An Interview With
Michael Lew
Yit, Ngay (One, Two)

Your play, Yit, Ngay (One, Two), was inspired by part of your family's history. Could you tell us a little more about that?

Yit, Ngay is based on my mother's family history. My mother was born in America and had two siblings who were born in America, and two who were born in China and subsequently immigrated here. I was curious about the consequences of becoming acculturated in America at differing rates, and was especially curious about the impact of having a family divided across continents. Yit, Ngay is an amalgam of true stories from both sides of my family, but also contains a healthy dose of fiction.

Even though the play features several characters, it's written as a one-person show. What made you choose that format for this piece? And was it written with your leading lady, Alison Ahn, in mind?

Yit, Ngay was originally fashioned into a one-woman play at the suggestion of Deb Margolin, an amazing playwriting professor I'd had in undergrad at Yale. Deb is a powerful performer and playwright with an extensive background in one-woman shows. She thought that the one-performer style of storytelling would suit the issues I was trying to tackle. I think the format is particularly apt because these four sisters share many similarities and yet their lives are radically different. The first sister immigrated to America late in life, the second immigrated at an early age, the third was born in America but clings to her parents' old-world roots, and the fourth is more fully Americanized. I think the one-woman format implies that these four women are all the same soul fragmented by circumstance into four separate parts. That fragmentation is more interesting to me than portraying the four of them simultaneously under a more traditional family drama. The one-woman format also presents the actress with the challenge of developing and blending four separate voices and physicalities, which was interesting to me from a directing standpoint.

Yit, Ngay wasn't written with Ali Ahn in mind, but her footsteps are all over the play. Ali has a background in dance as well as in acting, and her physical awareness was paramount in bringing life to the scenes in which two sisters interacted with each other simultaneously. Since she performed the piece so early in its conception and shepherded the play across multiple drafts, several parts of the play reflect her influence. The same holds true for Alix Price, who performed the play in its most recent NYC incarnation. Alix helped me pare down the script and gave me fresh eyes for it. Even though Yit, Ngay wasn't written for a particular actress, each actress that has performed in it has definitely shaped its evolution.

Which came first for you: the impulse to write or the desire to be in the theatre? And how did you get started in both?

I've always wanted to write but didn't seriously consider playwriting until college. I dabbled in other genres but settled on playwriting because I enjoy the collaborative aspects of theater. I love the space between the text and its interpretation, and I’m thrilled when other artists take my blueprint and craft something far beyond the scope of what I could have conceived on my own.

I attribute my start in theater to the Sudler Fund, which was a semiannual college grant in which the university gave the grantees around $1000 towards putting up a play. The Sudler Fund allowed me to work on new plays semester after semester, and that kind of artistic freedom really sparked my development. I attribute much of my professional growth to Playwrights Horizons, a theater where I'd spent a year and a half as first a literary resident and then a directing resident. My theater aesthetic had been largely homespun before coming to them, and I think that my apprenticeship there still shapes my tastes today.

Who or what are some of your artistic influences and inspirations?

When I was in undergrad, Deb Margolin and Toni Dorfman shaped my perceptions of theater immeasurably. Sonya Sobieski, the former literary manager at Playwrights Horizons, taught me a lot about the mechanics of a play.

Beckett’s writing was an early inspiration for its sparseness and for its balance between bleak worlds and hopeful characters. I'm influenced by Craig Lucas' recent plays for their grand scope and bold politics, and I love Sarah Kane's writing because it’s so emotionally wrenching. My favorite playwright is Steve Belber, whose writing has a wicked sense of humor, sleek nuance, and a bountiful human soul. I love the natural flow of his dialogue and the diversity of his characters. I'm also influenced by a number of directors I've assisted, whose vision and problem-solving methods inform on my writing. I’m guided by Bob Egan's dramaturgical savvy; John Rando’s clean sensibilities; Ethan McSweeney’s specificity and meticulousness; Loy Arcenas’ sense of space; and Mark Wing-Davey’s integration of acting and design under a single vision.

One of my non-theatrical influences is my background in science, which by now has unfortunately become quite diluted. I’d worked in a genetics lab during high school, and grew up with parents who are physicians. I find myself constantly employing biological or medical metaphors in my approach to theater, and I’m guided by an experimental methodology that adds a bit of rigor to a discipline that’s at times a bit freeform.

You're involved with a number of companies around town, including Youngblood, Prospect Theatre Company, and New Dramatists. Could you tell us a bit more about your involvement with each of them?

I am a member writer of Youngblood (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Vital R&D (Vital Theatre), and Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab (Ma-Yi Theatre). Each group has a stable of talented and diverse writers, and I hope their influence will push me to become a sharper playwright. Youngblood has been particularly helpful because all the writers respect each other so much that they’re ruthlessly honest with each other. That kind of tough love and perceptive criticism has spurred and inspired me.

I’m a producer for Prospect Theatre Company’s “Dark Nights” series. Prospect is an off-off Broadway company best known for premiering new musicals and staging classics. The “Dark Nights” series brings in a variety of artists to perform short-run workshops during the nights when the mainstage play is not in performance.

I’m an administrative associate for New Dramatists. Though my role there is relatively non-artistic, it’s really humbling being there. I am so floored by their approach to developing work, and by the talent of their writers and alumni. I’m a new hire, but I’m already learning a ton from the staff and the writers.

What's up next for you?

Mostly I’ve been focusing on Prospect Theater’s upcoming February “Dark Nights” series. I’ll be directing a one-act play by Steve Belber called Steve. It’s a hilarious and brutal dark comedy about three guys, each of whom vests their moral compass on a different North Star. One is guided by honesty, another by loyalty, and the third by spirituality. And yet they all end up killing each other. Unlike other existential plays that are sighing and languishing, this is a hilarious existential play with real teeth. The other “Dark Nights” plays include the world premiere of Last Call (a one-act by Michael John Garces directed by Dominic D’Andrea) and five all-new short plays written by Zakiyyah Alexander, Andrew Case, Michael John Garces, Rogelio Martinez, and Lucy Thurber. Each short is inspired by one of the Time Magazine 2005 Photos of the Year. I’m so grateful to be working with these writers, and also look forward to working with the five sharp directors who will be staging their work.

Interview with Michael Lew was conducted by Michael Criscuolo January 2006.

Read more interviews with the playwrights