July 15, 2026
YANGTZE REP ANNOUNCES
2026 PROJECT YZ RESIDENT ARTISTS
Sarah Mika Esser and Michi Zaya Awarded $10K Residencies
Obie-award winner Yangtze Repertory Theatre, now in its 35th season and dedicated to celebrating artists who are global citizens and supporting the works by, for and about the AAPI immigrant community, is proud to announce the newest members of Project YZ, the company’s AAPI Artist Residency program. Launched in 2022, the goal of Project YZ is to support and build an artistic home for AAPI immigrant artists.
The 2026 recipients are Sarah Mika Esser, a yonsei Japanese-American director, choreographer, producer, and dance educator; and Michi Zaya, a Mongolian performer, projections designer, and director.Each resident artist will receive a grant of $10,000, of which $5,000 is an unrestricted financial award, and $5,000 is to be used towards any expenses incurred towards the projects including professional development. During the one-year residency, Yangtze Rep will connect resident artists with other collaborators, lend research support, facilitate interviews and focus groups, and provide professional marketing capabilities. Dramaturgical development and discussion with Yangtze’s artistic staff will take place throughout the residency.
Yangtze Rep received applications from over 100 AAPI artists representing diverse cultural heritages including Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, Mongolian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Multiracial Asian. More than a third of the applicants were multidisciplinary artists who proposed interdisciplinary. projects.
“We were moved by the quality of the applications and the caliber of artists who trusted us with their work this year, said Sally Shen, Executive Director of Yangtze Rep. “The Project YZ residency exists to give AAPI artists the time, space, and support to make the work only they can make — and this cohort makes clear how much that work is needed.”
“In-betweenness is a central thread that runs through almost every application,” said Chongren Fan, Artistic Director of Yangtze Rep. “So many of our applicants are living between languages, between countries, between versions of home, and making work from that exact fault line. Reading through this pool, we kept returning to the same feeling: this isn’t a theme the artists chose. It’s the ground they are standing on. Sarah and Michi embody it. Sarah moves between grief and celebration, between inherited ancestry and lived identity; Michi stands between languages, genders, and homelands. Both are turning that unstable ground into the very architecture of their fearless work.”
During her residency, Sarah Mika Esser will work on Reliquary, a surrealist dance theater work that explores rituals of mourning and celebration to eulogize a miscarriage. Esser remarked, “Throughout the selection process, it was heartening to feel the Yangtze Rep team’s deep reverence for artists and for the creative process. I am honored and so excited to embark on this journey and can’t wait to see what magic we make as a cohort.”
In reflecting upon their residency, Michi Zaya said, “I’m developing a provocative and joyful feminist work centered on the intersectionality of Asian women & femmes, the personal and social perception of women’s bodies, and Asian Queerness. This residency has been uniquely wonderful from writing the first prompt on my application to the warmth and encouragement of meeting the team at Yangtze Rep. I'm so honored and grateful to be here.”
Project YZ is Yangtze Rep’s AAPI artist residency program. Now in its fifth year, Project YZ is focused on supporting the artistic journey of each resident artist with a process that values open dialogue, honest conversation, and bold endeavors. The goal is to create a sense of belonging through artistic discovery.
Previous Project YZ resident artists include directors Nana Dakin and Rui Dun; playwrights Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin, Jesse Jae Hoon, Yilong Liu and Minghao Tu; set designer Chika Shimizu; writer and performers Đavid Lee Huỳnh and Jo Mei, writer and director Jing Dong, and performer Julia Gu.
About the Artists
Sarah Mika Esser (エサーサラ美香) is a yonsei Japanese-American director, choreographer, producer, and dance educator based in Queens. She grounds her creative process in joy and draws inspiration from everywhere: pop culture, psychedelic imagery, Elmo, and beyond. Her work, a practice in nurturing her inner child, lives at the intersection of rebellion and play. A Barnard College alumna, Sarah has performed alongside J Balvin, Megan Thee Stallion, Kim Petras, and Julianne Hough and has been featured in campaigns for Nike and Twitter. She served as Assistant Choreographer for Kim Petras (2022 Coachella debut, 2023 Sydney World Pride) and Contributing Choreographer for Sudan Archives (2024 Pitchfork Fest). Her work for stage and screen has been showcased at Dance Lab New York, CreateART, Triskelion Arts, and Brown University, among others. Sarah is represented by MSA Agency and managed by Movers Management.
Michi Zaya (any pronouns) is a Mongolian storyteller of all trades, based in Brooklyn. Michi’s work can be seen on stage as a performer, projections designer, and director. Their current focus is sharing Asian American & immigrant stories on stage in New York and Boston. Grief, language, Queerness, and community are key themes in Michi’s work. Their black cat is her son and the center of their universe. Directing projects include Until the First Snow (Pan Asian Rep NuWorks ‘26), The Jade Rabbit is Crashing Out Over El*N Musk (The Brick - T4T Fest), I Should Be Obliterated (Theatre Row - DUAF). Associate and Assisted directing projects include A Rare Bird (Zaza Diana Oh, Breaking the Binary Theatre), wAve (Sarah Shin, The Public Theater with Brooklyn College). https://michizaya.com/
About Yangtze Repertory Theatre
Yangtze Repertory Theatre (Chongren Fan, Artistic Director; Sally Shen, Executive Director) is an Obie-winning non-profit theater company that has been producing and presenting theatrical works by, for, and about the AAPI community for over 30 years. Through productions, residencies and commissions, Yangtze Rep supports artists from the AAPI immigrant community and develops new works that shine a light on stories rarely told.
Press Contact: John Wyszniewski, Everyman Agency: john@everymanagency.com, 347-416-3881.