Lyra Nalan

Lyra Nalan

Lyra Nalan is a Chinese playwright based in New York. She is a recipient of the Kennedy Center's Judith Royer Award, Miranda Theatre Playwrights Grant and Horticultural Playwrights Workshop Fellowship. Recently Lyra was nominated for the Susan Blackburn Smith Prize by Silk Road Rising Theatre and NNPN's Smith Prize for Political Theatre by Interact Theatre. She's also a finalist for New Harmony...
Lyra Nalan is a Chinese playwright based in New York. She is a recipient of the Kennedy Center's Judith Royer Award, Miranda Theatre Playwrights Grant and Horticultural Playwrights Workshop Fellowship. Recently Lyra was nominated for the Susan Blackburn Smith Prize by Silk Road Rising Theatre and NNPN's Smith Prize for Political Theatre by Interact Theatre. She's also a finalist for New Harmony Project and Relmagine TYA competition, and a semi-finalist for O' Neill National Playwrights Conference. Her work had been developed or showcased at the Kennedy Center, Cherry Lane Theatre, Round House Theatre, Spooky Action Theatre, Miranda Theatre, Avant Bard Theatre, Tradewind Arts Asian American Artists, The Living Room Players, Strand Theatre, Three Cats Productions, among others. Currently, she’s under commissions from Adventure Theatre MTC and Silk Road Rising Theatre. Lyra's writing is influenced by her childhood in China and the differences she's experienced from living abroad. Her writing grapples with the issues of our time, but does so outside the confines of realism. She hopes that her writings can start dialogues about how we can find agency and humor in challenging circumstances, and build an empathic connection with others.

Plays

  • Paper Dream
    In the 1930’s, a Chinese woman trying to bring her daughter to the US finds herself trapped on Angel Island Immigration Station, where a mysterious creature guides her towards truths she had long since given up on.
  • The Peachlanders
    Two rivalry friends discover a strange fable land where everyone lives a long, youthful, and non-competitive life. At the center of it all, stands a sacred peach tree which can bestow the gift of longevity -- but only to those who choose to remain there forever.
  • The Drought Girl
    Nemo is a fourth-grade human girl who prefers to play by herself, but is constantly teased by her obnoxious table-mate, Stone. However, their dynamic changes with the arrival of a strange girl who possess supernatural gifts/curses. The Drought Girl is one tale about two unlikely friendships told in three perspectives.
  • Dream Reunion
    Dream Reunion follows Ting, a Chinese woman living in America, who runs over various possibilities of her reunion with her mother Jun back home, hoping to find the right words that lead to a perfect scenario.
  • Psyche
    After defending herself against the Love God who bought her from a princess-trafficker, Psyche is sentenced to hell for three decades without a parole. After years of Echo therapy, Psyche takes initiative in tackling the misogynist system by promoting AI customized blow-up dolls.
  • The Opticians
    When a mysterious epidemic hits the nation, an eyeglass store in the middle of nowhere fires its oldest worker. Then it starts snowing in midsummer, and things get weirder from there. The Opticians is an absurdist, dark comedy exploring American cycles of discontentment and normalcy through physical theatre and
    puppetry.
  • A fork, a cat, and an old man
    A twisted fork, a grumpy cat and a pensive old man form a pseudo family and debate how they should live their best lives in the late capitalistic world.
  • Blue Moon
    In the near future America where all residents are required to wear a device to monitor their emotions to mitigate violent crimes, an inquisitive teen girl and her friends are facing serious charges for smuggling counterfeits that might change the world.
  • Homoskitten
    When Leila tries to ask her feline boyfriend to brush his teeth, he throws her a tantrum. The couple’s relationship is at rock! The short explores inter-racial/cultural relationship as well as its gender dynamic.
  • The Legend of Nezha
    In the time of Chaos, a powerful goddess decides to create a hero to fix her terrible mistake. Thus a gifted child is born to a mortal family to save the world, but he turns out to be a spoiled little brat who brings nothing but more troubles…
  • World Behind the Fence
    A innocent young woman lives a simple life with her mother in a garden until one day she encounters a stranger who makes her realize that she has been kept in a cage... World Behind the Fence is a one-act play exploring abusive relationship and the power of conditioning.
  • THE GOLDEN SON
    Follow the journey of a Chinese son as his scandalous cousin
    pays him a sudden visit before his wedding night. Witness the
    golden son’s dilemma unfold as he faces clashes between
    traditional Confucian values and Western notions of
    individuality.
  • The Snow Zither
    A girl moves the Snow Goddess with her beautiful music, so the goddess helps her travel to the underworld to see her grandfather one last time, with her opinionated cat.
  • The Peony Soul
    A nine-year-old girl learns to take care of her mother who suffers a chronic mental illness with the help of a Peony Fairy. ​
  • Moving Out
    Alia recently moved into her own condo, but her mother, Beth, shows up uninvited and urges her to move back to their family home. As Beth confronts Alia about her responsibility to the family, Alia struggles with her desire to pursue a life of her own.