View source for May Lee-Yang

{{Short description|Hmong American poet and playwright}}

'''May Lee-Yang''', also known as '''May Lee''' ([[Romanized Popular Alphabet|RPA]]: ''Mev Lis Yaj'', [[Pahawh Hmong|Pahawh]]: ''{{script|Hmng|𖬉𖬦 𖬃𖬰𖬞 𖬖𖬰𖬤}}''), is a [[Hmong American]] playwright, poet, prose writer, performance artist and community activist in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]], United States.  She was born in [[Ban Vinai Refugee Camp]] in Thailand and moved to [[Minnesota]] as a child with her family.  She is also the executive director of the non-profit organization Hmong Arts Connection.<ref>{{cite web |title=May Lee-Yang |url=http://www.intermediaarts.org/May-Lee-Yang |publisher=Intermedia Arts |year=2016 |accessdate=2016-02-11}}</ref>

==Theater==

Her theater-based works include ''Confessions of a Lazy Hmong Woman'', ''Sia(b)'', ''Ten Reasons Why I'd Be a Bad Porn Star'', ''Stir-Fried Pop Culture'', and ''The Child's House''.<ref name=Laventure>{{cite web |last=Laventure |first=Tom |title=May Lee-Yang play has new life at InterMedia Arts |url=http://aapress.com/ethnicity/hmong/may-lee-yang-play-has-new-life-at-intermedia-arts/ |publisher=Asian American Press |date=2011-03-03 |accessdate=2016-02-11}}</ref>  Her work has been produced through [[Mu Performing Arts]], the Center for Hmong Art and Talent (CHAT), Out North Theater, Kaotic Good Productions, [[Intermedia Arts]], and the [[Minnesota Fringe Festival]] as well as toured to various locations around the Midwest.

==Writing==

Her writing has appeared in the ''[[Paj Ntaub Voice]]'' Hmong literary journal, ''The Saint Paul Almanac'' (Arcata Press), ''Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women'' (Asian American Women Association), ''To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets From Pre-Territorial Days to the Present'' (New Rivers Press), ''Fiction on a Stick'' (Milkweed Editions) ''Unarmed'', the ''[[Bamboo Among the Oaks]]'' anthology (Borealis Press), ''Water~Stone Literary Review'' (Hamline University), ''Sounds In This House: An Anthology from the National Book Foundation Writing Camp'' (National Book Foundation", and ''Hmong Movement''.

Text by Lee-Yang accompanies light box-mounted photography by [[Pao Houa Her]] at [[Hmongtown Marketplace]], Saint Paul, Minnesota.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.midwayart.org/event/off-site_her/ |title=Pao Houa Her Untitled |last= |first= |date= |website=Midway Contemporary Art |publisher= |access-date=29 October 2023 |quote=}}</ref>

==Performance work==

She was a member of the Hmong and Lao spoken word group, F.I.R.E. (Free Inspiring Rising Elements) and performed regularly at several Minnesota venues including the Fringe Festival, Intermedia Arts, Hmong Fest, Patrick’s Cabaret, [[the Loft Literary Center]], and local universities and colleges.

May Lee-Yang has also been an actress and performed for Pom Siab Hmoob Theatre (currently a part of the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent) in the play, ''Hmong Tapestry: Voices from the Cloth''.  Venues for the play included schools, college campuses, conferences, and community sites throughout [[Minnesota]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[Kansas]] from 1997 through 2001.

==Selected awards==

* Midwestern Voices and Vision Artist Residency administered through the [[Alliance of Artists Communities]] (2010)
* Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant for Theater (2009) and Literature (2005)
* National Performance Network Creation Fund Grant for Theater (2008)
* Intermedia Arts/Jerome Foundation's Naked Stages Fellowship (2008)
* Playwright Center Many Voices Fellowship (2008, 2002)
* The Loft Literary Center's Mentorship Program in Creative Non-Fiction (2005)
* [[University of Minnesota]]'s [[Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz-Phelan]] Award for Creative Writing (2001)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.lazyhmongwoman.com May Lee Yang official website]
*[http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/interviews/aap/yang_may_lee.html May Lee Yang Interview]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927160715/http://www.hmongtoday.com/displaynews.asp?ID=1977 May Lee Yang and VISION article in Hmong Today]
*[http://hmongtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=27&SubSectionID=155&ArticleID=74&TM=41452.15 May Lee Yang article in Hmong Times]
* [http://3minuteegg.wordpress.com/?s=may+lee-yang 3 Minute Egg Coverage of May Lee-Yang's work]
* [http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/02/21/ibe-and-may-lee-yang-win-midwestern-voices-and-visions-awards-fund-new-work TC Daily Planet Interviews May Lee-Yang about the Midwestern Voices and Visions Residency Award]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110727101744/http://www.muperformingarts.org/pioneer-press-review Pioneer Press review of "Sia(b)"]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee-Yang, May}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Hmong activists]]
[[Category:American writers of Hmong descent]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:Hmong women]]
[[Category:21st-century American writers]]
[[Category:Thai emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Writers from Minnesota]]
[[Category:American women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American performance artists]]
[[Category:American women performance artists]]
[[Category:Hmong American people from Minneapolis–Saint Paul]]