About The Creative Team

CHIKA SHIMIZU (Scenic Designer) is a New York based scenic and projection designer. REGIONAL: Pacific Overtures (Signature Theatre, DC), The Great Wave (Berkeley Rep), Sanctuary City (Pasadena Playhouse), RENT (Paper Mill Playhouse), Moriarty (Cleveland Playhouse), Somewhere (Geva Theatre), The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage), Vietgone, Tiger Style! (TheatreSquared), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Yale Rep, CT Critics Circle Award Nom). OFF-BROADWAY: Bite Me (WP Theatre), Belfast Girls (Irish Rep), The Naturalists (The Pond Theatre Company, Soho Rep), The Winning Side (Epic Theatre Ensemble, Theatre Row), Awake (The Barrow Group), Romulus The Great (Yangtze Repertory Theatre). INSTALLATION: Another Dream, Un(re)solved AR installation (Ado Ato Pictures, 2022 SXSW Innovation Award, Emmy Award, Currently On Tour). MFA in Design from Yale School of Drama. chikashimizu.com

KAREN BOYER (Costume Designer) designs and builds costumes in NYC. Past and recent collaborators include choreographers Catherine Galasso, Faye Driscoll, Sidra Bell, Cherylyn Lavagnino, nicHi douglas, Katy Pyle, and Sunny Hitt; Opera Columbus, Fresh Squeezed Opera, and theater makers the New Wild, Object Collection, harunalee, Little Lord, Pan Asian Repertory, and Target Margin Theater. BFA: Maryland Institute College of Art, MFA: NYU Tisch. karenrachelboyer.com

DAISY LONG (Lighting Designer)

KAI-LUEN LIANG (Co-Sound Designer) is a composer, programmer, and sound artist based in Los Angeles. His work/research is interested in exploring various dimensions of sound and digital media as it relates to virtual spaces, artificial intelligence, identity and migration, and contemporary data practices. He currently is faculty at California Institute of the Arts teaching at the Center For Integrated Media.

DA XU (Co-Sound Designer) is a multi-faceted artist and creative technologist. Sound Design credits: All the Stars We Cannot See (Smith & Gao, University of British Columbia), PERIOD. & "Pleased" (co-creator with Mandarin Wu, Pan Asian NuWorks 2023 & 2022), Memorial (Pan Asian), Brothers Paranormal (East West Players), Within X Minutes (Mandarin Wu, NYU Tisch). Live Visuals credits: Eye Eye Eye (Lydia Jialu Li, Mabou Mines), Xie Zi Long Photography Museum Opening (Changsha, China), Lululemon (Beijing, China), Alienware (ChinaJoy Expo, Shanghai, China). Da toured and collaborated extensively with the seminal Chinese Rock Band 舌头乐队 (SheTou), as photographer and live visual performer.

CINTHIA CHEN (Projection Designer) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn and Taiwan. She has created and developed original work through Theater Mitu, Mabou Mines, Fault Line Theater, Corkscrew Theater Festival, and Asian American Arts Alliance. She is an adjunct artist at Theater Mitu and helps run their Hybrid Arts Lab fellowship. Cinthia also works as a video and projections designer and was recognized at La MaMa’s Design Fest 2020 and USITT Prague Quadrennial 2023. Recent design projects include: Where Are You? (Mabou Mines), Specially Processed American Me (Dixon Place), and american (tele)visions (NYTW, asst. designer). www.cinthiachen.com

JESSICA M. SMITH (Head Props) Happy to be back with Yangtze for her second production, her first being, June is the First Fall (2019). A graduate from the University of Idaho Theater program, Jessica spent a decade performing at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando parks before moving to NYC to pursue props/art direction. Credits include: Stage Days of Wine and Roses, The Far Country, and The Bedwetter (Atlantic Theater), TV/Film: Dr. Death, The Independent (Peacock), Madoff: Monster of Wall Street (Netflix), The Godfather of Harlem (MGM+), Dear... (Apple+). Thank you for coming, enjoy the show!

ANNIE JIN WANG 王安妮 (Dramaturg) (she/hers) is a first-generation Chinese American dramaturg based in Brooklyn. She is currently supporting new projects in development at Beth Morrison Projects, the Perelman PAC, and CHUANG Stage. Recent credits include the O’Neill National Musical Theatre Conference, The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group, Theater Mu, the Playwrights Center, The Civilians, Fault Line Theatre, and the Croatian National Theatre. Her writing has been developed at Soho Rep, Target Margin Theater, and Fresh Ground Pepper. Annie is the Associate Director for Programming at PlayCo and the Artistic Associate at Theater Mu. MFA: Columbia University; BA: Wellesley College. As always, for mama and baba.

SHEN HUIHUI 申慧辉 (Story Consultant) Born and raised in China, Shen became one of the first new academics to receive graduate studies in Peking University (1978-1981), and her dissertation on Arthur Miller was the first of its kind written in Chinese. While teaching as a young professor, she was recommended by Ying Ruocheng to work as rehearsal interpreter for Arthur Miller during his groundbreaking directorial work of DEATH OF SALESMAN at Beijing People’s Art Theatre in 1983. Shen is also a writer, literary critic, editor, translator, and writing tutor, with a number of academic awards under her name. She now resides in Vancouver, Canada.

KEVIN JINGHONG ZHU (Production Stage Manager) (he/him) is a New York-based stage manager. He is excited to collaborate with Yangtze Rep. His past credits include Broadway: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Selected Off-Broadway: A Delicate Balance (Transport Group & NAATCO); It’s a Wonderful Life (Transport Group); Public Obscenities (Soho Rep & NAATCO); Romeo and Juliet (NAATCO). Selected Regional: Between Two Knees (Seattle Rep & McCarter); Dial M for Murder, Kim’s Convenience, As Bees in Honey Drown, and Tribes (Westport Country Playhouse); Today is My Birthday, A Raisin in the Sun, and El Huracán (Yale Rep); Dream Hou$e (Long Wharf); To The Moon and Back (Chester Theatre Company). MFA: Yale School of Drama. Proud member of AEA. bit.ly/kjzsm

CYNTHIA YIRU HU 胡宜汝 (Assistant Stage Manager) is a multilingual actor originally from China, with a background in dance, martial arts, and movement theatre. Favorite credits include The Discarded (Rattlestick Theater); Wǔ Wèi (Yangtze Repertory); His Is A Cage (Lenfest Center); American Standard (Ren Gyo Soh); An Infinite Ache (Little Red Light Theatre); Fifth Planet and The Man Who Turned Into a Stick (ASDS Rep); The Giving Tree (Unfix NYC); Film: Ten Months; If I Make it to the Morning. Cynthia relishes every opportunity she gets to work with AAPI and immigrant artists. MFA Acting: The Actors Studio Drama School. cynthiayiru.com

TIANDING HE (Associate Director) is an experimental theatre director, multidisciplinary artist and arts leader originally from China. She serves as the founding artistic director of the B·O·N·D International Virtual Performance Festival. Her selected directing credits include How I Disappeared (HERE & New Ohio Theater & Dumbo Six Foot Platform Festival), The Discarded (Rattlestick Theater), Two Takes: Peony Pavilion (Frederick Loewe Theatre), A Deal (CHUANG Stage & Pao Arts Center), Ted x Zoo (B·O·N·D International Festival), South Node of the Moon (Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance), Immersive Theatre: The White Night (Margo Feiden Gallery). She’s a proud Associate Member of SDC. MA: NYU, Performance Studies; Hunter College, Theater. PhD: UC Irvine & UC San Diego.

JONATHAN COTTLE (Production Manager) (he/him) is an New York City based artist that creates and facilitates live performance. Recent Production Management credits include Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks Festival, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, Little Shop of Horrors (associate).

YINING CAO (Vivian) (Producing Associate) is a NYC-based, Chinese-born creative producer and performing arts manager. She has worked across commercial theater, performing arts institutions, and international stages over the past 5+ years, bringing diverse and innovative stories to life. Her previous experiences include working at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Thompson Turner Productions, Broadway & Beyond Theatricals, Universal Creative, SMG Live, and more. Her producing credits include upcoming Salesman之死 at Connelly Theater; How I Disappeared at New Ohio Theatre; Two Takes: The Peony Pavilion supported by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council & Kunqu Society; and more. She is a current Theatre Management & Producing MFA Candidate at Columbia University.

YANGTZE REPERTORY THEATRE (Lead Producer) For over 30 years, Yangtze Repertory Theatre (Chongren Fan 范崇人, Artistic Director; Sally Shen 申羽, Executive Director) has been producing and presenting theatrical works in the Greater New York area. Yangtze Rep celebrates artists who are global citizens and provides a platform to showcase their talents. Their past and present productions have served as an entry point for their audience, regardless of their cultural upbringing, to see the world through a contemporary Chinese lens. Since 2017, they have been focusing on supporting artists from the AAPI immigrant community and www.yzrep.org

GUNG HO PROJECTS (Associate Producer) Founded in 2015, Gung Ho Projects is a New York-based performance, film, and education platform aimed at creating opportunities for self-expression, empowerment, exchange, and understanding across linguistic and cultural divides. Their Mission, like their work, transcends the boundaries of a single language or cultural perspective: Gung Ho工合Projects שפּרינג leaps 跨文化 into the 間 between cultures and languages, creating theater, film, and spaces for learning that 変えるgozar‏تنوير 변화 遨遊 שפּיל to propel us forward, together. www.gunghoprojects.com

CONNELLY THEATER (Venue) The Connelly Theater is a historic playhouse in the heart of NYC's East Village that now serves as a home for adventurous independent theater productions. Past productions include Talene Monahan’s The Good John Proctor and Zuzanna Szadkowski and Deborah Knox’s Fall River Fishing (Bedlam), Kate, created by Kate Berlant and Bo Burnham, Sasha Velour’s Nightgowns: The Musical, The Crucible (Bedlam), Will Arbery’s Plano (Clubbed Thumb; Drama Desk-nominated), Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries 2018 (New York Theatre Workshop), The Bengson’s The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova; Lortel and Drama Desk-nominated), Sinking Ship's A Hunger Artist (as part of The Tank's Flint & Tinder series; Drama Desk-nominated), Mac Wellman's The Offending Gesture (as part of The Tank's Flint & Tinder series), Daniel Kitson's A Show for Christmas, The Lisps’ Futurity (Soho Rep. & Ars Nova; Lortel Award), Lyspinka! The Trilogy (TWEED), Mission Drift (The TEAM), Lucy Thurber's Monstrosity (13p), Anne Washburn's Apparition, and many others. The theater also serves as a location for film and television productions, including shows on HBO, Netflix, Amazon, FX, ABC, MTV, PBS, and many more. The building, originally an orphanage, dates back to the mid-1860s, and now consists of two performance spaces: the iconic Mainstage was once a choir hall, with the distinctive proscenium arch and raised stage added later. The Upstairs studio theater housed the Obie Award-winning Metropolitan Playhouse for 30 years.