TeAda Productions

TeAda Productions TeAda is a theater of color making national and local impact. Donate on our webpage teada.org/donate

Under the direction of artist Leilani Chan, TeAda Productions exists to enrich the repertoire of contemporary works created and performed by people of color. Begun in 1994, TeAda Productions is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to empower underserved communities through the development and presentation of interdisciplinary theatrical performance pieces by, for and about peo

ple of color. By developing ground-breaking, high caliber, cross-disciplinary performances that incorporate cultural forms such as dance and music with experimental theatrical and performance art practices, TeAda Productions expands awareness, builds communities and educates the general public about the issues facing underserved communities. TeAda Productions achieves this mission by producing and touring innovative performances, both locally and nationally, in traditional and non-traditional venues and through residencies offering community-based workshops and new work development labs.

Shoutout the Alliance for Drama Education (ADE) based on O'ahu! 🀝🀝🀝 They brought Co-Artistic Director Ova Saopeng home i...
09/03/2026

Shoutout the Alliance for Drama Education (ADE) based on O'ahu! 🀝🀝🀝 They brought Co-Artistic Director Ova Saopeng home in early August to provide a TeAda Methodology, one-day professional development workshop for the ADE Teaching Artist program.

❀️❀️❀️ Here's Ova with the trainees as they prepare for the upcoming school year in Honolulu, Hawaii.

🧬🧬🧬 And about that last slide...
"IMUA three times! Here's THREE generations of Hawaii-rooted theater practitioners, students, teachers, and leaders in the field. Mentor George Kon, Artistic Director Jackson Moxilla and I in reunion, because of Alliance for Drama Education." -Ova Saopeng

🀝🀝🀝 The Alliance for Drama Education collaboration is just one of several partnerships TeAda has established or begun developing that supports teaching artist professional development in the TeAda Methodology.

🀝🀝🀝 A few weeks after this PD, we partnered with Long Beach Public Library to share TeAda practices, and strategies for culturally-inclusive programming with educators, community leaders, and arts facilitators in the SoCal Library community!

🎁🎁🎁 Help TeAda provide more professional development opportunities for educators, immigrant-serving organizations, and those interested in decolonizing the teada @ teada.org/donate !!! 🎁🎁🎁

πŸ’ŒπŸ’ŒπŸ’Œ Interested in bringing TeAda Productions to your community? Email [email protected] !!! πŸ’ŒπŸ’ŒπŸ’Œ

09/01/2026

Some of my hopes and dreams. Some of OUR hopes and dreams.

Witness the storytellers that made the spring β€˜26 Theater for Asylum Seekers public performance at USC’s StopGap Theatre this past March ❀️

We’re starting the process all over again :) in strong partnership with The Program for Torture Victims in just over a month from now !!!

❀️ Save the date, November 7th - we’d love to see you at the next Public Culmination ❀️

Play an important part in keeping the Theater for Asylum Seekers alive! SUPPORT the stories of immigrants and refugees at 🎁 teada.org/donate 🎁

Mahalo ❀️

🌊 This past June, Leilani Chan (Founding Artistic Director) and Ova Saopeng (Co-Artistic Director) were invited to be gu...
08/27/2026

🌊 This past June, Leilani Chan (Founding Artistic Director) and Ova Saopeng (Co-Artistic Director) were invited to be guest artists at the Wehiwehi Fellowship artistic residency at Shangri-La in Honolulu, HI by the famed Christopher K. Morgan, Founder and Program Director. 🌊

🌊 We got to talk story, expanded our network with, and witnessed performances by Kānaka Maoli and Pasifika artists. 🌊

🌊 To learn more and/or to get involved with the Wehiwehi Collective in Hawai’i, please visit wehiwehi.com/program. 🌊

🎁 Support the evolution of Pasifika art, and cultural exchange at teada.org/donate! 🎁

🎁 Help TeAda bring NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA, and Breaking Wave Theatre Company’s WE WILL NOT GO SILENT in early 2027 @ teada.org/donate!!! 🎁

08/20/2026

What a blessing it is to create with one another. Here's us playing On/Off with new friends as part of a new partnership with the Long Beach Public Library which brought together educators, librarians, leaders, and workers in the CA library system!

Our partner, Jacqui Viale had this to say about yesterday:

"As one of our last workshops with Creativity Lab, we had an absolutely joyful time, meeting members of our Southern California Library community, and reconnecting with old friends. We were led by the amazing people from TeAda Productions, Ova and Soultree, who led us through a magnificent progression of activities to help us better connect with the community we serve.

Everyone participated and contributed, and I think we all left feeling a little lighter and a little more inspired and ready to serve the public. Thank you TeAda Productions, and thank you to for generously funding this learning experience through CALL Academy for local learning!"

Recap video on the way soon :)

-

NOTE: We are keeping a pulse on the numerous mutual aid efforts benefiting the Hawaiian Islands post-Hurricane Lala. Please DM us if you know of any additional, urgent resources we can re-share at this time. Mahalo nui for your solidarity.

08/13/2026

🎁 Donate to TeAda & bring CreAtive Healing Lab back in 2027! 🎁 teada.org/donate or give directly to our fundraiser on IG!!! 🎁🎁🎁

✨ Some highlights from β€œRestore: A Mindful Sound + Community Experience” w/ LA Adkins + β€œRitual Workshop: Kyoumei (Resonance)” w/ Meena Malik where we practiced stillness, and moved like the wind. ✨

✨ Jennifer Caldwell had this to say about her experience in both workshops:

β€œ[LA Adkins’ workshop] was truly wonderful. Powerful. Insightful, I felt so connected to the divine self and to others. It seeped over into my life after leaving and I felt more connected to others afterward. Several ideas that my fellows shared resonated. One of them helped me to see that it is okay to β€˜do’ in bulk and to rest in bulk. Both can feed our souls and help us grow.

I feel joyful, beautiful, amazing. The part where we all danced [in Meena’s workshop] and made sounds and began to respond to each other was truly remarkable. I left feeling inspired and connected.” ✨

🎁🎁🎁 Donate to TeAda & contribute to the heartbeat of CreAtive Healing Lab! 🎁🎁🎁 teada.org/donate (or give directly to our fundraiser on IG) 🎁🎁🎁

08/11/2026

🌺 Remember when we performed OUTSIDE and under the RAIN in front of hundreds of community members, cultural performers, and community leaders in Saipan?! Throwback to when we traveled 6,000 miles to Saipan from Los Angeles to perform NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA at the 44th Annual Flame Tree Arts Festival at Garapan Fishing Base. 🌺🌺🌺 YOU can help us bring NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA to the continental U.S in 2027! Donate to TeAda Productions!!! 🌺🌺🌺 teada.org/donate 🌺🌺🌺

🌺🌺🌺 Plans are being solidified to bring TeAda's newest touring play to the continental U.S - West Coast, Pacific Northwest, and Mountain West in 2027 - and YOU can support us getting there! 🌺🌺🌺 teada.org/donate 🌺🌺🌺

🌺🌺🌺 NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA is a stage play that tells a coming of age story about three Micronesian youth who meet in an unlikely place, and through magic, are transported to island adventures in Micronesia.

During the journey, these friends navigate between Hawai`i and the traditions of their homelands while facing the rising tides of their uncertain futures. The story centers complex issues faced by youth in Hawai`i from migration and assimilation, to cultural reclamation and familial responsibility; connecting to intergenerational Micronesian experiences in Hawai`i, across the atolls and islands of Micronesia, and beyond.

The play spotlights the cultural traditions and stories of Micronesians, while highlighting the urgent need for education and advocacy around issues of climate migration, cultural erasure, and discrimination in the present day. 🌺🌺🌺

🎡 Song (from "Airport Fashion Show" scene) - "𝐏𝐨𝐑𝐧𝐩𝐞𝐒𝐚𝐧 π’πžπ«πžπ©πžπ’π§" by Teidy Boy, Nabzy & Bwenaman 🎡

🌺🌺🌺 teada.org/donate 🌺🌺🌺

🎁🎁🎁 YOU can support the development of "Lao as a Second Language" by donating to Ova’s Birthday β€œFun-Raiser” at 🎁 teada....
08/06/2026

🎁🎁🎁 YOU can support the development of "Lao as a Second Language" by donating to Ova’s Birthday β€œFun-Raiser” at 🎁 teada.org/donate 🎁

Hear from Ny Derry --- community leader, and fearless founder of Lao Helping Lao --- talk about her experience participating in TeAda's LAO AS A SECOND LANGUAGE Residency in Michigan earlier this year:

"In March 2026, I had the opportunity to participate in an exercise with my Lao peers and elders while Ova Saopeng was researching for his solo project, 'Lao as a Second Language' (LSL), at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan.

LSL explores the question: 'How does losing your language help or hurt you?' As a group, we shared our thoughts and took turns expressing them in our own words. Here’s a video of me of my thoughts of the words on the blackboard. As you can tell, I still need to improve my Lao vocabulary since I moved to the United States when I was just eight years old in the 1980s.

🀩 Additionally, I’m excited about teaching a Lao Language Course with Dr. Buasawan Sim this August."

Ny reminds us the powerful and necessary return to roots, and to practice exercising your native tongue. For those with ties to Laos, we hope LSL gives the opportunity to remember, and contribute to the rich tapestry of Lao and Lao American stories. And for those who don't know the language (just yet), we look forward to learning from each other, together! :)

🎁🎁🎁 SUPPORT "Lao as a Second Language" at 🎁 teada.org/donate 🎁

πŸ—£οΈCALLING ALL LIBRARIANS, EDUCATORS, AND COMMUNITY LEADERS WORKING IN THE CALIFORNIA LIBRARY SYSTEM! πŸ“šπŸ“šπŸ“š We have an Upco...
08/04/2026

πŸ—£οΈCALLING ALL LIBRARIANS, EDUCATORS, AND COMMUNITY LEADERS WORKING IN THE CALIFORNIA LIBRARY SYSTEM! πŸ“šπŸ“šπŸ“š We have an Upcoming TeAda Methodology & Professional Development Workshop coming up on AUGUST 19TH! πŸ“šπŸ“šπŸ“š

β€œCreative Strategies for Culturally Inclusive Programming”

Wednesday, August 19th, 2026
9am - 12pm
Billie Jean King Main Library
200 W. Broadway, Long Beach, CA, 90802

Experience and learn strategies to create a safe and brave space toward self discovery and collective unity by exploring the capabilities of your voice, body and imagination. The TeAda Methodology is a process using theater and storytelling techniques that instill mindfulness, builds teamwork, and explores cultural connections. TeAda approaches this process by honoring each person individually, and collectively as a community. This workshop will fine tune your listening, observational, and performative skills to ignite approaches to shape curriculum that engages, educates and entertains participants in planning programs.

The goal of the workshop is to:
*Engage in physical movement to stimulate creativity and expression.
*Incorporate improvisational techniques to foster adaptability and spontaneity.
*Use collaborative exercises to build teamwork and communication skills.
*Reflect on experiences to deepen understanding and personal growth.
*Experiment with different art forms to explore diverse modes of expression.
*Create a supportive environment that encourages risk-taking and exploration.

***NOTE: This workshop is for those working in the California Library System-only. If you have any colleagues, and/or partners who work in a SoCal Library, we would love for you to pass this invite along! Mahalo for your understanding! πŸ“šπŸ“šπŸ“š

Link to register πŸ”— forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=wxE_MWhCak-NO8fmUBg-eB8kDIMrbqhBvl2tzURjlxVUOVNMTkc1OVpUWVkwNENUMElRV0NQNjg1QyQlQCN0PWcu&origin=QRCode πŸ”—

✨✨✨ Donate to TeAda and keep CreAtive Healing Lab alive!!! ✨✨✨ teada.org/donate 🎁🎁🎁✨✨✨ Throwback Thursday to when we cam...
07/30/2026

✨✨✨ Donate to TeAda and keep CreAtive Healing Lab alive!!! ✨✨✨ teada.org/donate 🎁🎁🎁

✨✨✨ Throwback Thursday to when we came together in April for Katherine Bahena-Benitez’s β€œLiberation in Motion: A Performance Art Workshop” at TeAda studio and learned/relearned, and expressed through different mediums of performance art: spoken word, theater, dance, movement. Katherine called in mentors, ancestors, as well as writers Maya Angelou, and Anna Deavere Smith who’ve inspired her activism, consciousness, writing, and art-making. ✨✨✨

✨✨✨ Playwright, actor, artist, and workshop participant Jon Gentry expressed that his β€œexperience was profound” and β€œhelped [him] piece together disparate parts of [his] arts practice in such a short amount of time. The most impactful part of the workshop was β€œthe final arts share” where all workshop participants got to perform their own pieces discussing silence, justice, survival, language preservation, and liberation. Jon hopes he can β€œexpand upon the piece [he] started developing into a longer performance art piece and hopefully perform it publicly one day.”

Mahalo nui to Katherine for facilitating, and to the many artists who participated in the 3rd season of CreAtive Healing Lab which brought together more than 100 community members across SoCal for 9 workshops that explored playback theater, personal storytelling, meditation, creative writing, the teada methodology, vocalization, spoken word, performance art, music making, community care, climate conscious art making, Philippine palm weaving, plant propagation, and lei making. ✨✨✨

🎁🎁🎁 To ensure the future of CreAtive Healing Lab, we need your support! This program is currently powered by community donations, as we seek more sustainable funding. This is our call to YOU, the TeAda `ohana for support. 🎁🎁🎁 teada.org/donate 🎁🎁🎁

🎁🎁🎁 Donate to TeAda Productions and KEEP CREATIVE HEALING LAB ALIVE! 🎁🎁🎁 teada.org/donate 🎁🎁🎁

Address

3415 S. Sepulveda Boulevard Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA
90401

Telephone

+13109988765

Website

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