Photo by Steve Korn.

Desdemona Chiang is a Taiwan-born American director and writer based in Seattle, WA and Ashland, OR. She works in a variety of genres, including new plays, Shakespeare, and musicals. Chiang is known for her visceral, no-nonsense approach to theatre, with her distinct point of view as an immigrant and Asian American woman, and an interest in using storytelling to spark social discourse. Her directing credits include The 5^th Avenue Theatre (Seattle, WA), Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis), Alley Theatre (Houston), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, OR), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre (Washington DC), Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven, CT), Seattle Children’s Theatre, and ACT Theatre (Seattle). Her stage adaptation of Amy Tan’s novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter received its world premiere in the summer of 2022.

Chiang was awarded the Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Fellowship, which aims to improve AAPI representation in the film and television industries over the long-term by cultivating AAPI talent and elevating their stories. Her TV pilot Made in USA been developed with the Sundance Episodic Intensive Lab, The Orchard Project, the Writers Lab, and was a winner of the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Lab.

Most recently, Chiang was accepted in the AFI DWW+ class of 2024, where she will direct a short film adaptation of Made in USA in July 2023.

Awards: Princess Grace Award, Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, SDC Sir John Gielgud Directing Fellowship, Drama League TV/Film Fellowship.
MFA Directing: University of Washington.