Bio

Rehana Lew Mirza’s plays include: Hatefuck (Colt Coeur/WP); A People’s Guide to History in the Time of Here and Now (Primary Stages Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation's Women Playwrights Commission; AADA workshop production); Soldier X (Ma-Yi; Brooklyn College; NYSCA/Lark commission); Tomorrow, Inshallah (Living Room Theater, Kansas City; Storyworks/HuffPost commission); Neighborhood Watch (NNPN/InterAct commission) and Barriers (Desipina, Asian American Theater Company). With her husband Mike Lew, she was awarded the 2020 Kleban for most promising librettist. They also share a Mellon Foundation National Playwright residency administered in partnership with Howlround at Ma-Yi Theater, as well as a commission at La Jolla Playhouse for The Colonialism Project after previously being their 2018 artists-in-residence. They’ve co-written the book, in partnership with Sam Willmott, to the musical Bhangin’ It (2019 Richard Rodgers Award; upcoming productions at La Jolla Playhouse and McCarter Theater; previously developed at The Orchard Project, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and their 3R program, Goodspeed, and Project Springboard.)

She founded the award-winning South Asian theater and film company, Desipina & Co, alongside her sister Rohi Mirza Pandya in 2001, where together they produced the popular Seven.11 series (seven, 11-minute plays all set in a convenience store.) Her short film MODERN DAY ARRANGED MARRIAGE won the NBC ShortCuts audience award, and screened at “Just for Laughs” in Montreal before being acquired by LOGO/MTV. Her feature film, HIDING DIVYA, had a limited North American release and toured to colleges through a grant from the Asian Women's Giving Circle. 

Additional honors: NYFA Fellow, Colt Coeur Company member, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”), Tofte Lake Emerging Writers Residency, E.S.T. Sloan commission, a John Golden Award, Leopold Schepp fellowship, Ma-Yi Writers Lab Member and Co-Director (2006-2016), Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin Writers Group Member (2014-2017) and a TCG/New Georges Fellowship. MFA: Columbia University; BFA: NYU Tisch.