The Ma-Yi Theatre Company was founded in 1989 as the Ma-Yi Filipino Theatre by a group of artists who, finding it difficult to get cast in the roles they sought, enabled the opportunities to create new parts and cast themselves. Since then, Ma-Yi’s programs have grown rapidly and in new directions, and the company now sees the value of its work within a global context, beyond the boundaries of the Asian American experience they began performing for audiences two decades ago.

One of the great successes of Ma-Yi is its Writer’s Lab. By nurturing young writers, Ma-Yi is not only developing a steady stream of quality works to add to its performing repertory; it is also emboldening a new generation of Asian American artists to voice their experience. This provides the company an unparalleled opportunity to constantly reexamine itself, its ideas, and its presumptions about the Asian American experience. This has led the company from staging only Filipino productions in its early years to producing works that explore and articulate the totality of Asian American experience, not just the Filipino American experience.

Constant self-examination is one of the characteristics of Ma-Yi’s approach to its practice of creating art. This idea is exemplified by the four-step process that solicits feedback from its audience, establishing something more akin to a dialogue than anything else. The first part of this process asks audiences to fill out short questionnaires, which can be followed up by participating in a brief online survey. Additionally, each staging of a performance involves a talkback session with the writer and director. But the most revolutionary practice asks patrons if they may be contacted by phone to talk about the performance. These interviews are conducted by the company’s literary manager, then compiled and shared with artists, staff and company leaders to inform future programming.

In 2007 Ma-Yi attended the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya. This trip, too, illustrates the company’s commitment to continual reassessment. The issues they have always addressed have begun to take on a universal significance: “The Artography grant reminded us to be mindful of the changing demographics around the world, outside of our United States. Providing global focus on these trends from the viewpoint of the performing arts will raise consciousness about the diversity of voices in any given nation in an accessible way. We now strive to actively take part in telling these new stories.”