CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
BESSIE CHENG
Performer & Co-Creator
Bessie Cheng is a performer, playwright, and deviser in her 5th and final year at York University. She recently wrote, created, and performed in Paperweight, a piece that was inspired by her own experiences with a riot that broke out in her hometown of Urumqi, China that premiered at the Hamilton Fringe Festival last summer. Her recent and forthcoming works include: Ultrasound (Preshow performance, Cahoots Theatre Company), Aperture (Deviser/Performer, Summerworks), Paperweight (Playwright/Performer, Hamilton Fringe 2015), Potluck XII (Playwright, fu-GEN), and A Language for Dogs (Deviser/Performer, Hamilton Fringe 2014). Silk Bath has been brewing in her head for three years now, so she can’t wait to see the show come to life.
AARON JAN
Director & Co-Creator
Aaron Jan is a Hamilton-born playwright director, producer and recent graduate of York University's Theatre Studies Program. Previous and forthcoming directing credits include Swan (Little Black Afro/Filament Incubator), Rowing (Toronto Fringe), Love Broke (Black Men in Theatre), The 10/10/10 Project (Bismuth Theatre), Here (Theatre Aquarius TA2 Series) and Drafts (Best of Hamilton Fringe 2012). Aaron is currently training in directing new work with Factory Theatre's Foreman program and is a founding member of Filament Incubator, a producing body that exists to consistently produce the new work of emerging artists on a monthly basis. A lifelong fan of competitive reality TV shows and bathing, Aaron is thrilled to delve into the dirty, wet, world of Silk Bath. For Yeh Yeh.
GLORIA MOK
Producer & Contributing Playwright
Gloria Mok is a Mississauga-born playwright, director, producer, and arts educator. She is a graduate of the University of Guelph’s Theatre Studies program and recently completed a B.Ed. from the University Toronto's OISE Program. She has trained in education and marketing with Roseneath Theatre, producing with Theatre Gargantua, playwriting with fu-GEN Theatre, and is currently a Patron Services Representative at Native Earth Performing Arts. Selected credits include I'm Thinking About Thinking About Crying (Theatre Ramen, London Fringe), Avaricious (Theatre Gargantua) , and Curved (Alumnae Theatre, New Ideas Festival). Contemporary works that transcend real or imagined barriers excite her, which is why she is thrilled to be diving into a project like Silk Bath!
DORCAS CHIU
Performer & Deviser
Dorcas Chiu is in her last semester at University of Toronto, specializing in Theatre and majoring in English. She is interested in physicalizing the spaces between words. Selected credits: Lysistrata (WINDS), Rossum’s Universal Robots (Blameworth Theatre), The House of Bernadette Alba (Pure Carbon Theatre), PaperSERIES (Drama Centre), Woyzeck (UC Follies). When not found on stage, she can be seen directing, dramaturging, and stage managing various projects around the city. Her love for Greek plays is now infamous as she recently directed Agamemnon with the UC Follies (Best Director at the Drama Coalition Awards) and Antigonick at the Drama Centre.
EN LAI MAH
Performer & Deviser
En Lai Mah is a Toronto based theatre artist, practitioner of martial arts, story telling and dance. He is an alumni of the University College Drama Program at the University of Toronto. His previous performances include Then They Fight’s 10/10/10 Project “Our Idiot Friend Is Now Dead”, Pandemic Theatre’s They Say He Fell (in association with Cahoots Theatre), The Lost Sagas of Tjorvi the Flaccid, Pressgang Theatre’s Served, I Am Very Far (Summer Works), and Theatre Ocean’s Vangroovy. He studies movement with Across Oceans.
AMANDA ZHOU
Performer & Deviser
“I am very thankful for the opportunity to stir fry hubris politics, sass, and blood in a wok. Chicken fried rice anyone? Yum.”
Amanda is thrilled to be working with yorkies again while meeting new, creative and talented friends. She dedicates this performance to her grandmother Zhou Xuan, a former star in the 1930s, China, who led Amanda to acting. Past work includes The Adventure for Love by Jefferey Chiang - Hunan Broadcast Company, Warriors by Phillip Noyce, Zhou Xuan with the Hong Kong Dance Company, L’oreal print for Shu Umera, and various vocal performances in both China and Toronto.
LOGAN CRACKNELL
Stage Manager & Lighting Designer
Logan Cracknell is a recent grad of the York University Theatre Production Program with a passion for Lighting Design and Stage Management. He is excited to be working with this team on Silk Bath. He is also working on the show Rowing in the Toronto Fringe as a Lighting Designer. Some of his most recent works includes 10/10/10 "Our Idiot Friend is Dead" (Then They Fight) as the LD and SM, and Carbon (LBA) as the LD.
KEVIN FELICIANO
Projection & Sound Designer
Kevin Feliciano specializes in sound and projection design. He composes beats, sound effects and music scoring. He is highly active in the Filipino music scene almost participated in all Filipino Festivals.
ARAM HEYDARIAN
Set & Costume Designer
Aram is a set and costume designer graduating from the production program at Theatre@York. She's designed productions including Rowing (with Then They Fight Productions), Carbon (with Little Black Afro Productions., and now Silk Bath (with Silk Bath Collective). She works as a professional, traditional painter and designer. Aram will continue working in Toronto's theatre community and other personal projects.
LOUISA ZHU
Fight Director
Louisa is a Chinese-Canadian actor and stage combat artist based in Toronto. She is a Certified Fight Instructor with Fight Directors Canada (FDC) and has taught at numerous secondary and post-secondary schools around the city. As a fight director she has worked in both Canada and the United States. Recent fight directing credits include: The Motherf**ker with the Hat (SUNY Buffalo), The Land of Promise (Theatre Double Take) and Oklahoma! (First Act Productions). Louisa is always excited to support new Asian Canadian theatre and has very much enjoyed working with the Silk Bath Collective team.
JULIUS CHO
Assistant Fight Coordinator
Julius Cho is a Chinese Canadian actor with his Intermediate Stage Combat certification from Rapier Wit. He's grateful for this opportunity to help assist Fight Choreographer Louisa Zhu in this production Silk Bath. He looks forward to continuing working with other fellow Asian Canadian artists in the future.