ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Larry Reed

Larry Reed (Director/Shadow Master) is a nationally and internationally recognized theatre artist, who is a trailblazer in the contemporary shadow theatre field. In 1972, he founded ShadowLight Productions to nurture indigenous shadow theater traditions and to explore and expand the possibilities of the shadow theatre medium. Reed has pioneered contemporary shadow theater by integrating traditional shadow theater techniques, which he studied and performed for two decades, with American theater and film styles. He is one of the few Americans trained in Wayang Kulit, Balinese shadow theatre, and has collaborated with artists from diverse backgrounds and traditions including Tibetan, Chinese, Indonesian, and American. His works with ShadowLight have been seen at festivals and venues such as the Henson International Festival (In Xanadu, Wayang Bali), the Spoleto Festival USA (In Xanadu); and the Walter Spies Festival in Bali (Mayadanawa) among others. He has also collaborated with theatre companies and artists such as American Conservatory Theatre (The Tempest); Santa Fe and LA Operas (Orfeo); Smuin Ballet (Ain't Necessarily So); Gamelan Sekar Jaya (Sidha Karya and Kawit Legong), and Octavio Solís (7 Visions and Ghosts of the River) among others. Reed was voted one of the top 50 artists of the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995 and 1996 by SF Live/Metropolitan. Reed's filmmaking experience includes producing, writing, and directing in the U.S., Mexico, Columbia, Taiwan, and Indonesia. His film, Shadow Master, an intimate portrait of a family of Balinese performers, aired on PBS and Discovery. Fluent in five languages, his translations have appeared in the Asia Theater Journal and University of Hawaii Press. As a shadow artist, designer, and director, he has collaborated with Lee Breuer, Mabou Mines, the Mark Taper Forum, and the Santa Fe and LA Operas. As the Balinese shadow theater representative at the Indonesian National Theater Shadow Festival, he is one of few Westerners ever invited to perform at the festival.

Karen Kandel

Karen Kandel (Ensemble) is an Associate Artist with NY avant-garde troupe Mabou Mines. Her performance awards include: 3 Obies for Mabou Mines' Lear, Peter & Wendy and Talk; also for Peter & Wendy: Edinburgh's Herald Angel Award, Dramalogue, Connecticut Critics Circle, Craig Noel Award and a Helen Hayes nomination. For her own multidisciplinary work, she has received support from the Spencer Cherashore Fund, Jim Henson Foundation, Audrey-Skirball Kenis T.I.M.E. Grant, Peter S. Reed Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, TCG Future Collaborations. Karen and Mabou Mines participated in the Fox Foundation Resident Artist Program funded by the William & Eva Fox Foundation, administered by TCG. Artist residencies: Mabou Mines Suite, Arts at St. Ann's, Alaska AIR (Rasmuson Foundation). Karen is a United States Artist Ziporyn Fellow.

Wu Na

Wu Na (Guqin Player/Ensemble) is an award-winning guqin player who began her training at the China Conservatory in 1991 at the age of twelve. In 1997, when she was eighteen, she was invited to perform with the Taipei Folk Orchestra, the youngest guqin player from China ever to perform in Taiwan. That same year she entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing where she majored in guqin while also studying the cello and double bass. In 2004, she became the first musician in China to receive a Masters degree in guqin performance. Wu Na's dual education in both Chinese and Western music has inspired her to seek a new voice for the guqin in contemporary music, and she has performed and recorded with jazz, rock, and classical musicians. In 2005 she performed with China's foremost rock star, Cui Jian, in his solo concert at the Capital Gymnasium in Beijing, and in 2006 she collaborated with the distinguished composer Liu Sola in the production of a contemporary opera, The Fantasy of The Red Queen, at the House of World Cultures in Berlin. Wu Na has made several salon performance tours in Asian and European cities such as Taipei, Shanghai, New York, Paris and Prague. Most recently, in 2008, Wu Na received a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council to live in New York for five months to research contemporary art and music in America.

Coco Zhao

Coco Zhao (Singer/Ensemble) is one of the most sought after singers in China. His music is a stunning blend of Chinese and western elements. Coco had the honor of performing with the great jazz vocalist Betty Carter and opening for Dee Dee Bridgewater at the International Jazz Festival in Shanghai. He has been invited to perform at jazz festivals in the United States, Germany, France, Holland, Spain, England, Switzerland, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. In 2006, Coco's band "The Possicobilities" was the first Chinese group featured at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival, where it received much acclaim from the world media and jazzists. 2008 and 2009 saw Coco broadening his artistic exploration, as he collaborated with international musicians and toured in Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Malaysia and the USA. In 2010 Coco was selected to receive the prestigious Asian Cultural Council grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. As part of the program, he will spend 5 months in New York and New Orleans to work on various artistic collaborations.

Safa Shokrai

Safa Shokrai (Bassist/Ensemble) is a bassist and composer. He has composed music for several film and theater projects including Xavier Viramontes: Printmaker as well as music for his own ensembles. Safa also has performed with several bands in the Bay Area, such as Rupa & the April Fishes, Gaucho, The Drift, Iron & the Albatross, and others. He is currently studying audio engineering to broaden his understanding of music and gearing up for a summer tour with Rupa & the April Fishes.

Caryl Kientz

Caryl Kientz (Assistant Director/ Ensemble) is an SF based performer, visual artist and musician. Her specialties are conceptual and live video performance, sound installations and shadow puppets. Her focus is on integrating art and performance into daily routines. She is a member of the Apocalypse Puppet Theater and the Cardboard Institute of Technology. She has skippered junk rafts down the Mississippi River and Hudson River, performed numerous puppet and shadow plays with groups up and down the west coast, toured the US playing music and acted in several music videos and feature films. She performs, plays prepared violin and sings in San Francisco based music collective, 0th, (zeroth).

Lydia K. Greer

Lydia K. Greer (Ensemble) is a visual artist, filmmaker and theater practitioner whose practice includes film and video, shadow theatre, puppetry and hand-made animation. She earned an MFA in Art Practice: New Genres/Mixed Media at UC-Berkeley in 2009. She was awarded a fellowship to attend the Skowhegan School of Art in 2008 as an electronic arts fellow. Lydia has taught beginning video, hand-made animation and visual thinking courses at UC-Berkeley and has taught visual art throughout the U.S. She is thrilled to be playing with light and shadow again as an ensemble member with Shadowlight Productions. www.lydiagreer.com

Wan-Chao Chang

Wan-Chao Chang (Ensemble) creates works that are a blend of many virtuoso dance disciplines, giving them a unique character. Born in Taiwan of Indonesian Chinese parents, she received extensive classical training in both Western and Eastern dance and music, and taught locally and internationally. Since arriving in the U.S. in 1995, she has performed with critically acclaimed companies as Ballet Afsaneh, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Gadung Katuri Balinese Dance and Music, Westwind International Folk Ensemble, Harsanari Indonesian Dance Company, and Chinese Folk Dance Association. Chang holds a B.A. in Management from Feng Chia University in Taiwan, and a B.A. in Dance Ethnology as well as a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from San Francisco State University. In 2008 she found Wan-Chao Dance, an ethno-contemporary dance company aims to create new works rooted from traditional arts. Her works have been selected for the Westwave Dance Festival, the Festival of the Silk Road, and the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. www.wanchaodance.com

Gregory T. Kuhn

Gregory T. Kuhn (Sound Design) is a multidisciplinary creator and collaborator in the performing and fine arts since 1986 as composer, sound engineer and designer, visual artist and designer, dramaturge, and collaborator. After receiving a BA in Music from Swarthmore College, he worked with Relâche, New Music America 1987, and at the Yellow Springs Institute in the Philadelphia area. Since 1988 in the San Francisco Bay Area, he has collaborated on a great diversity of projects for theater, multimedia, dance, and experimental and contemporary music performances. Recent recognition includes the 2007 Isadora Duncan Award for S.F. Ballet's Ballet Mori (with Ken Goldberg and Randall Packer), and the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award for Unique Theatrical Experience for Rinde Eckert's Horizon (directed by David Schweizer). Ongoing activities include new works by Paul Dresher, Rinde Eckert, Joan Jeanrenaud, Margaret Jenkins, Stephen Kent, Randall Packer/Zakros InterArts, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Other Minds Festival.

Mark Palmer

Mark Palmer (Video Projection Design) is a photographer, videographer, artist and editor based in Berkeley. He has created commercial DVDs and projection sequences for numerous artists and organizations in the Bay Area including the Paul Dresher Ensemble (Schick Machine and The Tyrant), Other Minds Festival, Naomi Kremer and the Berkeley Opera (Bluebeartd's Castle).

ZeJie Zheng

ZeJie Zheng (Calligrapher) was born 1971 in Canton China. He has devoted his effort and time to Chinese Calligraphy since he was 9 years old and continues until the present. He has been highly recognized by well-known artist and teacher Au Ho Nien for his artwork in seal engraving, Chinese Calligraphy and watercolor painting. He graduated from China Handwriting/Painting Correspondence University and received further education in ZheJiang China Art College Graduate Class. His works have been widely performed in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao and USA. Selected works were displayed at the following places for special events: Zhuhai, China Ten Year Anniversary Celebration of the Economy Special Establishment, and China History Museum. He won second place for the Chinese Calligraphy Competition in Beijing and for the1997 Hong Kong Return to China Handwriting/Painting Exhibition. His first appearance in the USA was a special invitation from the Chinese Cultural Center in New York in 2001. His art collections have been displayed in the City Hall of San Francisco and in an exhibition in Los Angeles. He received an honorary award from the Mayor of Monterey Park, CA in 2006 and Certificate of Honor from the Board of Supervisors in the City and County of San Francisco, CA in 2009.

ARTIST INFORMATION