Rehana Lew Mirza’s plays and musicals include: Neighborhood Watch (NNPN/InterAct commission, upcoming production: Jackalope 2025); That Girl with composer/lyricist Ari Afsar (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, 2025 O’Neill finalist); Hatefuck (First Floor, Chicago; WP/Colt Coeur, NY); A People’s Guide to History in the Time of Here and Now (Primary Stages Virginia Toulmin commission, AADA workshop production); Soldier X (Ma-Yi, Brooklyn College; NYSCA/Lark commission); Tomorrow, Inshallah (Living Room Theater; Storyworks/HuffPost commission); Lonely Leela (2014 production with LPAC; workshops with Magic Theatre, HERE, and New Georges) and Barriers (Desipina, Asian American Theater Company.) She shares a Kleban Award and a 2016-2022 Mellon Foundation National Playwright residency administered in partnership with Howlround at Ma-Yi with Mike Lew. Together they’ve co-written The Colonialism Project (La Jolla Playhouse commission) and the musical Bhangra Nation (originally Bhangin’ It) with composer/lyricist Sam Willmott (Birmingham Rep; La Jolla Playhouse; Rodgers Award; Orchard Project, Rhinebeck, and Springboard.)
She founded the award-winning South Asian theater and film company, Desipina & Co, alongside her sister Rohi Mirza Pandya in 2001, where together they produced the popular Seven.11 series (seven, 11-minute plays all set in a convenience store.) Her short film MODERN DAY ARRANGED MARRIAGE won the NBC ShortCuts audience award, and screened at “Just for Laughs” in Montreal before being acquired by LOGO/MTV. Her feature film, HIDING DIVYA, had a limited North American release and toured to colleges through a grant from the Asian Women's Giving Circle.
Additional honors include: WP Resident Playwright, NYFA Fellow, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”), Cape Cod Theater Project Artist in Resident, Bret Adams Grant, E.S.T. Sloan commission, Tofte Lake Residency, John Golden Award, Leopold Schepp Fellow, Colt Coeur company member, Ma-Yi Writers Lab Member and Co-Director (2006-2016), Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin Writers Group Member (2014-2017) and a TCG/New Georges Fellowship. MFA: Columbia University; BFA: NYU Tisch.
She founded the award-winning South Asian theater and film company, Desipina & Co, alongside her sister Rohi Mirza Pandya in 2001, where together they produced the popular Seven.11 series (seven, 11-minute plays all set in a convenience store.) Her short film MODERN DAY ARRANGED MARRIAGE won the NBC ShortCuts audience award, and screened at “Just for Laughs” in Montreal before being acquired by LOGO/MTV. Her feature film, HIDING DIVYA, had a limited North American release and toured to colleges through a grant from the Asian Women's Giving Circle.
Additional honors include: WP Resident Playwright, NYFA Fellow, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”), Cape Cod Theater Project Artist in Resident, Bret Adams Grant, E.S.T. Sloan commission, Tofte Lake Residency, John Golden Award, Leopold Schepp Fellow, Colt Coeur company member, Ma-Yi Writers Lab Member and Co-Director (2006-2016), Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin Writers Group Member (2014-2017) and a TCG/New Georges Fellowship. MFA: Columbia University; BFA: NYU Tisch.
