Festival Details
🗓 Saturday, July 26th
⏰ 7:30 PM
📍 San Jose Stage, 490 1st Street, San Jose
Meet the Playwrights!
Artistic Producer and Playwright - Jeffrey Lo
Jeffrey Lo (He/Him/His) is an award-winning Filipino-American playwright and director in the Bay Area. Recipient of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award, Theatre Bay Area Director's TITAN Award, and Silicon Valley's Emerging Artist Laureate, he has directed acclaimed productions at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, San Francisco Playhouse, and Capital Stage. His plays have been produced at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and TheatreWorks, with "Writing Fragments Home" named a finalist for prestigious playwright conferences. Beyond his creative work, Jeffrey advocates for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, serves as Associate Producer of Casting and Literary Manager at Tony Award-winning TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and holds a UC Irvine Drama degree.
Playwright - Kenna Tanaka
Kenna Tanaka, a Theatre Arts graduate from San Francisco State University and Navy veteran, joins the CATS AAPI Playwright Festival with a unique background. His acting career began with a standout performance in his ship's holiday play—earning his Captain's humorous "direct orders" to pursue theater. Kenna has performed in productions like "Dealing Dreams" and "Stupid F'N Bird," while understudying at SF Playhouse. When not on stage, he teaches in West Contra Costa schools and will soon pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at SFSU.
Playwright - Jenny Nguyen Nelson
Jenny Nguyen Nelson is a Bay Area playwright and theater artist with an MFA from Brown/Trinity. Her work explores mixed-race Asian identity through pieces like "Amalgam" and "The Brave Ones," which earned her a selective writing workshop opportunity. Jenny's one-woman show portrays her mother's experience during the Vietnam War. As an actor working in both the Bay Area and New York, she specializes in new play development, collaborating with prestigious institutions including Ojai Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Center, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, and Magic Theater.
Playwright - Marissa May Macaraeg Martinez
Marissa May Macaraeg Martinez (she/her) is an East San José playwright and arts advocate whose work explores her second-generation Latina-Filipina identity. Her plays, including "Joyful Wedding TBD" (Bindlestiff Studio, 2025), "stonefruit," and "your twenties," tackle themes of identity, mental health, friendship, and fruit. A Santa Clara University graduate with a B.A. in English and Theatre Arts, Marissa creates zines, volunteers with genARTS Silicon Valley and KQED, and works at Happy Hollow Foundation. Her writing has been featured by EASTSIDE Magazine, La Raíz Magazine, and Sampaguita Press. Find her on Instagram @marmaym or at www.marissamaywrites.com.
Playwright - Lisa Marie Rollins
Lisa Marie Rollins is an accomplished writer, director, and new play developer with an Associate membership in SDC and the Dramatist Guild. Her extensive directing and dramaturgy portfolio includes work with Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, Berkeley Repertory Theater's Ground Floor, and Magic Theatre, collaborating with notable playwrights like Lauren Gunderson and W. Kamau Bell. A recipient of the Wallace Gerbode Playwright Fellowship and KQED's "Bay Brilliant" award, Lisa has held fellowships at Djerassi, Hedgebrook, and VONA. She served as Literary Manager for Intiman Theater and was a Resident Artist at Crowded Fire Theater, where she co-founded the R&D new works lab. With graduate degrees from Claremont and UC Berkeley, she now leads The Iris Lab, a theater maker incubator at UC Santa Cruz's Department of Performance, Play & Design.
Playwright - Conrad Panganiban
Conrad A. Panganiban (he/him/his) is a Filipino American playwright representing the San Francisco Bay Area. His plays include DARYO’S ALL-AMERICAN DINER, WELGA, and RIVER’S MESSAGE. Bindlestiff Studio, The Chikahan Company, CIRCA Pintig, MaArte Theatre Collective, and the Sinag-tala Filipino Theatrical Performing Arts Association have produced Conrad’s work. Awards include: Susan Fairbrook Playwright Fund Awardee (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), James Milton Highsmith Award Winner (SFSU), National Ten-Minute Play Festival Finalist (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist (Playwrights Foundation). Resident Artist: Bindlestiff Studio. Member: Dramatist Guild of America, and Theatre Bay Area. MFA. San Francisco State University.