TeAda Productions

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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 people 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.

09/15/2026

Mahalo nui to NEFA, aka the New England Foundation for the Arts!!! ✨✨✨

✨✨✨ TeAda is proud to announce, we are a 2026 National Theater Project (NTP) Grantee! With support from NEFA, we look forward to bringing the SoCal community together for Theater for Asylum Seekers this Fall, and CreAtive Healing Lab in the Spring. OH, and Nothing Micro About Micronesia will be coming back THIS MARCH!!! ✨✨✨

🌺 Think you know where the next tour will be? Leave a comment below!!! 🌺

✨✨✨ Shoutout to our dear friends and collaborators who are also receiving an NTP Grant this upcoming year: Breaking Wave Theatre Company, Kiki Rivera, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Meena Malik, Dahlak Brathwaite, Arab American National Museum, Pangea World Theater and many more! ✨✨✨

📸 1st photo courtesy of Steph Balagot

🔗🌴 Read more in our linktree in bio

🎁 Support TeAda with a donation today at teada.org/donate 🎁

✨✨✨ Mahalo NEFA! ✨✨✨

09/08/2026

😎😎😎 MORE highlights from our recent partnership with new and familiar faces at the Long Beach Public Library!! 🤝🤝🤝

Here are some hearty reflections TeAda received from an anonymous survey sent to participants - who are also educators, librarians, programmers, and community leaders within the Southern California library system - regarding the recent TeAda Methodology, and Professional Development Workshop we facilitated!

❤️❤️❤️ Participants felt the “best parts” of the workshop were “partner activities with new people” which brought forward “experiential learning.” Through activities like On/Off, and Sculpture Garden, one participant mentioned they enjoyed the process of “interpretive movement for a single word,” and “learned ways to challenge [themselves] to meet the moment and design thoughtful and creative experiences for the populations [they] work with.” Some remarked that the experience was “very enjoyable, uplifting, and inspiring” and that the opportunity was “so culturally generous.” 🤝🤝🤝

Another HUGE mahalo nui to all who tapped in with TeAda! 😊😊😊

We hope to continue developing these programs with library educators and beyond, to bring more TeAda to more of the communities we love!

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

💌💌💌 Interested in bringing TeAda Productions to your community? Email [email protected] !!! 💌💌💌

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 !!! 🎁🎁🎁

💌💌💌 Interested in bringing TeAda Productions to your community? Email [email protected] !!! 💌💌💌

09/01/2026

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

Witness the storytellers that made the spring ‘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 ❤️

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 :)

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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 “Restore: A Mindful Sound + Community Experience” w/ LA Adkins + “Ritual 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:

“[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 ‘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) - "𝐏𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐩𝐞𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐢𝐧" by Teidy Boy, Nabzy & Bwenaman 🎵

🌺🌺🌺 teada.org/donate 🌺🌺🌺

08/06/2026

🎁🎁🎁 YOU can support the development of "Lao as a Second Language" by donating to Ova’s Birthday “Fun-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 🎁

Address

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

Telephone

+13109988765

Website

http://www.teada.org/

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