Staff
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Kuang-Yu Fong
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Executive Director, Co-Artistic Director, Opera Performer, Puppeteer, Teaching Artist
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Kuang-Yu Fong majored in Chinese Opera at the Chinese Cultural University in Taiwan, specializing in the "Hau-san" female singing and dancing roles. She studied under famous masters from the Fu Lien Cheng Peking Opera School in Beijing including Sun Yuen Bing and Sun Yuen Pua, and with other masters such as Wong Jing Zhi (a disciple of Mei Lan Fang) and Kun Opera master Xu Yen Zhi. After receiving her B.A. from Chinese Cultural University, she taught Chinese Opera movement in the Chinese Theater Department there for four years. She completed her formal training with an M.A. in Educational Theater from N.Y.U.
Ms Fong has conceived and directed many original, innovative productions, including Zhang Boils the Ocean, Kasper as a Banana, Toy Theater Peony Pavilion (which won a 2001 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence in Puppetry), Kun/Shadow Whitesnake, Border of Womanhood, and Tiger Tales. She has toured and taught all over the United States and in Asia and Europe. She has taught at Pace University since 1990. Ms Fong founded Chinese Theatre Workshop in 1990, became co-Artistic Director of the Gold Mountain Institute´s Yueh Lung Shadow Theater in 1999, and since the merger of the two companies in 2001 has been Executive Director and co-Artistic Director of Chinese Theatre Works. Since 2003, she has served on the Board of UNIMA-USA, the international puppetry organization´s U.S. branch. Ms Fong´s first book (with Stephen Kaplin), Tabletop Theater: Puppetry for Small Places, was published in 2003.
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Stephen Kaplin
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Co-Artistic Director, Arts in Education Director, Technical Director, Puppeteer, Teaching Artist
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Mr. Kaplin designs, builds, performs and directs for puppet theater. He studied puppetry at UCONN under Dr. Frank Ballard. Recent professional credits include: designing and building giant puppets for TIMES SQUARE 2000; building shadow figures and puppet sequences for Julie Taymor's Lion King, Juan Darien and The Green Bird; designing shadow sequences for Lee Breuer's Peter and Wendy; co-design and construction of puppets for the Public Theater's The Tempest and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Since 1995 he has designed sets and puppets and performed in all CTW productions. Mr. Kaplin is a co-founding member of Great Small Works. He has been co-Artistic Director of Chinese Theatre Works since its formation in 2001. Mr. Kaplin´s first book (with Kuang-Yu Fong), Tabletop Theater: Puppetry for Small Places, was published in 2003.
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Shuyun Cheng
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Arts in Education Coordinator, Rehearsal Coordinator, Puppeteer, Teaching Artist
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Ms Cheng worked for ten years at Shiny Shoes Children´s Theater in Taiwan as a TV program producer, theater producer, scriptwriter, children´s theater teacher, puppet designer and puppeteer. Her TV production "Hi, Anybody at Home?" was nominated for an Emmy award. Another program, "A-Go-Go Theater", was selected as Taiwan´s Best Children´s TV Program of 2000. Since moving to the U.S. and graduating from NYU´s Educational Theatre Program, she has worked as a teaching artist for the New Victory Theatre and elsewhere.
Ms Cheng has worked with CTW since 2001, appearing in almost all of the company´s puppetry productions, designing and co-writing the Zodiac! shows and coordinating the Arts in Education program. She has performed with CTW in New York City at the Provincetown Playhouse and many other venues, and toured across the U.S. and to Korea, China and Taiwan.
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Daniel Lang/Levitsky
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Administrator, Web Designer, Stage Manager, Puppeter
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A puppeteer based in New York City. Studied creolization and hybrid cultures at Yale, as well as co-founding a movement theater agit-prop troupe; received a puppetry education working with artists from the Bread & Puppet Theater, Great Small Works, Art & Revolution, Shoddy Puppet Company, CTW, &c. Recent puppetry work has appeared in Chapel Hill NC, Philadelphia PA, Glover VT, and in NYC at PS 122, HERE, CBGB´s 313 Gallery, Workmen´s Circle, and ABC No Rio, as well as in dozens of parades, picket lines and demonstrations. Also to be seen as part of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra´s flag & dance squad, and as a core member of the spectacle performance troupe known as the Aftselokhes Ladies´ Auxiliary Home for the Aged. CTW´s Administrator and occasional puppeteer since 2002, most notably in The Birth of Monkey King and Three Women, Many Plays.
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Ya Yun Teng
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Education Assistant, Educator, Administrator, Puppeteer
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Ya Yun Teng majored in radio and television at the National Cheng-Chi University. She received an MA in the Educational Communication and Technology Program at NYU. She started to work with CTW on designing "Little Red Riding Hood: Chinese Opera Learning Project." She had toured with CTW and performed at schools, universities, museums and various venues. She had worked as a educator and also performed in Tiger Tales, Songs from the Yellow Earth, Zodiac, Birth of Monkey King, Ti-Oh-Oh, and Two Horses. She had worked as an educator in The American Museum of the Moving Image, The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and The Museum of Chinese in the America.
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Dan - Women's Roles
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Huixin Bai
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Wu-dan (female martial artist) roles
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Ms Bai is a highly talented interpreter of wu-dan roles in Peking, Kun, and Hubei Opera. She was a lead performer with the Hubei Regional Opera Company, winning regional and national awards and touring extensively in China and internationally. She is well-known for her signature title role in Whitesnake. Ms Bai joined CTW in 2001 and has been a long-term participatant in our original productions melding Western dance and theatre with Chinese Opera, including Border of Womanhood, Day Jobs, Opera Dreams, and Songs from the Yellow Earth. |
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Yuhui Bai
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Hua-dan (coquette) and Wu-dan (female martial artist) roles
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Ms. Bai was born into a family of Peking Opera performers; her first teacher was her father. She continued her professional training at the Hubei Provincial Art School, and upon graduating, was a lead performer in the Shanxi Provincial Peking Opera Troupe. Ms. Bai studied as a disciple with the famous Mr. Dezhu Song (one of the four most famous male performers of female Peking opera roles), and with Prof Ronchin An, of the Peking Opera Academy of Beijing. Her repertoire includes classic pieces, such as "Stealing the Heavenly Grass", "The Village of the Hu Family", and "Zhaouchun Leaving the Gate". Ms. Bai won the Fong Yi Cup for Best Actress at the Shanxi Provincial Opera Competition. She was also named Best Young Actress in the Hubei Provincial Television competition.
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Kuang-Yu Fong (see above)
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Yong Hong Jia
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Hua-dan (coquette) roles
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Ms Jia was trained at the Northern Kun Opera Company in Beijing. She played the role of Chuen Xiang (Spring Fragrance) in the original Lincoln Center production of The Peony Pavilion, and toured internationally with the show. Ms Jia originated the role of Little Red in CTW´s Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera after joining the company in 2001; she has continued to appear as Chuen Xiang in CTW programs as well.
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Fanying Meng
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Hua-dan (coquette) roles
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Ms Meng was a lead performer at the Harbing Peking Opera Company. She came to the U.S. at the invitation of CTW in 1999. She has performed, lectured and led workshops widely with the company, in Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera as Little Red´s Mother and Grandmother, Kun/Shadow Whitesnake, and Toy Theatre Peony Pavilion. Ms Meng has also performed in the U.S. with the Society of Kunqu Arts in Washington DC and the Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Troupe.
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Fulan Yan
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Hua-dan (coquette) roles
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Ms Yan is a former performer with the Harbing Peking Opera Troupe. Her signature role is Princess Iron Mirror in "Sitting in the Palace". She has been a member of CTW´s company since 2003.
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Bing Yang
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Wu-dan (female martial artist) roles
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Ms Yang, formerly a member of the Beijing Peking Opera Company, came to the U.S. at the invitation of CTW in 2000. With CTW, she has performed widely in the title role of Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera. Ms Yang also appeared as Spring Fragrance in the national tour of Lincoln Center´s production of The Peony Pavilion. |
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Lili Yang
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Hua-dan (coquette) roles
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Ms Yang studied at the Tien Jing Chinese Opera Academy, under masters including Mr. Chanrong Song. She is the third generation of the Huishen school of "Hua-dan" artists (named for its founding master, Mr. Huishen Suen), which represents the last flowering of the long tradition of male Hua-dan performers. After graduating, she became a leading star in the prestigious Tien Jing Peking Opera Company.Before emigrating to the U.S. in 1998, she toured in Hong Kong and Australia. She has recently appeared at Lincoln Center as Zhu Yingtai in Liang Shanbao & Zhu Yingtai. Ms Yang has performed with CTW since 2001.
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Yin Zhang
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Lao-dan (old female) roles
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Ms Zhang graduated from Yientai Peking Opera School. She became a member of the Yientai City Peking Opera Company, specializing in Lao-dan (old woman-roles). Her teacher was Xiaohua Xie, who is well-known master of the "Duoqie Li" style. Ms. Zhang is well known for playing lead roles in"Fishing Up a Golden Turtle" and "Encounter With the Queen Mother". She toured in the former-Soviet Union, Lithuania and Latvia before coming to the US in 1999. In CTW, she has played Grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera. |
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Shen - Men's Roles
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Yibing Fan
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Wu-shen (male martial artist) and Lao-shen (old male) roles, Choreographer
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Mr. Fan graduated from the Academy of Chinese Opera, and was awarded in first class status in performing arts by the National Cultural Administration of China and the Broadcast & Television Administration. Since coming to the U.S. in 1999 and joining CTW, he has performed widely in martial arts roles - Monkey King in particular - and presented lectures on Peking opera across the Northeast. He has appeared as the Wolf in CTW´s original production Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera, and as Monkey King in Day Jobs, Opera Dreams. Most recently, he has taken on a choreographic role in Three Women, Many Plays and Songs from the Yellow Earth. |
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Jiling Li
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Wu-shen (male martial artist) roles and Jin (painted-face) roles
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Mr. Li studied at the Shandong Province Peking Opera Academy, after which he became a lead member of the Shandong Peking Opera Company. He toured in Spain and Portugal before coming to the U.S. in 1999 at the invitation of CTW. Since joining the company, he has portrayed the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera, Monkey King as a short-order cook in Day Jobs, Opera Dreams, and has presented lectures on Peking opera at various universities.
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Bing Luo
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Xiao-shen (young male) roles
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Mr. Luo studied with several of the most important masters in China, including Shaolan Ye, the greatest twentieth-century interpreter of xiao-shen lead roles. After graduating from the Chinese Opera Academy, he went on to perform as the lead xiao-shen artist of the Fushun Peking Opera Troupe, touring China and Japan. Mr Luo has won numerous awards at the local, regional and national levels. He joined CTW in 2003, shortly after his arrival in the U.S., appearing in Day Jobs, Opera Dreams.
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Zijun Mo
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Wu-shen (male martial artist) roles
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Mr. Mo is a graduate of the Hubei Provincial Art School, where he studied Yang style martial arts under Mr. Shaochun Yang (from the founding family of the style). After graduating, Mr. Mo worked as a lead performer with the Hubei Provincial Peking Opera Troupe. Mr. Mo has toured throughout China, and performed on television alongside film star Jet Li. He won awards for Excellence in Performance Award at the Sixth Annual Hubei Provincial Festival and the Fong Yi Cup for Best Actor at the Shanxi Provincial Opera Competition. Since coming to America in 2005 he has performed and led workshops with the Bao An Art Center at Yale University in New Haven and with CTW. He has also starred in the New York Ballet Peking Opera Troupe. This year, he appears as the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera.
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Yuhang Wen
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Xiao-shen (young male) roles, Choreographer, Kunqu Instructor
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Mr. Wen is one of the foremost Kun opera practitioners in America today. He grew up in Beijing and began his training when he was eleven years old. He studied with masters Mr. Yusen Ma and Ms Meiti Yuan. After graduating from the apprenticeship program, Mr. Wen was chosen as the lead xiao-shen player in the Northern Kunqu Opera Troupe, a position he kept until 1998. In 1999, he was chosen to perform the lead role of Liu Meng Mei in the Lincoln Center production of The Peony Pavilion In 2000, Mr. Wen was a consultant and performer in CTW´s production of Toy Theatre Peony Pavilion, which won a Citation of Excellence from UNIMA-USA, the highest award in U.S. puppetry. Since then, he has appeared in CTW´s Kun/Shadow Whitesnake as the romantic lead, Xu Xien.
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Guangjiang Wu
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Lao-shen (old male) roles
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Mr. Wu performed with the Tian Jing Peking Opera Company, one of the most prestigious opera troupes in China. A prize-winning performer from the Yang (Baosheng) school of singing, he studied at the Tian Jing Chinese Opera Academy under Mr. Cong Hongkui, Su Chenlong, Zhao Wuanpeng and Liu Zhiguang, all of whom are masters of the repertoire of lao-shen roles. Mr. Wu came to the US in 1999, joining CTW in 2001. He has been a particularly popular artist in our series of performances in libraries serving the Chinese communities of New York.
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Dong Xie
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Wu-shen (male martial artist) roles
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Mr. Xie studied at the Shandong Province Peking Opera Academy, after which he became a member of the Shandong Peking Opera Company. He received regional and national awards in China. Mr. Xie came to the U.S. in 1998 at the invitation of CTW. He has played the Hunter in Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera and the Crane Fairy in Kun/Shadow Whitesnake, as well as performing as a puppeteer in Whitesnake and Tiger Tales. Mr. Xie has also appeared in Lincoln Center´s production of The Peony Pavilion, which toured to France, Italy, Australia and Denmark. |
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Yajun Xing
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Lao-shen (old male) roles
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Mr. Xing was a lead performer with the Harbin Peking Opera Troupe in China. His interpretation of "Sitting in the Palace" is particularly well-regarded. He now performs with New York City´s Qi Shu Fan Peking Opera Troupe, as well as with CTW, which he joined in 2003, appearing in Day Jobs, Opera Dreams.
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Yucheng Xu
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Lao-shen (old male) & Wu-shen (male martial artist) roles
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Mr. Xu is one of the extremely few Peking Opera artists who performs in two different specialties. This flexibility and the high level of skill required of such a versatile artist have brought him renown as a young performer. Mr. Xu joined CTW in 2003, and has been a mainstay of the company´s traditional programs.
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Guichen Zhao
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Wu-shen (male martial artist) roles
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Jin - Painted-Face Roles
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Jiling Li (see above)
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Yucheng Ren
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Jin (painted-face) roles
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Mr. Ren is a lead performer in "painted face" roles from the Harbing Peking Opera Company. Since arriving in the U.S. in 1999, he has performed and lectured with CTW across greater New York and beyond - notably as the Hunter in Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera and as Pigsy in Day Jobs, Opera Dreams. In 2000 Mr. Ren was awarded a master-performer grant by the New York Folklore Society to enable him to take on apprentices in Chinese Opera martial arts. He has also recently appeared in Silver River at the Lincoln Center Festival.
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Chou - Clown Roles
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Jing Shan
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Chou (clown) roles
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Mr. Shan was a teacher of clown roles at the Chinese Opera Academy in Beijing. After emigrating to the U.S., he was one of the featured performers in the Lincoln Center production of The Peony Pavilion. Since joining CTW in 2003, he has appeared as Pigsy in workshop performances inspired by Journey to the West. Mr. Shan has recently worked on a first film project, Dark Matter - keep an eye out for it!
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Puppeteers
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Nancy Yeh Ankner
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Puppeteer, Board Member
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Ms Yeh Ankner joined CTW´s performing company in 2003, after serving on CTW´s Board of Directors since 2002. Since making her on-stage debut in Tiger Tales, she has toured with the company to the National Puppetry Festival in Oklahoma and performed in and around New York City. |
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Shuyun Cheng (see above)
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Morgan Eckert
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Puppeteer
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Ms Eckert is currently earning her MA in Educational Theatre at New York University. Prior to this, she worked as a puppeteer, actress and educator for McCarter Theatre Center, Mum Puppettheatre, Pig Iron Theatre Company as well as others. She debuted with CTW in Monkey King in America: Day Jobs, Opera Dreams and has performed since then in Tiger Tales, Book of Songs, Ti-Oh-Oh and Songs from the Yellow Earth.
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Kuang-Yu Fong (see above)
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Chiyuan Ho
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Puppeteer
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Ms Ho was been a professional puppeteer since 1987, after going through an intensive Japanese training program. She was the artistic director of the E-Yuan Puppet Theater in Taiwan, directing and designing all of the company´s productions. Ms Ho has performed on tour in Florida, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia before coming to New York City in 1995. She has performed in every CTW (and Chinese Theatre Workshop) puppetry production since 1998. |
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Stephen Kaplin (see above)
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Daniel Lang/Levitsky (see above)
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Ya Yun Teng (see above)
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Musicians
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Baogang Liu
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Co-Musical Director, Lead Musician (Percussion)
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Mr. Liu studied Peking Opera since he was fourteen years old in the Lianing Peking Opera School, majoring in percussion. His master was Mr. Liu Hong Cheng. In 1994, he was accepted in the Chinese Opera Academy in Beijing for percussion. There he studied with the masters, Yen Chong Shiu, LiuTzong Shen and Jing Huei Wu. Upon graduation, he became a teacher in the same school. He has performed in the Paris Theater Festival, and in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. Mr. Liu has been musical director for numerous original CTW productions including Kasper as a Banana, Toy Theatre Peony Pavilion, Kun/Shadow Whitesnake, and Little Red Riding Hood, the Chinese Opera. |
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Chac Ling Cheung
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Flute player
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Lijian Huang
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Pipa (lute) player
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Ms Huang started her studies with the famous pipa player Fu Jiaron when she was eight years old. In 1988, she began to attend the Music Department at China´s Central Ethnic College, studying under Pan Wenying for six years. In 1995, she became the first-chair pipa in the Guangdong Women´s Ethnic Orchestra. In 1996, she studied at Guangxi Art College, graduating in 1999. In 2001, she performed in France. Also in 2001, she participated in an Autumn Moon Jade Concert featuring an entire orchestra of instruments carved from jade. She came to the U.S. in 2003. She toured throughout the U.S. in 2004, performing in 22 states.
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Junling Wang
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Guzheng (zither) player
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Ms. Wang began playing the guzheng at the age of ten under her father´s instruction, and completed her training at Henan University and the Cao School of Guzheng Art. Ms Wang performs with the Henan Provincial Opera, as well as teaching guzheng. She has appeared with her students on Beijing´s Central Television Station, in a frequently re-broadcast musical program. Ms Wang has received numerous awards, and serves as a judge with the Chinese National Evaluation Team for Pipe and String Music. |
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Liang Wu
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Co-Musical Director, Lead Musician (Flute)
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Mr. Wu began studying Chinese Opera music when he was five years old, receiving formal training at the Shandong Province Peking Opera Academy. He majored in jinghu (the main melody instrument for Peking Opera) and flute (the main melody instrument for Kun Opera), and also studied percussion and sona. In 1992 he began working with Shandong Province Peking Opera Troupe as lead musician. Mr. Wu came to the U.S. in 1999. He was one of the music directors and the lead flute player for CTW's Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera and Kun/Shadow Whitesnake. |
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Zhishen Zhang
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Shen (mouth organ) player
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Mr. Zhang, a former first-chair shen player in the Chinese National Radio´s Ethnic Symphony, is the tenth generation in his family to play the shen. He is one of China´s top ranked musicians, and for many years served as a judge with the Chinese National Evaluation Team for Shen. His composition "Spring Tides" won the International Chinese Ethnic Instrumental Solo Competition in 1995. Mr. Zhang has performed extensively around the world, and was prominently featured in a recent New York Times article on professional musicians in the New York City subways system. |
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Zongchun Zhao
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Erhu (two-string fiddle) player
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Mr. Zhao Zongchun is a first rank erhu fiddle player in the China Radio Nationalities Orchestra. His performance festures a profound style, a beautiful musical sound with a deep resonance. He has won many awards during the national erhu fiddle contests. He has toured and performed in Japan, Austria, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong nad Macao. His performance has been highly appreciated by the audiences in China and abroad.
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Martial Artists
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Tie Ying
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Martial Artists
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Tie Ying began studying martial arts at the age of six, under the direction of his grandfather Chang Yulin, a disciple of Masters Zhang Zhankui, Xin Jianhou, and Liu Baichuan. He continued his studies under Master Cui Guogui (Shang School and Shaolin boxing) and Master Sun Zhijun (Cheng School 8-Diagram Palm), with whom he worked daily for eighteen years. He has taught traditional Chinese martial arts in China and the U.S. for many years. Mr. Tie has been honored extensively for his abilities. As well as being named one of the Top 10 Martial Artists in China in 1997, he is accredited as a Special First-Rank Coach of both 8-Diagram Palm and Chinese Boxing, and has acted as a national-level judge of martial artists in the Chinese accreditation system. Mr. Tie won gold medals in competitions from 1984 to 2007, and has published extensively on many aspects of Chinese traditional martial arts. One of his works has been adopted by the Chinese National Police as a textbook. |
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