Esmé Maria Ng

Esmé Maria Ng is a Gaysian American playwright, producer, and dramaturg. As a playwright, Esmé seeks to embody the phenomenon of laughing at/through the pain. They look for joy in inappropriate moments, with often-understated-sometimes-surrealist aesthetics and complicated BIPOC characters. Their plays have gained them recognition as a Eugene O’Neill Finalist, a Lambda Literary Playwriting Fellow, and the 2024 June Bingham Playwriting Commission recipient. Esmé has held literary, artistic, and producing positions at Manhattan Theatre Club, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Breaking the Binary Theatre, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Little Island, and is currently working as the Company Management Fellow at Wicked Broadway. As a producer, they’ve brought new works to life at venues such as The...

Esmé Maria Ng is a Gaysian American playwright, producer, and dramaturg. As a playwright, Esmé seeks to embody the phenomenon of laughing at/through the pain. They look for joy in inappropriate moments, with often-understated-sometimes-surrealist aesthetics and complicated BIPOC characters. Their plays have gained them recognition as a Eugene O’Neill Finalist, a Lambda Literary Playwriting Fellow, and the 2024 June Bingham Playwriting Commission recipient. Esmé has held literary, artistic, and producing positions at Manhattan Theatre Club, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Breaking the Binary Theatre, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Little Island, and is currently working as the Company Management Fellow at Wicked Broadway. As a producer, they’ve brought new works to life at venues such as The Connelly Theater and Joe’s Pub, and have been honored as a Tank Producers Cohort Fellow, a CIPA Fellow, a Howard Gilman PARC Fellow, and a Theater Producers of Color Cohort Alumni. Esmé is additionally a freelance dramaturg/writer with bylines in American Theatre Magazine and 3Views. Current producing projects include: Area D (Ars Nova ANT Fest 2025). Plays include: FISH MEAT (SheNYC Theater Festival, O’Neill Finalist), i know why iris chang died (June Bingham New Play Commission, 2025 Moxie Incubator), THE JADE RABBIT IS CRASHING OUT OVER EL*N M*SK (Cosmic Cherry Festival). A selection of Esmé’s plays are available to read on new play exchange. @esmemariang

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Scripts

FISH MEAT

by Esmé Maria Ng

4
Cast Size
4
Genre
dark comedy,
drama,
period

Mingzhu is a 14 year old girl on a boat going from Hong Kong to San Francisco in 1890, and Ro is a PhD candidate studying marine biology in present-day California. The fraught intertwinement of labor, sexual violence, and the complex beauty of marine biology bridge across space and time to bring these two together in a curious way.

Mingzhu is a 14 year old girl on a boat going from Hong Kong to San Francisco in 1890, and Ro is a PhD candidate studying marine biology in present-day California. The fraught intertwinement of labor, sexual violence, and the complex beauty of marine biology bridge across space and time to bring these two together in a curious way.

Pearl Dust from a Gun

by Esmé Maria Ng

5
Cast Size
6—11
Genre
biography,
docudrama/historic,
drama,
period,
political,
romantic comedy,
tragedy

Simply put - this is a play about a family in two acts. It is the summer of 1975 in Chinatown, NYC. A working-class family each experience a summer of change and growth as their oldest prepares to leave for college and their youngest is experiencing her first love. However, the father's growing involvement in the Flying Dragons gang begins to impact those around him in tragic and unexpected ways. A generation...

Simply put - this is a play about a family in two acts. It is the summer of 1975 in Chinatown, NYC. A working-class family each experience a summer of change and growth as their oldest prepares to leave for college and their youngest is experiencing her first love. However, the father's growing involvement in the Flying Dragons gang begins to impact those around him in tragic and unexpected ways. A generation later, a fragmented family disagrees on how to tell this story - if at all.

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First Day

by Esmé Maria Ng

3
Cast Size
1
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
political,
radio drama,
young audiences,
zoom

First Day is a short solo performance piece that reflects on privilege, race, and education in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the sun rises on the first day of school, a teacher reflects on the last semester, her race, and her desire to perform allyship when an Asian student in her class is targeted.

First Day is a short solo performance piece that reflects on privilege, race, and education in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the sun rises on the first day of school, a teacher reflects on the last semester, her race, and her desire to perform allyship when an Asian student in her class is targeted.

F*cking Harold

by Esmé Maria Ng

1
Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
parody/spoof,
romantic comedy,
satire

F*cking Harold is a short, dark comedy about the patriarchy, sugar babies, and attempted murder. When Colleen breaks into her ex-husband’s apartment to murder him, she bumps into his new, much younger, girlfriend - Zoey. Wine drinking, unlikely friendships, and Pretty Woman references ensue.

F*cking Harold is a short, dark comedy about the patriarchy, sugar babies, and attempted murder. When Colleen breaks into her ex-husband’s apartment to murder him, she bumps into his new, much younger, girlfriend - Zoey. Wine drinking, unlikely friendships, and Pretty Woman references ensue.

in loving memory

by Esmé Maria Ng

Cast Size
5—10
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
political

This comedic one act follows three dysfunctional Chinese American siblings trying to keep it together on the day of their father's funeral. As the day of remembrance progresses, they each reflect on the memories they'd rather forget and secrets they'd rather keep.

This comedic one act follows three dysfunctional Chinese American siblings trying to keep it together on the day of their father's funeral. As the day of remembrance progresses, they each reflect on the memories they'd rather forget and secrets they'd rather keep.