Tisa Chang

Tisa Chang (born April 5, 1941) is a Chinese-American actress and theatre director born in Chongqing. Her father, Ping-Hsun Chang, was a diplomat, and her family moved from China to New York City when she was a child. Chang was interested in theatre and began studying acting in high school, at the High School of Performing Arts, then at Barnard College. At the age of six, she and her family moved to New York City. Her father, a Taiwanese diplomat, was appointed as the Republic of China's consul general to the city in 1946. Her father was also interested in acting and performed in school plays when he was younger at Nankai University together with Zhou Enlai, who went on to become the leader of China.

Career After finishing college, Chang performed in several musicals as a dancer. She also acted in television and film. She directed and/or produced bilingual versions of classical Asian and western plays, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream in both Mandarin and English and Servant of Two Masters, in which all the asides were spoken in the characters' native language. Chang described this date as "the death slot" when it comes to theatre visitors, but "fortunately, Richard Shepard of The New York Times came down to East 4th Street and loved the show, praised it."

Chang established the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre as a resident company at La MaMa in 1977, with the intention of popularizing Asian-American theater. Chang has said that "the extraordinary talent and dedication of the actors [at Stewart's Chinese Theatre Group] inspired me to formalize the group into Pan Asian Repertory Theatre." It was easier for Asian-American actors to find substantive roles in Los Angeles, where the East West Players had been founded in 1965. In 1988, she was awarded a Theatre World Special Award for the establishment of Pan Asian and her directorial work. Chang has also won the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, the 2001 Lee Reynolds Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women, the 1993 Chinese American Cultural Pioneer Tribute from New York City Council Andrew Stein, and the 1991 Barnard Medal of Distinction. She is currently on the executive board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. In an interview, Chang shared her vision for East West Players and Pan Asian to collaborate and grow.

Personal life Chang married Ernest Abuba on January 25, 1976, at the La MaMa Annex. He worked as an actor, playwright, and director at Pan Asian. They divorced in the early 1990s, but remained friends. They had one son together, named Auric Kang.