The Sống Collective

02/17/2026

Chúc mừng năm mới! We’re celebrating the new year by announcing our 2026 Viet Writers Lab cohort: Brandy Hoang Collier, Brigid Leahy, and Kat Phan (bios in comments).

We couldn’t be more excited to see what we create together!

Brandy Hoang Collier is a Manhattan-based playwright, poet, and problem-solver from deep in the heart of Texas. She did her book learning at Texas A&M and NYU Tisch and has worked on marketing campaigns, construction sites, Off-Broadway stages, sales floors, sidewalks and more. In some ways, Collier identifies as mixed race, Asian-American, disabled, and q***r. In other ways, she identifies as a noncorporeal entity with no identifying features and also no flaws. Selected works include book for Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria (5th Avenue Theatre Commission, O’Neill NMTC, NAMT Festival, Vivace Award, Relentless Award Finalist) and book and lyrics for The Blazing World (Polyphone Festival). On top of writing music and making theatre, Collier works for the New York Yankees, but thinks it’s funny not to disclose what she does there. Just like she won’t disclose her age.

Brigid Leahy is a Vietnamese-Irish-American writer and actor from Orange County, California working across the US and Ireland. Her award-nominated play The Chalice premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival, supported by the Irish Arts Council and the festival’s Weft Studio. She is the co-writer and co-producer of the award-winning short film Good Chips, which received the Writers Guild of Ireland Award for Best Short Film Script and won Best Short Film at the 2023 Viet Film Festival. A feature-length adaptation of Good Chips was later recognized on the CAPE x Black List. Her play DADDY ISSUES has been developed with support from the Irish Arts Council, Weft Studio, the Irish Theatre Institute, and the MAKE residency. In 2025, Brigid was selected for Ireland’s National Theatre, the Abbey Theatre’s playwright development program, Box of Tricks. She holds degrees in History from UCLA and Trinity College Dublin.

Kat Phan (given name: Phan Xuân Quế Phương) is an organizer, researcher, and writer whose work advances migrant power and economic liberation. Her theater, visual, and performance art practices explore Southeast Asian futurities, removed from the grief industrial complex and all forms of empire-making. She received degrees from Stanford University and Princeton University.

02/04/2026

As we head into our 7th (!!!) year, we’re so grateful for our community of supporters and the artists we’ve gotten to know and collaborate with — and we’re also very aware that there are so many Việt artists, creatives, and community members we haven’t met yet, and we’d love to change that!

​Join us for drinks at Lai Rai on February 11th, 6:30–9pm. Whether you’re a theater artist, work across disciplines, are early in your journey, still trying to decide on your journey, or simply a fan of Việt artists—we’d love to meet you! And for those we already know, come through!

​Let’s chia sẻ câu chuyện over a glass of wine! RSVP so we get a headcount:

As we head into our 7th (!!!) year, we’re so grateful for our community of supporters and the artists we’ve gotten to know and collaborate with — and we’re…

12/01/2025

📣 We’re thrilled to have Việt Writers Lab 2021 alumnus, Diana Ly, make her return to the program...but this time as our Lab Director! As a writer and pioneer in our inaugural lab, she’s one of the best people to be mentoring and shepherding our incoming cohort. She’ll work closely with them to facilitate page sharings, give feedback, and act as a major support throughout the course of the process.

Diana is a Vietnamese-American screenwriter and playwright who tells stories about women and people of color coming into their power, agency and artistry. She grew up in the Philippines, studied Computer Science at Stanford and previously worked at Google. She has been a Baryshnikov Arts Resident (with Charlotte Bydwell) and a member of the Universal Pictures Writers Lab, Orchard Project’s Greenhouse Lab, and the WIF|Black List Feature Residency. The Omnivores co-production with The Sống Collective of her play “Sex and the Abbey” at the Brick was warmly recommended by Helen Shaw in the New Yorker. She completed her MFA in Playwriting at Hunter College and is currently a fellow in Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program.

11/24/2025

✨The Sống Collective is taking applications for its third Việt Writers Lab!

📝 Applications are open from November 24-December 22!

In keeping with our mission, we are devoting this process to subverting preconceived notions of Việtnamese, Asians, Asian-Americans, and our story in America. We want to invest in our community and provide a more holistic exploration of the Việt identity and our personal histories.

Apply at bit.ly/vwl2026app (link also in our bio!)

10/28/2025

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

You may have been wondering what we’ve been up to this last year! The three of us decided to take a moment to recharge, but don’t worry, we’ve been making plans and thinking about future programming while we took time for ourselves. That being said, we’ve had a shift in leadership that we want to share with you, our community.

Đavid Lee Huỳnh, one of our founding members who has been in co-leadership with Carolina and Jonathan for the last 6 years has decided to end this chapter of his time with The Sống Collective to take on new opportunities and expand his impact within the community. We are so proud of the work he has contributed over the years in support of our artists and events. We began with a simple text exchange: an idea to do a reading of Vietgone with an all Việt cast to benefit Syrian refugees during a time of crisis in 2019. It was the seed that grew into an organization that has supported numerous new works, 200+ artists, and nourished a community of creatives that grows each year.

What does this mean? Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere! Carolina and Jonathan will continue to serve as a dynamic duo of Producing Artistic Leaders for The Sống Collective. Đavid will now take on the title of Producing Artistic Leader Emeritus & Founding Member as he steps away from our operations. We wish him the best and hope he continues to find artistic fulfillment in his next endeavors. If you don’t already, follow his instagram for all his upcoming projects and next moves.

Keep an eye out! 👀 We have more announcements before the end of the year. We can’t wait to share with you what we have coming up!

If you’re interested in supporting our work, you can always donate through our fiscal sponsor The Field (link in bio).

02/26/2025

Happy to announce more community partners for The Accidental Getaway Driver’s Screening on 3/1!

Join The Sống Collective with AznAmericana, NYC Viet Meetup, Overseas Vietnamese NYC, Vietnamese Boat People, and Viet Sa•lon for a community screening! RSVP 🔗 in bio. Space is limited. RSVP and claim your ticket via the form in our bio. Space is limited.
Q/A moderated by ’s with director Sing J. Lee to follow.

Help make this film accessible to Viet audiences in NYC for the film’s theatrical release opening weekend—spread the word on social media and with your networks!

This event is sponsored by Yao King 👑

02/25/2025

Join Yao King and The Sống Collective
with AznAmericana, Overseas Vietnamese, and Viet Sa•Lon for a
Việt and AANHPI screening of
The Accidental Getaway Driver
Saturday, March 1st at 7pm | AMC 34th Street
RSVP and claim your ticket via the form in our bio. Space is limited. Q/A with Director Sing J. Lee to follow.

Help make this film accessible to Việt audiences in NYC for the film’s theatrical release opening weekend—spread the word on social media and with your networks!

About the Film:
Long (Hiệp Trần Nghĩa), a Vietnamese driver in Southern California answers a late-night call for a ride. Already in his pajamas, he reluctantly accepts, picking up a man, Tây (Dustin Nguyen), and his two companions. But the men, recently escaped convicts from an Orange County jail, take Long hostage at gunpoint, thrusting him into their getaway plan. When complications arise, the fugitives and their hostage hole up at a motel, and a tense waiting game unfolds. WINNER—Directing Award: Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition

09/06/2024

09/03/2024

08/30/2024

Things are going so well at Gandersheim Abbey that we’ve added a matinee performance to closing day! Listen to Theatremania when they say, “Sex and the Abbey is a smart play, and certainly more fun to watch than —“ 🫢We assume the reviewer means Quedlinburg Abbey.
📸 .photo