is interested in acts of adaptation—of stories, of bodies, to other people, to inhospitable environments—and the ways we change ourselves to survive. Recent directing includes writing/co-directing Run all the way home, a dance theatre piece about motherhood, immigration, and grief; a dance theatre interpretation of Constellations by Nick Payne; Three States of Matter, a climate migration adaptation of Three Sisters; and Man of God by Anna Moench. Previous internships include Crowded Fire Theatre and Golden Thread Productions. They are a former Artistic Director for the Stanford Asian American Theater Project (AATP) and are excited to continue exploring AAPI theatre and new play development with CAATA. annajzheng.com
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Kassidy Dakota Lin (she/her) is a second year BFA acting major at Rutgers University from Irvine, CA. As a Vietnamese-Chinese American artist, she is incredibly passionate about telling Asian stories in the theatre space. She is thrilled to be a part of the CAATA team and to continue exploring her identity through her art.
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Rahi Dhopte (she/her) is a first-year transfer student at Rutgers University, where she is pursuing a BFA in Acting. She grew up training in Indian classical and Bollywood dance, which has been a significant part of her life and ultimately led her to discover a passion for acting—something she hopes to pursue as a career. In her free time, she enjoys filming and creating content, particularly vlogs and aesthetic digital media, as well as photography. She is very excited about the opportunity to work with CAATA to gain exposure to different areas of the entertainment industry, deepen her engagement with the Asian community, and grow through this internship experience!
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Sarah Machiko Haber (she/hers) is an artistic producer, administrator, and advocate driven by a belief that the arts can be a tool of social change by acting as a mirror for reflection and a dreamspace for the future. She currently serves as CAATA’s Programs and Membership Engagement Director. Prior to working with CAATA, Sarah was most recently the Managing Artistic Director of the Yale Cabaret. Other work includes positions with Yale Repertory Theatre, Theatre Communication Group, Theater Mu, the Lark Play Development Center, National Asian American Theatre Company, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Sarah holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA in Theater Management from Yale School of Drama.
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Tingyu Yuan is a student at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts pursuing costume design BFA. Theater for Tingyu began in a high school drama club, where she started as an actress, then expanded her work into directing, producing, and costuming. Shows she participated in include Fiddler on the Roof, Romeo and Juliet, Into the Woods, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Mean Girls. A significant achievement is the 2024 Papermill Play House Rising Star award nomination as the production manager. Tingyu is also a first generation Chinese immigrant and will work to incorporate her heritage into the art she makes. She hopes to become a working theater artist and continue to foster the love and community she experienced since the beginning of this journey.
Second Round Review – Regional Selection Committee
The second-round committee will review the 30–40 semifinalist plays and collectively determine the 6-8 finalists. Committee members will receive a $150 honorarium, a one-year CAATA membership, and a full pass to ConFest 2028.
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Alegra Batara (they/them) is a queer, Filipino-American theatre artist born and raised in thePNW. They received their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater in the midwest, and after performing around the country for two years, they returned to Seattle which they have made their artistic home for the last 3 years. Alegra works as an actor, director, playwright, teacher, as well as a producer for Pork Filled Productions. They have been fortunate to appear on stage at a variety of theaters in Seattle, specializing in Shakespeare and dialect work.
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Amee Vyas is an actor and director as well as co-founder of ExSE (East by Southeast). She began as a resident acting company member of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, and for a time was Atlanta’s only Asian-Indian actress to join the professional union of actors. She can also be seen on screen in the odd commercial and tv episode if you are quick and don’t blink. Director credits include: Othello (Fern Shakespeare Co, Seattle WA); The Story of Diwali (Create Dunwoody); Orange (Stage Door); Macbeth (Shakespeare Tavern). Co-founding East by Southeast, the only arts festival in the southeast to feature work by and of American artists of Asian-descent, is one of the highlights of her career so far and she looks forward to making stories that transcend gender and color the new normal for American theater.
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Caro Asercion is an artistic producer, dramaturg, and advocate for new plays drawn toward the experimental, collaborative, and iconoclastic. As Leader of Artistic Producing at Crowded Fire Theater, Caro has line-produced dozens of new play workshops and staged readings, including several pieces commissioned through CFT’s Resilience & Development (R&D) playwriting lab, which they have co-facilitated since 2021. Alongside their time at Crowded Fire, Caro has helped develop and produce new plays at a range of companies across the Bay Area and beyond, including A.C.T., Custom Made Theatre Company, Town Hall, Ma-Yi, and Magic Theatre. They currently serve as a board member for the National New Play Network.
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Christine Hoang is a Vietnamese American theatremaker, filmmaker, and recovering lawyer based in Austin, Texas. She's also the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Color Arc Productions, a 501(c)(3) artistic nonprofit whose mission since 2015 has been to shine light on diverse stories. Born in New Orleans Charity Hospital, Christine grew up in the working class suburbs of Westbank New Orleans where she learned English by watching Sesame Street. Her plays and films are centered on Southern, BIPOC characters trying to find their way. Christine’s achievements include: Kartemquin Films Zhao-Chen Family AAPI Voices Fund Finalist (Sweet Potato Pig: 2026), Broadway World Best Play Nominee (Wanna Play: 2025), Austin Theatre Critics Table Outstanding Original Script Nominee (Wanna Play: 2025), Women in Film and Television 1st Place Audience Award Winner (Pizza My Heart: 2025), Manifest Minifest Playwright (Revolution Island: 2025), CineStory Feature Writing Quarterfinalist (Just Say Yes: 2025), The Opportunity Agenda Culture & Narrative Fellow (2024-25), 49th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Top 30 Playwright (Figment of Manifestation: 2024), CineStory TV Writing Semifinalist (Downshift: 2024), Thrive Grant Winner (2023), WarnerBros Discovery 150 Artist (Fly Girl: 2022), Unlock Her Potential mentee of Brian Yorkey (2022), Yes And Laughter Lab Winner (Downshift: 2022), WarnerMedia 150 New Orleans Film Society South Pitch Winner (Fly Girl: 2021), Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive Fellow (2021), Meryl Streep’s The Writers Lab Fellow (Fly Girl: 2020), Tribeca Film Institute Alumna (Fly Girl: 2020), AT&T and Tribeca Untold Stories Finalist (Fly Girl: 2020), FronteraFest Best of Fest Winner (Halfway to Death: 2023, Body of Work: 2017, Two Fathers: The Vietnamese Refugee & The Vietnam Vet: 2016), Austin Film Festival Pitch Finalist (Fly Girl: 2019, A Girl Named Sue: 2017), Austin Critics Table David Mark Cohen Best New Play Winner (A Girl Named Sue: 2017), City of Austin Touringin Commission (People of Color Christmas: 2017)
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Đavid Lee Huỳnh is a Ragin’ Cajun Asian who went from working on his family’s shrimp boat to making Theatre all over the world. Onstage, he’s trod the boards in one of the rare American productions of a Shakespeare play to transfer to the United Kingdom (The Merchant of Venice, Royal Lyceum Theatre) and has worked with Theatre for a New Audience, Classic Stage Company, Ma-Yi, NAATCO, Yale Repertory, the Alley Theatre, and many others. On-camera, his work includes an eclectic range of credits from crime drama (FBI, Blue Bloods) to science fiction (Solitary) to high fantasy (Encounter Party). His work as a writer has been supported by Yangtze Rep, Ma-Yi, LIT Council, HB Studios, Second Generation Productions, and others. He is a professor in the Randolph College MFA Theatre Arts program. MFA: University of Houston | www.davidleehuynh.com | @huynhsome | "không phải tôi. chúng ta"
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Mei MacQuarrie (she/her) is a Chinese adoptee actor based in Boston who studied Theater and Violin Performance at UMass Amherst. Some acting credits include At The Wedding (Studio Theatre Worcester), Yellow Face (Lyric Stage Company), and Mary Magdelene, Daughter, Boatperson (reading, Fresh Ink Theatre/CHUANG Stage). Other projects she has collaborated on include Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) (CHUANG Stage/Seoulful Productions) and Kim’s Convenience (The Huntington). She also has worked in various positions with Company One Theatre, TC Squared, and the Providence Performing Arts Center. @mei_mac
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Michelle Pokopac (she/hers) Michelle Pokopac is an American multihyphenate of Korean descent, ranging from acting in theatre and film, producing, dramaturgy, and activism. With a constant interest in the arts ranging from acting, drawing, and playing piano, she continued to pursue acting through her high school’s theatre department. Michelle received her BFA in Theatre Performance from Columbus State University and did additional studies in Florence, Italy and Oxford, England. Her credits include a range of theatre productions such as the Regional Tony Award Winning Alliance Theatre, and film and television credits on FOX, Hulu, Lifetime, Marvel/Disney+, and Netflix. In 2018, Michelle and her founding partners (Amee Vyas and Pam Joyce) founded East by Southeast, an organization dedicated to connecting Asian artists in Atlanta while creating opportunities to support inclusivity and authentic representation. In response to the social and racial injustice brought forth in 2020, Michelle teamed up with several artist-activist organizations to protest, facilitate, and hold active positions of power accountable. Her relationship with art, social justice, and identity have blended harmoniously into a life and career that have deepened her pillars of gratitude, joy, and passion. In addition to her work in the arts, she also teaches a standardized curriculum for the well-woman exam nation wide at medical, nursing, PA schools, and assists with SANE trainings at sexual assault centers. In her free time, Michelle enjoys eating all the good food, travelling, and spending time with her family, friends, and furbaby. @pokopac @east_x_southeast
Final Round – CAATA Executive Committee
The finalist plays will be reviewed by members of the CAATA Board Executive Committee, who will select the recipient of the Godfather Prize.
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Anh Thu T. Pham joined Theater Mu as its first Asian American managing director in July of 2020. She is a 1.5 generation refugee from Viet Nam. She and her parents immigrated from Viet Nam to Minnesota in 1975. Prior to working at Mu, she worked at the University of Minnesota for 23 years in the Provost Office. She is invested in the Minnesota arts community, having served on the board of directors at Pangea World Theater, Ananya Dance Theater and the New Arab American Theater Works as well as working as a festival coordinator for Mizna’s on their Arab Film Festival. She is currently on the board of the East Side Freedom Library, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, Northern Lights MN and Victoria Theater Arts Center. Anh Thu also works as a consultant on Vietnamese language and culture. Most recently she worked as a cultural consultant for the Guthrie Theater’s production of “Vietgone” (2022), Stages Theatre’s “A Different Pond” (2022) and as dialect consultant for Ten Thousand Things Theater’s production of “Mlima’s Tale” (2022).
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Leslie Ishii is a Yonsei, fourth generation Japanese American, debuted as an actor in Northwest Asian American Theater’s Breaking The Silence that raised legal defense funds for WWII US Concentration Camp Resister, Gordon Hirabayashi and his Supreme Court Case. This standing room-only event featured the first play to publicly share the history and stories of Japanese American Concentration Camp survivors, resisters, and their descendants. Since then, Leslie has felt called to support storytelling that is the healing justice of Black/Indigenous/People of Color (BIPOC) artists and the collective liberation of all. As a director, community builder, and activist, Leslie is grateful to have worked with legacy BIPOC theatres; El Teatro Campesino, East West Players, Penumbra Theatre, Theatre Mu, and Native Voices. These artistic opportunities have informed her advocating in every initiative, space and creative process with which she curates and engages. (Service) Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists; National New Play Network; Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, E/D/I/A Committee; Anchorage Arts Alliance; Professional Non-Profit Theater Coalition; National Theatre Conference Member; artEquity; Tsuru For Solidarity. (Awards) United States Artist Fellowship, 2023; SDC Zelda Fichandler Director Award Finalist 2022; Teachers Making A Difference; New England Foundation for the Arts, Capacity Building Grant; Doris Duke Foundation National Theatre Grant; James P. Shannon Leadership Institute; Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival Integrity Award; SDC 2016, 2017 National Standout Recognition for championing equity/inclusion.
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Stefanie Lau is a producer and arts administrator whose work over the last 25 years brings equity, diversity and inclusion to Los Angeles theatre. As a co-Founder and co-Producing Artistic Leader of Artists at Play, Stefanie produces mainstage shows, new play development programs, Theatre for Young Audience performances, fundraisers, and other special events. She is a Development Associate at the Latino Theater Company, managing individual giving and donor events. Stefanie previously worked at Center Theatre Group, East West Players, Ford Amphitheater and Cold Tofu Improv. A graduate of UCLA, Stefanie sits on the national board of the Consortium of Asian American Theatres and Artists, steering committee of the new Theatre Commons Los Angeles service organization, and is a member of the Artistic Directors of Color Alliance – Greater Los Angeles and Theatre Producers of Southern California.
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Roger W. Tang (he/him) is an award-winning producer and playwright with a five-decade-long career. His play, She Devil of the China Seas, won the 2022-23 Best Original Production form Heilman and Haver. He has written for Seattle’s 14/48 Festival (where he is a Mazen Award winner), penned numerous sketches for the Pork Filled Players and developed many pieces for SIS Productions’ Revealed series of site-specific work. As a producer, he introduced Northwest audiences to writers such as Qui Nguyen, Prince Gomolvilas, Carla Ching and Genny Lim and has produced numerous Northwest and world premieres, from Davide Henry Hwang’s Bondage and Yellow Face to Maggie Lee’s The Clockwork Professor, The Tumbleweed Zephyr and A Hand of Talons. In 2024, his co-production of Vietgone with SIS Productions won the Gregory Award for Outstanding Production. He has sat on the boards of ReAct Theatre and the Northwest Asian American Theatre (where he helped build the Theatre Off Jackson). Called the “Godfather of Asian American theatre” by A. Magazine, he is a recipient of a 2016 Equity Award from the Equity In the Entertainment Industry Symposium at Stanford University, and is Secretary of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA). He is also the Literary Manager for SIS Productions, the Executive Director of Pork Filled Productions and edits the Asian American Theatre Revue, the web’s foremost resource on Asian American theatre (www.aatrevue.com).
SUPPORT THE FUTURE OF THE GODFATHER PRIZE!
The Godfather Prize is a growing investment in playwrights who are a part of our collective. In its first year, prize founder Roger W. Tang will match every donation dollar-for-dollar, up to $30,000. All funds raised will go directly toward increasing the prize and supporting the Playwriting Festival. Contributions will be accepted through CAATA’s dedicated Godfather Playwright Festival Fund.
Through this initiative, CAATA invites artists, audiences, and partner organizations to help shape a future where storytelling is a form of resistance and a blueprint for evolution rooted in legacy, community, and collective care.
If you have any questions about ConFest, please email us at info@caata.net.