Meet our Make a Difference (M.A.D.) Fellows

Make a Difference > Meet our M.A.D. Fellows - Ada Chang, Dani Chaparro, Evan Favela, Linda Girón, Erolina Kamburova, Stephanie Lapides, Ann Liu

Ada Chang

What’s your creative origin story?

I took a very circuitous route to theatre administration. In fact, I had never really even seen a play prior to college. Throughout high school, I was a musical theater stan and a dancer. I basically knew nothing about plays or acting. But when I started my freshman year at UC Berkeley, I got swept up in their theatre scene and was hooked. At first, I was primarily a performer, but as I got to know the company, I ended up taking more and more responsibility for administrative tasks. Now, I really enjoy thinking about all of the details outside of performance—the things that make a show really flow and pop.

What made you want to be a M.A.D. fellow?

As a student in the area, I was more or less aware of the work Shotgun was doing, but I wasn't really tuned in to theatre outside of the university bubble. Then, through an on-campus organization, I got the chance to speak to Patrick Dooley and Leigh Rondon-Davis and learn about how theatre companies really functioned. Shotgun's vision for expansion and the way the company cares deeply about the community of artists really struck me. I was inspired by the risks Shotgun took in planning its seasons and how engaged their audience was with the work Shotgun was doing. In applying for this fellowship, I hoped to learn from them and take some of the lessons I learned and apply it to my own work.

What is one cool thing you learned or hope to learn from your fellowship?

Having already started my fellowship for a little bit, I'm very excited to report that I have learned how to cut, apply, and charge glow tape correctly. And those are actually the kinds of little things that I want to pick up. How do I PA backstage effectively? How do I write a house report? What are the little details that a producer has to remember, and how does one get those little things done? It's been literally a week, and I already feel like I've gotten to take part in so many new experiences, and I'm really excited to continue learning.