Chay Yew (New York, NY), a 2024 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient, is a theater artist, playwright and stage director born in Singapore. He was artistic director of the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago from 2011 to 2020. Yew’s breakthrough work came from his early plays “Porcelain” and “A Language of Their Own,” which, along with “Wonderland,” make up what Yew calls the Whitelands Trilogy. His work has been produced all over the country including at the Public Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theatre Club, Long Wharf Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse. As a director, his credits include “Mojada,” “Oedipus el Rey,” Universes’ “Ameriville,” Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristina Wong’s “Sweatshop Overlord” and “Cambodian Rock Band,” one of the 10 most produced plays of the 2019-2020 season. During his tenure as artistic director at Victory Gardens, 18 plays received world premieres, two went to Broadway and four were produced off-Broadway. Under his artistic leadership, Yew instituted an intentional focus on work that valued and celebrated the diversity of Chicago and the nation. For his plays, he has received the London Fringe Award for best playwright and best play, the George and Elisabeth Marton Playwriting Award and a GLAAD Media Award.