Cheung Kwan Yu, Co-direction and Costume Concept
Cheung is a producer, actress, voice artist, and corporate training instructor. A graduate of the School of Drama at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, she has recently received awards for her emergent arts education projects. As the founder and artistic director of the Free-To-Play Theatre, Cheung works with mask, puppetry, and clowning, focusing on training and international exchange. Her works intertwine humour and poetry, sowing seeds of emotion amidst the laughter. Drawing from experience and vision, she delves deeper into her craft, believing that tireless devotion guides unique creativity.
David Bensimhon, Co-direction and Music Concept
Bensimhon is a composer, director, actor, and theatre instructor. As a jazz pianist, he infuses his musical virtuosity, poetic sensibility, and absurdist life perspective into his theatrical creations. His distinctive style blends traditional commedia dell’arte with contemporary ideas and music. Since 2015, he has collaborated closely with the Free-To-Play Theatre to develop the pedagogical method ‘Clown in Absurd.’ This approach has been practiced in numerous countries, bringing innovation and inspiration to the international theatre scene.
Leong Ka Wai, Assistant Director
Chairperson and Executive Director of the Own Theatre and curator of the Contemporary Circus Festival, Leong has directed works such as We all good? and the community short play Variation of The Crow Clowns, as well as curated multiple interactive parent-child theatre events. Passionate about clowning, she was taught by Philippe Gaulier, Christina Lewis, and Cheung Kwan Yu. In 2018, she co-founded the Red Pills Clown Care Programme with Wong Weng Chi, bringing performing arts to hospitals and children’s homes to unlock their diverse social potential.
Leung Tin Chak, Actor (as Chris)
Leung graduated from the School of Drama at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Acting. In 2018, he received the Award for Young Artist (Drama) at the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. Recent performances include the theatre productions Crime and Punishment (Hong Kong Arts Festival) and Flowing Warblers (On & On Theatre Workshop), the films The Way We Talk and Crisis Negotiators, and the television dramas SPARKS and 940920.
Chu Wing Yan, Actress (as Bossy)
A graduate of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Acting, Chu’s stage credits include The Spoon (Hong Kong Repertory Theatre), The Love Story of Sam and Sally (Actors’ Family), £¥€$ (Hong Kong Arts Festival), Dumpy & Dumby (Free-To-Play), Heart of Almond Jelly, A Man Vanishes (Cinematic Theatre), re-run of The Big Big Day (Chung Ying Theatre Company), having also served as emcee and voice-over artist.
Chan Nga Cheng, Actress (as Beauty)
Chan is a director, actress, co-founder of Route Arts Association, and a member of the Red Pills Clown Care Programme. Her performance credits include the immersive theatre production Day Day Dating, AMIDST – Solo interactive space, The Vanished Figures (Comuna de Pedra Arts and Cultural Association), The Clean House (Dream Theater Association), The Golden Dragon 2.0 (Macau Experimental Theatre), Singing Bowls x Poetry x Physical theatre HOWL A BOWL, mime performance Curiouser and Curiouser – Exploring Alice’s Wonderland, and sign language and physical theatre Aesop’s Fable: The Frogs Who Desired a King.
Lao Nga Man, Actress (as Sorry)
Lao, a freelance theatre performer and creator, has been active in the theatre scenes of Taiwan and Macao in recent years. With experience in various performance genres, she has also taken part in playwriting, production, and coordination. She graduated from the Department of Theatre Arts, Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, majoring in Acting and Directing. During her studies, she and classmate Liu Shih Wei co-founded the troupe Lao Lao Duo, where they co-directed and performed their debut work Clowns’ Play, a clown mime, which premiered on campus and later invited to the Fucheng Arts Festival in Tainan.
Lai Nai Hang, Actor (as Misty)
Lai is a full-time actor for stage and screen. Recent theatre credits include The Blind, We Live in Macau 24 Hours, Café 22°N and The New-Year Sacrifice (Hiu Kok Drama Association); ‘Will’ Come True and Sign here, please (Dirks Theatre Arts Association); LOVE 2.0 (Theatre Farmers); Cyrano de Bergerac and Sunset at the Shipyards (Dream Theater Association); Bone Cage and A Stranger’s Dream (Strawberry Fields Arts Education Workshop); Day Day Dating (Route Arts Association), as well as multiple school touring productions.
Wong Keng Ip, Actor (as Smarty)
Wong is a freelance performer and a graduate of the Intercultural Theatre Institute in Singapore, where he received comprehensive training in both traditional and contemporary performing styles from East and West, including Odissi (an Indian classical dance), Kanze (a school of Noh), Peking Opera, Indian court dance, Kutiyattam, Tai Chi, and Yoga. He also studied Kita (a school of Noh) in Tokyo. Recent performance includes Anamnesis no.: XXXX (Dirks Theatre Arts Association).
Chan Si Kei, Producer
Active in arts planning and production since 2007, Chan has contributed to various festivals and productions, including performances at the Macao City Fringe Festival, the Macao Arts Festival, and the Macao International Music Festival, as well as operations of the Chinese Theatre Festival and the Macao Literary Festival. She holds a Master’s in Arts Policy and Management from Birkbeck, University of London, and a Master’s in International Festival & Event Management from Edinburgh Napier University. After returning to Macao, she has focused on developing theatre for the very young and participatory theatre.
Teng Ka Man, Set and Lighting Designer
Teng is a freelance theatre professional specialising in stage and lighting design, and a graduate of the Department of Theatrical Design and Technology at Taipei University of the Arts, majoring in Set Design. Her set for Exile was shortlisted for the 2022 World Stage Design and invited to exhibit in Canada. Her work Home Staycation was selected to represent Macao at the Exhibition of Countries and Regions of the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in 2023.
Lio Iek Man, Deputy Costume Designer
Lio is a backstage theatre practitioner who has collaborated with several theatre companies. In recent years, she has focused primarily on costume design.
Cheok Kit Iu, Stage Manager
Iu is a founding member of Frost Ice Snow Creative Experimental Theatre, currently serving as the company’s resident production manager and actor. He has taken on roles both in front of house and backstage across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. His main responsibilities include production, stage management and acting, with additional experience as a lighting designer and operator, as well as a scenic carpenter.
Wong Nok Wan, Deputy Stage Manager
Wong majored in Music with a focus on Liuqin performance and minored in Zhongruan at Macao Polytechnic University. Following graduation, she has been actively involved in the art scene, including music and theatre, and has performed with a circus-physical theatre company. She has also worked behind the scenes for concerts, drama productions, and exhibitions, such as Give it a Shot (fifth round) (BOK Festival), Get Lost, I'm Done (Macau Experimental Theatre), Contemporary Circus Festival (Macao City Fringe Festival), and Good Girl work in progress (2024 Shekou Theatre Festival).
Own Theatre
Founded in 2013, Own Theatre upholds the principles of ‘cross-disciplinary collaboration, innovation, and inclusion’, committed to original theatre productions, community engagement, and serving as a platform for artistic exchange. In 2024, it organised the inaugural Contemporary Circus Festival and launched the Hand to Hand Project, a platform incubating circus-physical theatre works. The company also maintains its hospital clowning services and has published What’s BOK? Theater Experiments in Body, Voice and Concept and the illustrated book When We Sick.