Max Yu
PLAYWRIGHT - POETLinktreeNew Play Exchange
NEWSA staged reading of Wandering was produced by Yun Theater as part of a collaboration with 5th Avenue Theatre for their Global Majority Night on March 12, 2025 in Seattle. Christie Zhao directed.Made in Chinatown had its second staged reading produced by Atlantic Theatre Company as one of their Launch Commissions in January 2025. Jess McLeod directed.I was a member of The Orchard Project's 2024 Audio Lab where I developed my audio project, Tankie Today. Summer of 2024.Made in Chinatown had its first staged reading produced by Page 73 in June 2023. Jess McLeod directed.Call Me Comrade had its first staged reading produced by Gingold Theatrical Group in December 2023. Bryn Herdrich directed.
Plays
Call Me Comrade
Set in Wuhan during the Cultural Revolution, Call Me Comrade is the story of a daughter who denounces her father, leading him to plotting the era's most politically correct revenge
Staged reading and workshop by Gingold Theatrical Group. 2023. Dir. Bryn Herdrich.Commissioned and developed in Gingold Theatrical Group's Speakers' Corner.
Made in Chinatown 唐人街制造
In 1987, Ma is a recent immigrant working in a New York garment sweatshop. In 2022, Ma's son, Fei, is trying to convince her to move back to China. An intergenerational portrait of immigration in both directions, Made in Chinatown explores the push and pull of here and there, home and away.
Staged reading and workshop by Atlantic Theater Company. 2025. Dir. Jess McLeod.Staged reading and workshop by Page 73. 2024. Dir. Jess McLeod.Atlantic Theater Company Launch Commission
Wandering 游荡
Interweaving stories from two timelines in Shanghai, 1940 and 2019, Wandering explores identity, family, and belonging through the complex relationship between a young Chinese-American man, Fei, and his grandmother, Nainai.
Staged reading by Yun Theater. 2025. Dir. Christie Zhao.Staged reading by New York Theater Workshop. 2024. Dir. Carol Ann Tan.New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA) Commission.
Nightwatch 守夜
When 20-year-old Leo drops out of college and returns home to San Francisco’s Chinatown, he discovers a secret that’s been kept from him: his father passed away weeks ago. To try to cope, he delves into his family’s untold past in the Chinese Communist Cultural Revolution, redefining everyone and everything he thought was in his bloodline. Winner of the 2019 Relentless Award, Max Yu’s thrilling Nightwatch reckons with unknown history and generations of hidden family stories.
O'Neill Theater Center's 2022 National Playwrights Conference, Dir. Chay YewGoodman Theatre's 2021 New Stages Festival, Dir. Chay YewGoodman Theatre's 2021 Future Labs Reading, Dir. Chay YewStaged reading at 2019 UCLA TheaterfestWinner of 2019 Relentless Award
Goodman Theatre's 2021 New Stages Festival, Dir. Chay Yew
Goodman Theatre's 2021 Future Labs Reading, Dir. Chay Yew
Staged reading of Nightwatch at UCLA. 2019.
About
Max Yu is a first-generation Chinese-American playwright from the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved from Shanghai and is now based in New York. His play NIGHTWATCH won the 2019 Relentless Award, was a finalist for the Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship, and was selected for the 2022 O’Neill Playwriting Conference. He is a current member of Ma-Yi Writers Lab. He was a member of Orchard Project’s Audio Lab, Gingold Theatrical Group’s Speakers’ Corner, and Page 73’s 2021-22 Interstate 73 Writers Group. He is currently under commission from the New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA) and Atlantic Theater Company. His plays that have been workshopped and developed include MADE IN CHINATOWN (Atlantic Theater Company, Page 73), WANDERING (New York Theatre Workshop), CALL ME COMRADE (Gingold Theatrical Group), NIGHTWATCH (O'Neill, Goodman Theatre), DISTANCE ABANDONED (Second Generation Productions), and DRAGONFLY (American Playwriting Foundation). He has taught playwriting at the National Theater Institute. His poetry and prose have been published in China in Spittoon and Babel. He is represented by 3 Arts Entertainment. He received his B.A. in Theater from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied playwriting under Sylvan Oswald. You can find him at @maxyuliang and www.maxyu.carrd.co
Contact
You can find him on Twitter and Instagram: @maxyuliangFeel free to contact him via email at [email protected]For inquires regarding TV and film projects, contact my manager Nora May
at 3 Arts Entertainment: [email protected]
Writing
Old Chinese Man, Jingan Bathroom, 胖大海 Big Fat Ocean // Spittoon. October 2020 Feature.奠 (dian) // B人bel Magazine. December 2018, Issue #1.