Ming Peiffer
{{Short description|Asian American Writer and Playwright}}
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Ming Peiffer (born circa 1988) is an Asian American playwright and was the first Asian American woman playwright to be nominated for a Drama Desk Award.{{Citation |title=Articulate {{!}} Ming Peiffer: Not A "Usual Girl" {{!}} Season 5 {{!}} Episode 22 {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/ming-peiffer-not-usual-girl-ruw6tu/ |access-date=2023-11-18 |language=en}} She was also a New York Theater Workshop 2050 Fellow{{Cite web |title=NYTW / 2050 Artistic Fellowship |url=https://www.nytw.org/artist-workshop/2050-fellowships/ |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=NYTW |language=en-US}} and a runner up for the 2016 John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award.Coakley, Jacob. "Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Names Winners."Theater Buzz. 29 April 2016.https://www.mesacc.edu/sites/default/files/pages/section/news/media-coverage/Stage%20Directions%20-%20Kennedy%20Center%20American%20College%20Theater%20Festival%20Names%20Winners.pdf
Early life and education
Peiffer grew up in Columbus, Ohio.{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Elizabeth A. |date=2018-12-24 |title=Ming Peiffer: Why Her 'Usual Girls' Audiences Got So Personal |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/theater/ming-peiffer-usual-girls.html |access-date=2023-11-18 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title='Finish the Fight' by Alumna and Professor Ming Peiffer '16 Commissioned by 'The New York Times' {{!}} School of the Arts |url=https://arts.columbia.edu/news/%E2%80%98finish-fight%E2%80%99-alumna-and-professor-ming-peiffer-%E2%80%9916-commissioned-%E2%80%98-new-york-times%E2%80%99 |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=arts.columbia.edu}} She has a Taiwanese mother and a white father.
In 2010, Peiffer graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor's degree in Theater Arts and Mandarin Chinese.{{Cite web |title=Career Paths in the Arts {{!}} Colgate University |url=https://www.colgate.edu/success-after-colgate/career-development/finding-career-path/industries-careers/career-paths-arts |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=www.colgate.edu |language=en}} In 2016, Peiffer graduated with a master's degree from the Columbia University School of the Arts's playwriting program.{{Cite web |title=Columbia Alumni and Faculty Win Big at 2019 Drama Desk Awards {{!}} School of the Arts |url=https://arts.columbia.edu/news/columbia-alumni-and-faculty-win-big-2019-drama-desk-awards |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=arts.columbia.edu}}{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Elizabeth |date=23 December 2019 |title=Playwrights Are Finding 'Television Money' Helps Pay the Bills |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/theater/playwrights-are-finding-television-money-helps-pay-the-bills.html |access-date=18 November 2023}}
Career
In 2016, Peiffer's play i wrote on ur wall and now i regret it came in second place for the Kennedy Center's Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award. Peiffer wrote for the 2017 Netflix show Gypsy. Also in 2017, a play Peiffer had written about a half-Korean half-white girl coming of age in 1980s Ohio – Usual Girls - was nominated for The Kilroy's List.
In 2018, Usual Girls was featured in The New York Times Critic's Pick{{Cite news |last=Collins-Hughes |first=Laura |date=5 November 2018 |title="Review: Brutal Intimacy and Exuberance Defines 'Usual Girls'" |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/theater/ususal-girls-review.html |access-date=17 November 2023}} and its run was extended twice at the Roundabout Theater Company. Usual Girls was also nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play in 2019.{{Cite web |title=64th Annual Drama Desk Awards Nominees |url=https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2019/04/25/64th-annual-drama-desk-awards-nominees |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=ny1.com |language=en}}
Peiffer also wrote for the 2020 Netflix show Locke & Key. On August 18, 2020, "Finish the Fight" – a virtual play written by Peiffer – premiered as part of The New York Times Events.{{Cite news |last=Vincentelli |first=Elisabeth |date=13 August 2020 |title=Theater to Stream: 'Finish the Fight' and a Starry 'Jacksonian' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/theater/stream-finish-the-fight-jacksonian.html |access-date=18 November 2023}} "Finish the Fight" was commissioned by The New York Times for the 19th Amendment centennial.{{Cite web |title=Finish the Fight: The Story Behind the Story |url=https://timesevents.nytimes.com/finishthefight |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=timesevents.nytimes.com |language=en-us}} In September 2020, Peiffer tweeted about how she quit writing for Netflix's show Grand Army due to racism.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-16 |title=Why Netflix's New Teen Drama 'Grand Army' Is At The Center of Racism Allegations |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a34387126/grand-army-netflix-racism-controversy-explained/ |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=Cosmopolitan |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2020-10-16 |title=Why This New Netflix Teen Show Is Already Stirring Up Controversy |url=https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/the-grand-army-controversy-explained |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=Bustle |language=en}}
In 2021, Peiffer's short play about an Asian dominatrix and her white client was featured for the Wrath portion of the 2021 New York iteration of Moisés Kaufman's "Seven Deadly Sins."{{Cite news |last=Collins-Hughes |first=Laura |date=23 June 2021 |title=Storefronts Turned Stages for 'Seven Deadly Sins' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/theater/seven-deadly-sins-meatpacking-district.html |access-date=18 November 2023}} Ngozi Anyanwu, Thomas Bradshaw, and Bess Wohl were also featured playwrights for that iteration of "Seven Deadly Sins."
In 2022, Peiffer, alongside writers Jihan Crowther, Joanna Castle Miller, Gina Young, Anna Ziegler, and Tyler English-Beckwith, worked on the short play anthology – Keep This Far Apart - which focuses on 6 women's experiences and was directed and filmed by an all-female production team over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web |last=Veitch |first=Mara |date=2022-06-03 |title=We The Women Is Making Plays for The Digital Age |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/we-the-women-is-making-plays-for-the-digital-age |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=Interview Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Awards |first=Independent Shorts |date=2021-08-03 |title=Keep This Far Apart |url=https://independentshortsawards.com/2021/08/03/keep-this-far-apart/ |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=Independent Shorts Awards |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=WE THE WOMEN |url=https://www.wethewomencollective.com/keep-this-far-apart |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=WE THE WOMEN |language=en-US}}
References
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Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni
Category:Colgate University alumni
Category:Writers from Columbus, Ohio