Leilani Chan (she/her) is Founding Artistic Director of TeAda Productions: a nomadic theater of color based in Los Angeles. Chan’s devised ensemble plays include Global Taxi Driver and Refugee Nation. Her latest work Masters of the Currents, premiered in 2017 at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and is the 1st nationally touring play about Micronesians in the U.S. Thus far this play has toured: inter-island to Maui (Maui Arts and Cultural Center) and Hilo (UH Hilo Performing Arts Center; to the continent including San Francisco’s Mission District (Brava Center for the Arts), Salt Lake City (Utah Presentes), Minneapolis (Pangea World Theater); and internationally to Guam (Breaking Wave Theatre/University of Guam). This work was awarded NEFA’s National Theater Project and MAPFUND and is Chan’s 4th NPN Creation Fund. Leilani is currently on the Board of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (caata.net). 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 and her partner Ova Saopeng are currently developing a new ensemble work Nothing Micro about Micronesia set to premiere in March 2024 at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth.

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.

Taloo Carrillo (she/her) 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.

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 Manager 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.

Gia Kim (any pronouns) is the Marketing and Programs intern for TeAda. They are studying Statistics and Asian American Studies at UCLA with a passion for experimental displays of art. Although new to theater production, they are drawn to community arts, a lover of film, and an aspiring storyteller. They join the TeAda team with curiosity and excitement to explore community organizing and storytelling as practice.

Gia joins our staff through a grant-funded internship, in collaboration with Los Angeles County Arts & Culture.