Zhen Yu [ZY] Yao
Born in Melbourne, Australia and raised in Shanghai, China, Zhen Yu [ZY] is a theatre and film writer, director and scholar. ZY holds a M.A. in Arts Politics and a B.F.A. in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. ZY is the recipient of several prestigious grant awards, including the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) City Artist Corps, Creatives Rebuild New York and LMCC Creative Engagement programs. He is the first prize winner of the 2022 National Film Festival for Talented Youth [NFFTY] Editing Challenge.
Recently, his play 4/4/4 made its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as an officially certified sell-out show. The show also received a 4-star review from The Scotsman, earned a spot on todolist London’s Top 50 Unmissable Fringe Shows, and was featured in a special column from The Skinny. 4/4/4 was developed at Signature Theatre, JACK Radical Acts Festival and the Workshop Theatre in NYC, and was also a finalist for Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab. His other projects have been seen at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, PlayStation Theatre, WOW Café Theatre, Shanghai Theatre Academy, East China Normal University and more. Additionally, he served as the Business Product Manager for Theatre and Film products at Thinktown Education Inc.
AWARDS:
AWARDEE | NYC Off-Off-Broadway Workshop Theatre: Writers Intensive
AWARDEE | LMCC [Lower Manhattan Cultural Council] Creative Engagement Grant
AWARDEE | NYC Off-Off-Broadway JACK Radical Acts Theatre Festival
FINALIST | NYC Off-Off-Broadway Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab
AWARDEE | Creatives Rebuild NY
WINNER!! | NFFTY [National Film Festival for Talented Youth] Editing Challenge
AWARDEE | NYFA [New York Foundation for the Arts] City Artist Corps Grant
WINNER!! | Best Actor at the Shanghai Student Film Festival (2016)
EARCOS Global Citizenship Award (2015)