My vision for the theatre emerges from my lived experience of being "in between." As a Singapore-born Asian, immigrant, and queer artist, I have often felt like an outsider, someone who does not fit neatly within dominant cultural narratives. Rather than seeing this as a limitation, I have come to understand it as the foundation of my work. For me, theatre is not simply a place for storytelling. It is also a necessary space for those who have been historically excluded, a platform where we can redefine whose stories matter.

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At the center of my artistic practice, as playwright and director, is my passionate commitment to elevating marginalized voices. I tend to focus on Asian American, queer, and immigrant experiences not because they are niche, but because they are essential to understanding the full scope of the American story. My own plays have always sought what might be called "universal particularity." By telling deeply specific, personal stories, I tap into universal human truths about belonging, community, and identity. I do not dilute cultural specificity for broader appeal. I trust that authenticity is what creates real connection.

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I also resist stereotypes and artistic complacency. Reinforcing cultural clichés feels both dishonest and self-erasing. I am not interested in comfortable representations. I want to explore the more complicated, truthful, even unsettling, aspects of identity and history. If theatre is to matter, it must challenge audiences. It should provoke, unsettle, and ask difficult questions about power, justice, and belonging. Art should not simply reassure. It should disrupt. It should give hope. It should empower.

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As a director of new plays, I have long understood my role as a steward and champion of living writers. I have directed world premieres by playwrights including José Rivera, Lucas Hnath, Naomi Iizuka, Julia Cho, Luis Alfaro, Marcus Gardley, Lauren Yee, and David Henry Hwang, artists whose work expands what American theatre can look like and who it speaks to. I also founded and led the Mark Taper Forum's Asian Theatre Workshop for a decade, a space dedicated to developing Asian American voices at a time when those voices had almost no institutional home. For me, championing new plays is not simply a matter of programming. It is an act of building a canon that more honestly reflects this country.

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My work as artistic director extends this philosophy beyond the page and into institutions. When I helmed Victory Gardens Theater, I sought to transform it by centering artists of color, women, and LGBTQ+ playwrights, bringing in writers like Ike Holter, Marcus Gardley, Luis Alfaro, Samuel D. Hunter, and Tanya Saracho into the theatre's ensemble. This was not just about representation in programming. It was about restructuring the system itself. I also created the Directors Inclusion Initiative to develop emerging Chicago directors who identify as people of color, disabled, women, transgender, gender-nonconforming, or LGBTQ, and the Next Generation Fellowship to cultivate the arts leaders of color who will run these institutions tomorrow. Instead of waiting to be invited to take the proverbial seat at the table, we must break the table and build a new one. Inclusion cannot come from simply adding diverse voices into existing frameworks. We must reimagine those frameworks entirely.

 

A key part of my approach is what I call a "dramaturgy of audiences." I do not see theatre as a one-way act of expression, but as a dialogue. Theatre should engage directly with its myriad communities, creating a civic exchange where ideas can be shared, challenged, and rethought. My work often asks audiences to confront complex issues, among them American identity, social justice, and global citizenship, not as passive observers, but as active participants in a larger conversation. At Victory Gardens, this took concrete form in the Chicago Play Cycle, through which eight new plays reflecting the city's diverse communities were produced, and in an annual Ignition Festival of New Plays that sent work on to stages across the country.

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Ultimately, I see theatre as a medium for social change. It is a space where narratives can be reclaimed and reimagined, where underrepresented communities can assert ownership over their stories. And that ownership must extend beyond performance. It must include playwrights, directors, and producers shaping the work at every level. Only then can we move beyond superficial diversity toward meaningful transformation.

 

I believe for theatre to evolve, it must belong to the next generation. When I left Victory Gardens, I was deliberate about handing over a theatre that was financially stable and ready for the next leader to take risks, because I know how much it matters to be given space. When I arrived in 2011, I was one of only a handful of artistic directors of color in the country. Now, there are more, and that is thrilling.

 

My own experience of being the perpetual outsider, whether in the United States, Singapore, or the American theatre at large, has taught me that difference is not something to overcome. It is a source of strength and creativity. Through my work as playwright, director, and artistic leader, I strive to ensure that theatre is not just a mirror of society, but an active force in shaping a more inclusive and equitable future.