THE SQUAD
Leilani Chan is Founding Artistic Director of TeAda Productions (teada.org); a nomadic theater of color based in Los Angeles. Chan served as Co-Chair of the National Asian American Theater Conference and Festival held in Hawai’i in 2024 and was one of the founding Board Members of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (caata.net). Her latest work, Nothing Micro About Micronesia, (NMAM) premiered at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and has toured inter-island to Hilo and Maui, and internationally to Guam and Saipan. NMAM is set to follow in the path of Masters of the Currents, (MOC) which also toured to the continent including San Francisco’s Mission District (Brava Center for the Arts), Minneapolis (Pangea World Theater), Salt Lake City (Utah Presents), Los Angeles (USC’s Visions and Voices); and internationally to Guam (Breaking Wave Theatre/University of Guam). Both plays received NEFA’s National Theater Project and MAPFUND and is Chan’s 4th NPN Creation Fund. Chan has taught at both University of Hawai’i at Manoa and CSULB Theatre Departments. Born & raised in Hawai’i, Leilani currently resides in Los Angeles. Leilani attended Hampshire College and obtained her M.F.A. from U.C. Irvine. Chan also Directed Red Summer for Carpetbag Theatre in Knoxville, TN.
Ova Saopeng (he/him) is associate artistic director and producer with Los Angeles based TeAda Productions. He is an accomplished actor, teaching artist and playwright. He is a refugee from Laos and is passionate about elevating the refugee and immigrant experience on the American stage. Community and ensemble based creations include: Masters of the Currents, Refugee Nation, Global Taxi Driver and Native Immigrant. These critically acclaimed plays received numerous development and touring awards including NEFA, MAP, NEA, NPN Creation and NET funds. He has worked with national theatre companies: The Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis Dragonwings and Center Theater Group’s Wondrous Tales of Old Japan and East West Players Twelf Nite O’Wateva and has toured colleges and universities with Asian American led hereandnow theater company, and Southern California primary schools with children’s theater companies We Tell Stories and Waters Edge Theater.
Stephanie “Soultree” Camba (any/all pronouns) is a Pilipinx born and Marshallese raised artist, musician, herbalist, community organizer, event planner, and practitioner of various healing arts. A former impact fellow with TeAda’s collaboration with Program for Torture Victims, they are now the Operations and Diaspora Programs Director for TeAda Productions. They are the founder of SHHAA, Sustainable Holistic Healing Arts & Activations and have released three musical projects in the last four years.
Jonny Chang (he/him) is TeAda’s Marketing and Local Programs Manager. With roots in spoken word poetry, Jonny is a Pilipino-Chinese-Hawaiian writer, music producer, recording artist, teaching artist, storyteller, social justice advocate, and community organizer. He has spent the past 5 years co-facilitating communal storytelling spaces with and for communities of the global majority, queer and trans peoples, intergenerational communities, transition age youth seeking to transform the homelessness services’, mental health care, and foster care systems, activists, media makers, and leaders of social service organizations/collectives. At TeAda he will be a co-developer of local programs, a teaching artist, as well as its marketing and digital archives manager.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Diane Burbie (she/her) is Managing Principal of The ASPIRE Group, a consulting firm specializing in equity, diversity, and inclusion, conflict resolution, strategic planning, and leadership development. She is an experienced consultant and facilitator working with a myriad of audiences throughout the US and beyond. Diane engages extensively in the arts and culture arena that includes projects with the Geffen Playhouse, East-West Players, Art2Action, LA Phil, The Ford Theater, LA Opera, Long Beach Opera, CMP (IL), Ancram Opera House (NY), Cornerstone Theater and Getty. Her work supports national arts collectives such as Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA), Opera America, and the Directors Guild of America (DGA). Diane works with governmental entities and funders for the arts in Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Glendale, Pasadena, and West Hollywood. Additionally, she is consultant to the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance. She served as Vice-Chair of the Pasadena Human Relations Commission. Diane holds BA from Stanford University in Psychology and African American Studies, MBA from the University of Southern California and certificates in Negotiation (Harvard University Law School) and Managing Multicultural Work Environments (California State University Fullerton).
Taloo Carrillo (They/Ella) is a Chicana activist who has worked as a grassroots organizer and advocate for Indigenous repatriation and environmental issues. She is a singer, performance artist and writer who emerged from the creative cauldron that was Troy Cafe in Little Tokyo, downtown LA of the early 1990’s. Born and raised in Boyle Heights, at a time when many diverse communities co-existed and demographics were changing, Taloo is keenly aware of the need for cross-cultural connections and appreciation for diversity. Taloo feels that TeAda’s mission perfectly encompasses her values and provides her the opportunity to continue her advocacy work. Taloo also had the great privilege of working with Leilani Chan in the formative years of TeAda Productions.
Carolina San Juan (she/her) earned her doctoral degree in Culture and Performance from the UCLA Department of World Arts and Culture/Dance. She offers more than 20 years experience teaching community-based Arts Education, Asian American Studies, and Women’s Studies at both CSUDH and UCLA. As an Arts and Diversity advocate she served two years as the East West Players Arts Education Director. She also developed programming as both an educator and administrator for the UCLA Academic Advancement Program (AAP), the nation’s largest university-based student diversity program. Carolina is currently the Interim Director of Arts Education for Center Theatre Group.