Yiwen Wu

Yiwen Wu [she/hers] is a PhD candidate in the joint program between Theater & Performance Studies and East Asian Languages & Civilizations. As a scholar-artist, she situates her research and practice at the intersection between performance studies, Asian studies, and diasporic studies. Her dissertation, “Playing Parts: Role-Types, Characters, and Performance in Late Imperial China, investigates how collective identities were constructed and performed in late 17th to mid-19th century Chinese opera.

As a practitioner, Yiwen finds her passion in amplifying Asian voices on contemporary stages, from translations and adaptations of classical works to new plays that explore what it means to be Asian in modern America. 

As an ensemble-based playwright-director, she has created a series of puppet plays, including Sattva (Special Recognition Award at the 2024 Wuzhen Theater Festival), The Story of Lady Li (Recipient of Jim Henson Foundation’s Artist Grant), and Living Rock (Nasty, Brutish, & Short at the 2024 Chicago International Puppet Festival). 

As a dramaturg, she has supported eight professional productions and twelve new play development processes in Chicago, New York, and Shanghai. Her past and upcoming production dramaturgical credits include The Recursion of a Moth (Cellunova Productions), The Far Country (TimeLine Theatre Company), The Great Leap (Renaissance Theaterworks), Gary: a sequel to Titus Andronicus (also as translator, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre), Black Bear Island (Silk Road Cultural Center), Lucy and Charlie's Honeymoon (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Akutagawa (Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival), and The Chinese Lady (TimeLine Theatre Company). Her dramaturgical credits for new play workshops include Rona Fortunæ (Bramble Theatre Company), Road Less Traveled (Silk Road Cultural Center), Sworn Sisters in the Wind and Dust (University of Chicago), Eve (Silk Road Cultural Center), F*ck House (Strawdog Theatre Company), Tomato Tattoo (APIDA Arts Festival), Red Fortune Cookie (Bramble Theatre Company), Hungry Ghost Festival (Lifeline Theatre), and The Feet of God (TimeLine Theatre Company). 

She’s currently a literary fellow at Court Theatre and a leader of the dramaturgy cohort, a mentoring program that connects the students at University of Chicago with the dramaturgical work of Court Theatre.