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Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew

She // Her // Hers

Theater Designer and Artist

New York, New York

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew greets the camera with a warm, genuine smile. Her short salt-and-pepper hair frames her face, and her metal-framed glasses catch the light as she poses in a light blue floral shirt layered under a soft gray-blue vest.

Photo by Hunter Canning.

“My artistic vision is endlessly guided by curiosity. Curiosity allows me to be inquisitive, to invent, and to be bold. It demands risk-taking as an essential aptitude — not only in creation but in advancing my field.”

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew is an award-winning multi-disciplinary designer for theater, opera, dance, musical, music performances, digital performances, installation, and immersive experiences. As a designer, Yew aims to create a visual environment that is organically integrated into the landscape and language of the production. Critics described her designs as clever, painterly, and evocative.

Her works have been seen across US cities from Broadway to regional theaters to non-traditional venues and internationally at Havana, Prague, Lima (Peru), Edinburgh, Tokyo, Graz (Austria), Shanghai (China), Paris, and Bloemfontein (South Africa). 

In addition to designing, she is also a generative artist in devising interdisciplinary, multi-genre projects through the lens of contemporary puppetry aesthetics and techniques. The New York Times described her project with Target Margin, Act 4 of The Iceman Cometh as “consistently inventive.” Her immersive production, Are They Edible? premiered at La MaMa to sold-out houses and it was called “bold” and “inventive.” And Here We Are, a shadow puppet opera with composer Matthew Welch was premiered at National Sawdust in 2018. Additionally, her toy theater production of The Butcher Men was invited to the 2006 Prague Quadrennial and her digital puppetry adaptation of the Book of Genesis, MILK, was part of the Labapalooza 2007 presented at St. Ann’s Warehouse.

Yew is Arts Professor and Head of Lighting Design Training with NYU’s Department of Drama Production & Design Studio, a member of Woodshed Collective and Caborca, a member of USA29, and a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program.

Donor -This award was generously supported by donors of the USA Fellowship Awards program.

This artist page was last updated on: 01.14.2026

Theater & Performance
The image shows two dancers, Annie Grove and Reshma Gajjar, performing against a stark white, classical-style set featuring tall columns and a symmetrical backdrop within a warmly lit space framed by decorative string lights. Reshma Gajjar leans forward while Annie Grove balances with one leg extended high behind them, creating a dynamic and expressive pose. The performers wear a white shirt and black pants. The wooden floor and lighting create a dramatic, theatrical atmosphere that highlights movement and balance.

A scene from Life & Trust, 2014. Large-scale immersive production presented in New York City in 2014. Lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew featuring performers Annie Grove and Reshma Gajjar.

Photo by Stephanie Crousillat.

This collage captures scenes from an immersive musical experience that intertwines concert, ritual, and theater. Performed in an intimate, in-the-round setting, the work dissolves the boundary between audience and performer, inviting collective contemplation of time, matter, and the intricate interconnection of living systems. Light and color serve as central dramaturgical elements — radiant golds evoke creation and vitality, while deep blues and reds suggest both the cosmic and the cellular. In the upper left image, performers stand bathed in amber light beneath a glowing orb. The upper right presents a solitary figure illuminated in blue, gazing toward that same luminous form. The lower left reveals two performers facing one another amid a wash of red light, and the lower right depicts the entry corridor through which the audience transitions into the performance space — a threshold between observation and participation.

A compilation of photos from the production of Oratorio for Living Things, 2022. Lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew. Written by Heather Christian.

Photos by Ben Arons and Kristen Robinson.

A still from a video excerpt from The Blind, Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew

A video excerpt from The Blind, conceived and created by Mia Rovegno and Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew. An immersive audio/visual meditation journey based on a play adapted from Les Aveugles by Maurice Maeterlinck.