Theatre alumnae Nana Dakin ’18 and Annie Jin Wang ’20 have been named members of the newest cohort of theatre makers for the Writer Director Lab at Soho Rep. The cohort consists of four two-person teams of creators that will spend 18 months working on brand new theatre projects.
Soho Rep is a civic theater that produces ambitious, innovative work by new theatre voices with the intention of expanding such work in future productions around the world. The Writer Director Lab, founded in 1998, is Soho Rep’s engine for innovation. The Lab concludes with presentations of the creators’ works that are free and open to the public.
Dakin, alongside partner Nkenna Akunna, will create a play centered around the often destructive—as opposed to healing—powers of tarot card readings and astrology. Wang and partner Carolina Đỗ, using Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull for inspiration, have set out to produce a theatrical investigation in the form of a love letter to their families, ancestors, selves, and Asian American community members who have had to modify their identities in the effort to be understood.
Dakin is a queer Thai-American director of devised performance, new work, and classics. Her international upbringing means her work is informed by diverse social and political experiences, and she pursues social equity through the examination of cultural constructs and biases. Dakin was the first Thai director at the Royal Court Theatre in London. In New York, her work has been shown by Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Civilians, The Playwright’s Realm, Ma-Yi Theater Company, New York Theatre Workshop, and more. Dakin has taught workshops on directing, devising, and creative movement in the UK, the US, and Thailand. She is a member of Thailand’s highly acclaimed theatre company, B-Floor Theatre, and NYC-based Superhero Clubhouse, a theatre company focused on climate and environmental justice. Dakin is the Board President of the Thai Theatre Foundation (TTF).
Wang is a first-generation Chinese-American dramaturg, visual artist, and writer who produces work focused on decolonizing the artistic process. Her work primarily investigates constructs of race, gender, and citizenship through a critical and compassionate lens. Wang’s recent dramaturgical work involves contributing to projects in development at Beth Morrison Projects, Theater Mu, and Ars Nova. She is an Artistic Associate at Theater Mu and a co-facilitator for the Mu Emerging Playwright’s Circle. In addition to her place in the Soho Rep Writer Director Lab, Wang has also been awarded a Target Margin Space residency this fall. As a writer, she has had work developed with Fresh Ground Pepper and she was a member of the inaugural PlayGround-NY Writers’ Pool.
