Michael Yichao

Michael Yichao

Michael Yichao is a writer based in Seattle. An alumni of ASU, Yichao graduated summa cum laude with a double major in English and Theatre. He also holds his MFA in Acting with additional coursework in Writing for Performance from California Institute of the Arts. Yichao is also an alum of the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

As a playwright, Yichao plays have...
Michael Yichao is a writer based in Seattle. An alumni of ASU, Yichao graduated summa cum laude with a double major in English and Theatre. He also holds his MFA in Acting with additional coursework in Writing for Performance from California Institute of the Arts. Yichao is also an alum of the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

As a playwright, Yichao plays have received recognition from the Kennedy Center's American Colleges Theater Festival (2012, 2013, 2014) and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwriting Conference (finalist 2015, semi-finalist 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015). He was a finalist for Actors Theatre of Louisville's Heideman Award (2015), a semi-finalist for PlayPenn (2015), a finalist of the Playwright Center's Many Voices Fellowship (2013, 2015), a full fellowship recipient of the Core Company at the Orchard Project (2012), and an invited fellow at the O'Neill Theater's Cabaret Conference (2012). His plays have been produced at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2013), the Bath Fringe Festival (2014), and at theaters in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Boston, St. Louis, Anchorage, and Chicago. Yichao was also invited to the Last Frontier Theater Conference in Alaska (2012) and the Great Plains Theatre Conference (2014). His plays have received readings and workshops through Bespoke Plays (LA), Drive Theater (LA), CalArts, Arizona State University, and Jester'Z Theater in Arizona.

In addition to his playwriting, Yichao works in games, currently serving as Chief Creative Officer of Jam & Tea Studios, a game company focused on combining creative craft with emergent tech to deliver deep, social, story driven experiences to players. Past experience includes Phoenix Labs (R&D), Riot Games (League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Wild Rift, and other unannounced projects), ArenaNet (Guild Wars 2), and for Wizards of the Coast (Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons). He served as a staff writer for the Chinese sitcom 艾特洛杉矶, and was a consultant writer for Disney Imagineering as well as Rhetroactive, where he worked as lead writer for numerous themed entertainment shows, projects and designs.

Plays

  • Surface
    Swimming through time and space, Kierah navigates the complex expectations and expressions of relationships and love, seeking light in the wake of darkness.
  • goose
    Dallin's turning 13... and no one's coming to his birthday party. Left to his own devices, Dallin takes a journey through memories, space and time as he reflects on the strangeness of getting older. A play about relativity, quantum mechanics, hunting, cake,and geese.
  • jellyfish pine
    Jack loves Emily. Emily loves Jack. ...just never at the same time.

    A play about missed connections, relationships, and the complexity of time.

Recommended by Michael Yichao

  • Clown Bar, a clown noir
    3 Mar. 2015
    Laugh out loud funny and an actor's dream. (Who doesn't want to be a gun-toting, murder-in-cold-blood-clown?) A riotous evening of fun, and a delightful smash fusion of noir and clown, hilarity and heartbreak.
  • Pretty Theft
    3 Mar. 2015
    Devastating, surprising, and gripping in every moment. A beautiful heartbreaking play.