Darren Yap

Darren Yap – Director

Darren’s production of Laura Murphy’s Zombie! The Musical won Best Musical and Best Direction at the Sydney Theatre Awards 2024.

Recent directing credits include Tim by Tim McGarry for Christine Dunstan Productions, Sydney Theatre Award production Yong by Jenevieve Chang for Monkey Baa at the Opera House and Clydes by Lynn Nottage for The Ensemble Theatre. In 2025 he will direct Ebony Booth’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Primary Trust and the remount of Yong at the Melbourne Arts Centre.

Other directing highlights include the acclaimed Jesus Wants Me for A Sunbeam for NTofP at Belvoir Street, Diving for Pearls and Ladies Day for Griffin Theatre, Double Delicious, The Serpent’s Table presented by CAAP and Sydney Festival at Carriageworks, The One by Vanessa Bates at the Ensemble Theatre, the national tour of Letters to Lindy by Alana Valentine for Merrigong Theatre and the critically acclaimed Miracle City produced by Hayes Theatre.

Darren’s international directing credits include a new production of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Ghost, The Musical in Tokyo. He was Staging Director for World Expo for Artists in Motion in Dubai and The Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah. He directed the World Premieres of The Great Wall, The Admiral’s Odyssey, Man of Letters and Pinocchio in Singapore. Darren’s large-scale events include The City of Sydney’s Chinese New Year Parade for two years, Sponge Bob Square Pants Parade for Nickelodeon, Segment Director of the Closing Ceremony of the 15th Asian Games in Qatar, and Artistic Festival Consultant for the Opening of the National Gallery of Singapore’s celebrations and in 2019 the 48th United Arab Emirates National Day of Celebration.

Darren is a recipient of a Sydney Theatre Award for Monkey Baa’s Yong, the Broadway World Regional Award for best director of a play: Diving for Pearls, Glug award nominations for Outstanding mainstage Musical: Miracle City and Outstanding mainstage production: Diving for Pearls. He is a former board member of Hayes Theatre, a panelist for the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award and APRA AMCOS. His production of Zombie! The Musical won the Time Out Arts and Culture Award for 2024 which also received 5 stars in the Sydney Morning Herald.