Playwriting
Emma enjoys creating stories centering Asian Americans that fuel audience disagreement or dissatisfaction and therefore conversation. Telling stories where Asian people can be the bad guys in ugly, human ways, letting AAPI artists dive into the internal life of Asian people across multiple genres, and having audiences witness our wide ranging identities and experiences is the core of what drives her as a writer.
Emma was a member of Theatre Mu’s Emerging Playwrights Cohort, the Women’s Playwright Collective at Staten Island Shakespeare, and a member of PlayPenn’s Playwrights Cohort 2025. She was a semi-finalist for Playwrights’ Center’s Many Voices Fellowship 2025-2027. She is currently working on her first screenplay which examines Asian parenting and its relationship to socially acceptable behavior in America.
Who You Kiss For Fun
A slice of life drama following three Asian-American childhood best friends who are coming to terms with how their Asian identities affect their dating lives and friendship.
CAST
All characters are Asian.
JULIE: 18-year old girl, sarcastic, bold, but keeps a lot of her emotions to herself
DAVID: 18-year old guy, the grown up of the trio, not neccesarily not attractive.
WILLIAM: 18-year old guy, extremely attractive, the least mature of the trio
Who You Kiss for Fun was developed during the Emerging Writers Cohort with Theatre Mu and has had developmental readings with Picnic Basket Theatre, Jersey City Theatre Center, Frank Silvera’s Writers Workshop, and Melancholics Anonymous.
You may read the script at her New Play Exchange
Manifest Destiny Trilogy
Part 1: It Was Hysteria
It Was Hysteria takes place at the bottom of the ocean in an expanding military base during a future American War on Asia. Tensions rise when the higher ups send a note warning the team that there is a spy among them and the racist policies on the surface inevitably still reach them.
CAST
CHARACTERS
All characters live in the United States and are not a part of the states that seceded.
KYLE (they/he)-25-Asian, a journalist paid by the government who writes as an Asian face in support of assimilation and policies the government introduces. Enjoys musing over difficult things. Paige’s childhood friend.
PAIGE (she/they)-25-White, wants to become President of the United States in the next 16 years, at the forefront of advocating against anti-Asian policies
MICHAEL (he/him)-30-Asian, Paige’s bodyguard, holds himself like a hero of the highest morals
LAURA (she/her)-25-Asian, Paige’s Father’s assistant, accepts her place and has learned to smoothly navigate through the harsher realities of the world
JOHN (he/him)-30-White, the team leader, military engineer married to Laura to help protect her rights
THE SEA MONSTER—can grants wishes if you agree to become a mermaid and trade your potential away in return
Manifest Destiny was a Finalist for Pipeline Theatre Co.’s 2024 PlayLab. and had a staged reading as a part of Limefest at the Tank NYC.
Locust
Book by Emma Y. Lai
Music and Lyrics by Hannah Bakke
Synopsis: In a town that has been isolated and technology-less for generations, Robin and Alice are cheered as heroes for having successfully developed an unnamed food source for the town to get through the winter. Meanwhile, a man from the outside world arrives, aligning with a town legend. Locust investigates how a desire for evolution and to be at the top of the food chain can twist people’s true desires.
CAST
ROBIN (she/her)-25-any race-a researcher who studies for the thrill of discovery
ALICE (she/her)-25-any race-Robin’s research partner, researches with an end goal in mind
FOREST (he/him)-30-BIPOC-a man from the outside world, trying to find a better way of life in the town
STORYTELLER
TOWNSPEOPLE ENSEMBLE