Qui Nguyen

Career

He is a playwright, TV writer and screenwriter, and also an artistic director of the Obie Award and Caffe Cino Award winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company, whose productions, penned and choreographed by Nguyen, have performed to sold-out audiences at the New York International Fringe Festival, been published nationally in Plays and Playwrights 2005, enjoyed extended runs throughout the nation, and have been nominated for and received awards in movement and fight direction. In 2019 he won the Porter Prize.

Nguyen’s plays include Vietgone, Soul Samurai, The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Alice in Slasherland, Fight Girl Battle World, Krunk Fu Battle Battle, She Kills Monsters, Trial By Water, Living Dead in Denmark, Stained Glass Ugly, A Beginner's Guide to Deicide, Men of Steel, Bike Wreck, and Vampire Cowboy Trilogy. He is a member of New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Playwrights' Center, and the Ma-Yi Theater Company's Writers Lab. He also began writing for Marvel Studios in 2016. His work with the Vampire Cowboys, particularly in the staging of martial arts, puppetry and multimedia use has been documented in a dissertation from the Drama Department at Tufts University. In March 2019, he debuted Poor Yella Rednecks, a sequel to Vietgone at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, CA. In February 2020, he debuted Revenge Song, a commissioned musical, at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. "Revenge Song" was subsequently produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in summer 2022.

Nguyen is developing a musical commissioned by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts with songwriter Adam Gwon.

As a screenwriter, Nguyen has written on AMC's Dispatches from Elsewhere, Netflix's The Society, Syfy's Incorporated, and PBS's Peg + Cat. He co-wrote Walt Disney Animation Studios' Raya and the Last Dragon along with Adele Lim and wrote and co-directed Disney Animation's 2022 film Strange World. In 2024, he directed the feature documentary The Family Vietgone.

Filmography

Film

• 2021: Raya and the Last Dragon - story and screenplay
• 2022: Strange World - co-director and screenplay
• 2024: The Family Vietgone - director

Television

• 2012: My America - writer (1 episode)
• 2013-2018: Peg + Cat - staff writer (4 episodes)
• 2016-2017: Incorpated - staff writer (9 episodes)
• 2019: The Society - writer (1 episode) and executive story editor
• 2020: Dispatches from Elsewhere - writer (1 episode) and executive story editor

References

References

1. Criscuolo, Michael. (October 2010). "Theatre Communications Group - American Theatre - October 2010".
2. [http://obies.villagevoice.com/2010/2010winners.php The Village Voice Fifty-Sixth Annual Obies 2010 List of Winners] {{Webarchive. link. (July 17, 2011 . Obies.villagevoice.com (May 17, 2010). Retrieved November 30, 2011.)
3. [http://www.nyitawards.com/anr/2006honorees.asp New York Innovative Theatre Awards 2006 Nominees & Recipients] {{Webarchive. link. (December 11, 2006 . Nyitawards.com. Retrieved November 30, 2011.)
4. [http://www.nytesmallpress.com/pp05.php NYTE Small Press Plays and Playwrights 2005] {{Webarchive. link. (January 26, 2011 . Nytesmallpress.com (October 17, 2010). Retrieved November 30, 2011.)
5. [http://www.nyitawards.com/anr/2005honorees.asp New York Innovative Theatre Awards 2005 IT Awards Nominees and Recipients] {{Webarchive. link. (July 14, 2011 . Nyitawards.com (July 18, 2005). Retrieved November 30, 2011.)
6. [http://www.nyitawards.com/anr/2007honorees.asp New York Innovative Theatre Awards 2007 IT Awards Nominees and Recipients] {{Webarchive. link. (May 20, 2010 . Nyitawards.com (September 24, 2007). Retrieved November 30, 2011.)
7. [http://www.nyitawards.com/anr/ New York Innovative Theatre Awards 2008 IT Award Recipients]{{Dead link. (August 2025)
8. "The Porter Prize Winners".
9. [http://newdramatists.org/catalog/catalog_quinguyen.pdf New Dramatists Plays and Playwrights Catalogue – Qui Nguyen] {{webarchive. link. (August 6, 2010 . (PDF) . Retrieved November 30, 2011.)
10. Langsner, Meron. (2011). "Impossible Bodies in Motion: The Representation of Martial Arts on the American Stage".
11. Handelman, Jay. "Songwriter Adam Gwon samples new work in Hermitage program".
12. (August 27, 2020). "Get a first look at Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon starring Kelly Marie Tran".
13. (December 10, 2021). "Strange World First Look Reveals Disney's New Fantasy Adventure".
14. (May 16, 2024). "Review Qui Nguyen premieres documentary".