Rehana Lew Mirza

Rehana Lew Mirza’s full-length plays include: SOLDIER X (Upcoming: Brooklyn College 2016 production; 2015 Ma-Yi Theater production; 2015 Kilroy Selection; 2012 NYSCA Commission; Lark Development Center Studio Retreat); LONELY LEELA (production at LPAC; workshops with Magic Theatre, HERE, and New Georges; reading at 2G); BARRIERS (productions at Desipina and Asian American Theater Company; readings at Rasik Arts, Toronto, and Asian Arts Center, Philadelphia; Princess Grace Finalist); NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH (NNPN/InterAct Commission, readings at Brooklyn College, Ma-Yi Theater, and InterAct); and if it's sad i don't want to see it (reading at Queens Theater in the Park; reading at 2G; O'Neill and Princess Grace semifinalists). Her plays have been published with the Alexander Street Press, indietheaternow, and the New York Theatre Review. Her breakout play, BARRIERS, was the first play to address 9-11 from a Muslim perspective, and has been included on the curriculum at West Virginia University, Yale University and NYU, as well as being featured in the article, “Staging Diaspora” (First View of the Cambridge Journal of American Studies).

Rehana is the recipient of a 2016 Lilly Award (the Stacey Mindich "Go Write A Play" Commission) and is currently in a shared National Playwrights Mellon residency with her husband Mike Lew at Ma-Yi Theatre. They are currently in collaboration on a trilogy of plays and a musical, BHANGIN' IT(with composer Sam Willmott). Past honors include: Rhinebeck Musical Theater Residency for BHANGIN' IT, Tofte Lake Emerging Writers Residency, IAAC playwright residency with The Lark Development Center, a TCG Future Leader fellowship with New Georges, an E.S.T. Sloan commission, the NBC DiverseCity ShortCuts Audience Award, P2 for a Cause Grant, Leopold Schepp fellowship, a 2G residency, John Golden Award, and an LMCC artist grant.

For her advocacy work with the South Asian community, Rehana was nominated for a South Asian Media Award and was featured in publications such as India in New York, DesiTalk, India Abroad, Bibi Magazine, Nirali Magazine, EGO Magazine, among others. Her short film MODERN DAY ARRANGED MARRIAGE was acquired by the LOGO network. Her feature film HIDING DIVYA exposes the taboo subject of mental illness in the South Asian community, and had a self-produced run in SF, Atlanta, New York, NJ and Michigan, followed by a nationwide college tour with the assistance of a grant from the Asian Women Giving Circle.

She is a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab (having served as a co-director from 2011-2014) and a member of the Dorothy Strelsin Primary Stages Writers Group. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University and BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts.