TEADA 2025 IMPACT REPORT

THEATER FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS

TeAda Productions began 2025 in collaboration with Program for Torture Victims (PTV), working with refugees and asylum seekers in a transformative eight-session workshop series that centered healing and collective empowerment. Five PTV Fellows unearthed stories of home, migration, persecution, struggle, survival, and hope, transforming their experiences into movement, vocal expression-based, and ensemble pieces. Their work culminated in a public performance, GLOBAL HEARTS: OUTGROWING STRUGGLE & STEPPING INTO POWER, to a crowd of over 30 at TeAda Studio! We look forward to working with PTV for a ninth consecutive year in the Spring of 2026.

nothing micro about micronesia tour to saipan & guam

In April, TeAda traveled to the Northern Mariana Islands to perform NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA (NMAM) at the 44th Flame Tree Arts Festival in Saipan and at the University of Guam Fine Arts Theatre in Guåhan. The cast performed outside under the stars for the first time, and facilitated workshops for over 200 middle and high school youth across the Islands. In total, over 5,000 audience members of all ages across Micronesia experienced NMAM this year! 

TeAda is looking forward to bringing the NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA tour to the continental U.S. in 2026-2027. Learn more about how you can support this important play at teada.org/nmam.

COLLECTIVE CONNECTIONS

Multiple partnerships providing workshops, residencies, and tours including our highlight programs reached over 750 community members and more than 30 workshops across the Pacific region and continental U.S.

• NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA (NMAM) tour Guam & CNMI

• Arts in Residence at USC School of Dramatic Arts

• The launch of CreAtive Healing Lab (CHL) workshops in Los Angeles

• Youth Summer residency at Kōkua Kalihi Valley (KKV) on Oʻahu

• Partnerships include community, arts, health, education and advocacy organizations

We traveled over 20,000 miles as a squad this year to create, connect, and cultivate community across the national arts field. In addition to touring NMAM to Guåhan, Saipan, and Hawaiʻi, we represented & presented TeAda’s work at national convenings, including:

• International Presenters Commons. Boston, MA

• Western Arts Alliance (WAA) Conference, Los Angeles, CA

• National Performance Network Conference, New Orleans, LA

• Archive for Health, Arts & Spirit (AHAS) Educators’ Conference, Kahilui, HI

• NEFA National Theatre Project CoHort + Advisor Gathering, Port Angeles, WA

IMPACT ASSESSMENT 2025 ACTIVITIES

• January - February

• 8th year partnership with Program for Torture Victims (PTV) clientele/fellows – workshop series, culmination, and collaboration

• March 1, 2025 GLOBAL HEARTS: Culmination performance inspired by TeAda methodologies, performers’/fellows’ stories of migration, survival, and self love

• February - June

• Pilot of CreAtive Healing Lab (CHL) series, 7 arts/healing workshops in Los Angeles for immigrant, refugee, asylee, global majority communities 

• March - May

• Tour of NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA (NMAM) @ 44th Flame Tree Arts Festival in Saipan & The University of Guam Fine Arts Theatre

• Included over 20 shows (for schools and the public); performing for over 6,500 audience members

• Included 6 workshops for over 200 middle and high school students in Saipan & Guam

• May-June

• TeAda attends and presents their work at the International Presenters Commons in Boston, MA

• TeAda wraps its inaugural arts residency with the USC School of Dramatic Arts Sparks Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program (USC SDA)

• TeAda Virtual Community Space (held to process grief, and action items around ICE raids)

• July-August

• TeAda residency with Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV), 1-week youth workshop with 19 young people, culminating in Public Performance highlighting stories about Kalihi

• September-October

• TeAda attends and presents on NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA, facilitates TeAda Methodology Workshop at the 2025 Western Arts Alliance (WAA) Conference

• TeAda attends and presents on NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA at the 2025 National Performance Network (NPN) Conference in New Orleans, LA

• TeAda builds community at the Archive for Health, Arts, & Spirit (AHAS) Educators’ Conference in Maui

• TeAda attends New England Foundation for the Arts CoHort Gathering in Port Angeles, WA as National Theater Project Grant Panelists

• October-December: CreAtive Healing Lab Fall 2025 Series launches → 5 arts/healing workshops in Los Angeles for immigrant, refugee, asylee, global majority communities; workshops planned for Spring 2026

• November: TeAda Methodology Workshop for CSU Long Beach Project Resilience + Asian American Studies Program

• November-December: Partnership development with University of Michigan + The Program for Torture Victims

THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS WHO MAKE OUR IMPORTANT WORK POSSIBLE:

California Arts Council; City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Workforce Empowerment Grant and the Cultural Program Grant; Peace Development Fund; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission;  National Endowment for the Arts Grants for Arts Projects; Hawaiʻi People’s Fund; MAP Fund; New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA); Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV); Ahmanson Foundation; Atherton Family Foundation; National Performance Network; Susan & James Iwamura; Kim Coco Iwamoto; Max Yarawamai; Pontius Family Charitable Fund.

Support for NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA Micronesia Tour

Development and touring for NMAM is generously supported by:  

• New England Foundation for the Arts;, 

• The MAP Fund, which invests in performing artists and their work as the critical foundation of imagining and co-creating a more equitable and vibrant society.

Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency, University of Guam Theatre Department, Creative West, CNMI Office of Governor Arnold I. Palacios, Bridge Capital LLC, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Commonwealth Council for Arts & Culture, Matson, Northern Marianas Humanities Council, Humanities Guåhan, and The National Endowment for the Arts, NEA.