Marie Yan (born 1990) is a writer, a dramaturge and a PhD candidate in comparative literature. She dedicated ten years of artistic practice to playwriting and performing arts, training and creating in the U.K., Germany and Hong Kong, writing stories about unsettling presents and futures (The Fog; A Tidal Home; La Théorie). After a brief incursion into filmmaking with the vertical short film The Cell (2021), she now explores longform fiction while pursuing academic research on the representation of bodies in contemporary postcolonial fiction by Asian and asiodescendent writers.
She writes in French and English and lives between Paris and Marseille.
art pictured: Firelei Báez, “A modest mythology of walls (to think thought but stay away from its chaotic journey)”, South London Gallery, July 2024.
the following section is under reconstruction
Playwriting, screenwriting
Plays followed by * are commissions
EN – original in English, DE – original in German, FR – original in French, CAN/廣東話 – original in Cantonese.
2025
I need to cross*, entering the repertory of the City Theatre of Adana, Turkey. – EN
2022
Le Minotaure ou l’enfant du labyrinthe (The Minotaurus or the child who lived in the labyrinth), text. Research with Cie Lou Pantail.
2021
La Théorie, director: Valentine Caille, Compagnie Lou Pantail, Les Plateaux Sauvages, Festival Impatience. – FR
A Tidal Home director: CHAN Kwun Fee, production: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Cattle Depot Theatre, Hong Kong. – EN, CAN/廣東話
2020
I need to cross invited to the Starke Stücke Festival (cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic)
La Théorie, lecture, mise en scène Valentine Caille, Le LoKal, Saint-Denis, France. – FR
Wahrhaft krumme Balken*, Longlist Augenblick Mal! 2021 (Berlin). – DE
A Tidal Home* awarded the Yellow Earth (now New Earth) Theatre Seed commission (London). – EN
A Tidal Home short film, direction: Chow Wai Chuen. – EN
2019
Black Gold*, ecological satire on oil extraction, Freiluft Theater am Darne.– DE
I need to cross*, entering the repertory of the City Theatre of Eskisehir. – EN
2018
Artes Moriendi – Ways of Dying by A Dog’s Heart Theatre and Compagnie Des Wanderers, Tatwerk, Berlin, Berlin Performing Arts Festival – EN
Wahrhaft krumme Balken*, interaktives Stück für angelogene Kinder (für Echtzeit Theater) – DE
2017
Kantonesisch Lernen, die verlorene Sprache lernen (Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Berlin, Teil des Asian Film Festivals Berlin)– DE
Fressen, Eine dystopische Geschichte Europas, 24h Theater Berlin, Brotfabrik (Berlin) – DE
2016
Heroes (I) Physical theatre piece by A Dog’s Heart Theatre.
2015
A quick decision can be made – a story of the Detained Fast-Track, part of the Refugee Festival Scotland (playwright and director). – EN
The Fog at Stereo, Glasgow (playwright and producer), director: Sam Rowe.
Mary Leishman Theatre Award. – EN
Articles (selection)
(FR/EN/DE) Report on the Africologne Festival, series of 8 articles, 2023.
– “Violence et résistance : exploration d’un ‘et‘”
– “Caged in old visions”
– “Die ‘Katastrophale Kosmogonie’ des Zora Snake”
(EN/DE) “Did you think of the children? II: Bonds that last”, FRATZ Reflections, 2022. / Habt ihr an die Kinder gedacht? II: Verbindungen schaffen, die halten, FRATZ Reflexionen, 2022 (S. 9-14).
“Queer. An interview with Jury Salustiano Trojaborg”, FRATZ Reflections, 2020, p.12-15.
Dramaturgy, curation, moderation
(ongoing) since 2022, Member of the artist-run space and collective La Générale
co-curation of the cycle Droit à la Ville / The Right to City
D.A.V. #2 Campagne Deutsche Wohnen & co Enteignen, D.A.V. # 3 Rencontre avec le collectif Les Roses d’Acier, D.A.V. #4 Right to City forum in Berlin, D.A.V. #5 Capitale des refu/ge/s, D.A.V.#6 Fin de la colonie, D.A.V.#8 Se défendre
Artist residency Community of Time
2021
Safe Havens Conference 2021, Artists’ Round Table I: A cross-cultural Majlis-style debate on artistic freedom perceptions and ongoing challenges curated by Meriam Bousselmi, (online / Malmö, Sweden)
Can I ever be home in a time of struggle? Hannah Arendt and Laozi a conversation with Dr Jacky Tai, Bookpunch (Hong Kong).
2020
Co-curation of the Symposium class. gender. race, FRATZ International Festival by Theater o.N. (Berlin).
Touching Utopia, curation and multinlingual moderation, FRATZ International Festival (Berlin)
Tacoma, dramaturgy for a concert and juggling experiment, by L’Expédition (Strasbourg, France)
A dramaturgical take on the pandemic in France, Globale Kämpfe: der Gesellschaftsvertrag im Verfall, (Berlin / online event).
2019
Co-curation of the Symposium Another World, FRATZ International Festival by Theater o.N. (Berlin)
Did you think of the children?, multilingual moderation, FRATZ International Festival (Berlin).
Anarchie ≠ Chaos, series of laboratories about anarchist thought and artistic practice, Theater o.N. (Berlin)
Looking for a feminist body in dance, archive project with Natalie Riedelsheimer, Caroline Alves and Kathleen Kunath. (Berlin)
2018
(k)no(w)-go-zones, dramaturgical support, for Grupo Oito, Berlin, Performing Arts Festival Berlin.
The Machine to become_womxn, performative dance piece by Natalie Riedelsheimer and Caroline Alves (Berlin).
Das Schaurige Haus invited to Spielarten Festival 2018 (Germany).
2017
Unrestricted Contact, playtext and dramaturgy, by Grupo Oito (Berlin)
Das Schaurige Haus, text co-adaptation and dramaturgy, direction: Catharina Fillers, Echtzeit Theater company (Münster)
Popcorn, Compagnie Les Objets Volants (Strasbourg, France)
Federlicht/UAU Happening Now: Two dance solos on the multiple I by Caroline Alves, Theater o.N. (Berlin)
Awards, scholarships, residencies
2023
Recipient of the Roger Willemsen scholarship, writing residency at the mare Verlag Haus for the essay project Hong Kong: struggling home.
2022
Writing residency at the National Theatre Studio (London) for A Tidal Home, with New Earth Theatre (U.K.)
Writing residency at La Générale (Paris), Artistic, political and social lab for the novel Été(s) (Summers).
Writing residency at Atelier 11 (Paris) for the essay project Hong Kong: struggling home.
2020
Crossing Borders scholarship / Grenzgänger Stipendium for the book project In mid-air (working title), Literarisches Colloquium Berlin / Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany)
New Earth Seed Commission, New Earth Theatre (U.K.)
Grand Jury Prize in the Vertical category for The Cell, Courant3D Festival (France)
2015
Mary Leishman Award for Theatre for The Fog (U.K.)
marieyan.fr 