Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin is a queer mixed Asian American writer, producer, and performer. She is a founding member of Undiscovered Countries, a Brooklyn-based incubator of new and developing interdisciplinary art. She’s a producer and host of Hearabouts, Asian American Midwest Radio recorded in Bloomington, Indiana. Her essays have appeared on The Clyde Fitch Report, Reappropriate, Lady Parts, and other sites; she’s written romance novels for A&E Media and webisodes for Super Deluxe. Her plays have been performed in New York at Ars Nova, Dixon Place, and the New Ohio, among others. Her play The Well-Tempered Clavier won the 2019 Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, and her play Butter Knife received three awards from the Kennedy Center in 2018. Kaela is a current MFA playwriting candidate at Indiana University and holds a BFA from NYU. @kaemeishing on IG, Twitter
current/upcoming
07/19: Kaela heads to Sewanee, TN for the Sewanee Writers' Conference
06/19: Call Out Culture: or, the unbearable whiteness of being plays Ars Nova's ANTFest
05/19: The Bakunawa receives a 29-hour workshop at Montana Repertory Theater
04/19: The Well-Tempered Clavier wins the Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center
02/19: Haus of Mirth receives an academic production at Indiana University
06/19: Call Out Culture: or, the unbearable whiteness of being plays Ars Nova's ANTFest
05/19: The Bakunawa receives a 29-hour workshop at Montana Repertory Theater
04/19: The Well-Tempered Clavier wins the Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center
02/19: Haus of Mirth receives an academic production at Indiana University
RECENT
Spring 2019: The Bakunawa receives a 29-hour workshop with Montana Repertory Theater. The Well-Tempered Clavier wins the Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Winter 2019: The Ladies' Room is a Regional Finalist for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Haus of Mirth receives a production at Indiana University
Fall 2018: Kaela directs High School Coven at Indiana University. Her work is part of a fundraiser with Leviathan Lab at the Tank to raise money for Immigrant Families Together
Spring 2018: The Bakunawa (formerly titled Butter Knife) wins three awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival: the Mark Twain Comic Playwriting Award, second place Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, and Distinguished Achievement Paula Vogel Playwriting Award
Winter 2018: Kaela plays Calpurnia in Indiana University's Julius Caesar. The Ladies' Room receives a workshop production with Indiana University
Fall 2017: Kaela starts her MFA in Playwriting at Indiana University. She curates and performs in Consciousness/Power, an independent project showcasing diverse work on campus with two full-capacity performances.
Spring 2017: Kaela hosts "A Girl's Guide to Surviving Fascism" on Lady Parts. Check out Episode 1 on Science with Molly Liu, Episode 2 on Ableism with Jessy Yates, and Episode 3 on Black Lives Matter and Self-Care with Julia Torres. She also performs her solo show featuring Sorority Girl Kate at Chinatown Soup, Muchmore's, and Bizarre Bushwick.
Winter 2019: The Ladies' Room is a Regional Finalist for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Haus of Mirth receives a production at Indiana University
Fall 2018: Kaela directs High School Coven at Indiana University. Her work is part of a fundraiser with Leviathan Lab at the Tank to raise money for Immigrant Families Together
Spring 2018: The Bakunawa (formerly titled Butter Knife) wins three awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival: the Mark Twain Comic Playwriting Award, second place Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, and Distinguished Achievement Paula Vogel Playwriting Award
Winter 2018: Kaela plays Calpurnia in Indiana University's Julius Caesar. The Ladies' Room receives a workshop production with Indiana University
Fall 2017: Kaela starts her MFA in Playwriting at Indiana University. She curates and performs in Consciousness/Power, an independent project showcasing diverse work on campus with two full-capacity performances.
Spring 2017: Kaela hosts "A Girl's Guide to Surviving Fascism" on Lady Parts. Check out Episode 1 on Science with Molly Liu, Episode 2 on Ableism with Jessy Yates, and Episode 3 on Black Lives Matter and Self-Care with Julia Torres. She also performs her solo show featuring Sorority Girl Kate at Chinatown Soup, Muchmore's, and Bizarre Bushwick.
