Emma Y. Lai is a writer, new works director, and producer.

Current projects include:

• Bringing her play, Who You Kiss for Fun, to Sewanee Writers’ Conference in July.

• Producing Lakecastle by Isabella Dawis, a new investigative podcast. When Danny Villanueva dies while working at a big tech billionaire's mysterious compound, his daughter Julia returns to her hometown of Lakecastle, Minnesota to get to the bottom of what really happened.”

• Writing the book for Locust, a new horror musical, with music and lyrics by Hannah Bakke. Locust was originally commissioned and developed by Trademark Theater, Tyler Michaels King, Artistic Director, in St. Paul, MN.

Recent projects include:

• Producing the National New Play Network’s 2025 Showcase for their National Conference of New Plays

• Workshopped her play, The Rabbit on the Moon and Their Friends with Workshop Theater’s Intensive Cohort.

Other directing/associating credits include: devoured: notes on love and enmeshmentby Liqing Xu(The Southern Theatre/Playwrights’ Center), a workshop of Yellow Mirrorsby Liqing Xu (Playwrights’ Center), and assisting on Vietgone(Guthrie Theatre, dir. Mina Morita), A Christmas Carol(Guthrie Theatre, dir. Addie Gorlin-Han), and An American Tail(Childrens’ Theatre Company, dir. Taibi Magar).

She is a frequent Associate of Annie Tippe (COWBOY BOB at Alley Theatre (TX), Your Own Personal Exegesis at LCT3 at Lincoln Center, The Hombres at Two River Theatre) and Joe Chvala (Heavenwith Flying Foot Forum, Pippin at the University of Minnesota).

She was a Directing Intern with Childrens’ Theatre Company, Directing Fellow with Theatre Mu, Artistic Assistant at Two River Theater, and a member of Theatre Mu’s Emerging Playwrights Cohort, PlayPenn’s Playwrights Cohort, and Moxie Arts NY’s Incubator Cohort as a Producer.

Emma is currently attending Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama for a MFA in Dramatic Writing.