Rehana Lew Mirza’s plays include: Hatefuck (First Floor; Colt Coeur/WP); A People’s Guide to History in the Time of Here and Now (Primary Stages Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation's Women Playwrights Commission; AADA workshop production); Soldier X (Ma-Yi; Brooklyn College; NYSCA/Lark commission); Tomorrow, Inshallah (Living Room Theater, Kansas City; Storyworks/HuffPost commission); Neighborhood Watch (NNPN/InterAct commission) and Barriers (Desipina, Asian American Theater Company). Click here for longer list of works.
With her husband Mike Lew, she was awarded the 2020 Kleban for most promising librettist. They shared a Mellon Foundation National Playwright residency administered in partnership with Howlround at Ma-Yi Theater from 2016-2022, as well as a commission at La Jolla Playhouse for The Colonialism Project after previously being their 2018 artists-in-residence. They’ve co-written the book, in partnership with Sam Willmott, to the musical Bhangra Nation (previously titled Bhangin’ It, 2019 Richard Rodgers Award; developed at The Orchard Project, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and their 3R program, Goodspeed, and Project 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: NYFA Fellow, Colt Coeur Company member, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”), Tofte Lake Emerging Writers Residency, E.S.T. Sloan commission, a John Golden Award, Leopold Schepp fellowship, 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.
With her husband Mike Lew, she was awarded the 2020 Kleban for most promising librettist. They shared a Mellon Foundation National Playwright residency administered in partnership with Howlround at Ma-Yi Theater from 2016-2022, as well as a commission at La Jolla Playhouse for The Colonialism Project after previously being their 2018 artists-in-residence. They’ve co-written the book, in partnership with Sam Willmott, to the musical Bhangra Nation (previously titled Bhangin’ It, 2019 Richard Rodgers Award; developed at The Orchard Project, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and their 3R program, Goodspeed, and Project 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: NYFA Fellow, Colt Coeur Company member, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”), Tofte Lake Emerging Writers Residency, E.S.T. Sloan commission, a John Golden Award, Leopold Schepp fellowship, 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.
