Bio
Naya Chang is a theater director and Communication & Expression Artist and Coach. Naya is passionate in using theater acting tools to help people in all backgrounds develop effective communication and public speaking skills. She is also devoted to connecting diverse cultures through story telling and believes in the power of self-expression and self discovery.
Naya was director and narrator for Harmony of Nature – Legend of Bunun and Cello, featuring the Bunun Mountain Traditional Music Chorus and Cellist Annie Chang. This concert was premiered at Voices – Festival of Song in Esplanade, Singapore in 2014.
Naya was director and stage designer for the concert Wu Man and Aboriginal Friends, which featured pipa virtuoso Wu Man and 32 Taiwanese Aborigines from Paiwan tribe, Atayal tribe and Bunun Tribes. This concert was commissioned by the National Theater and Concert Hall and premiered for the 2012 Taiwan International Festival of the Arts.
Naya co-directed an ancient Chinese tale The Orphan of Zhao, which she helped adapt for the Mainstage production at Spingold Theater at Brandeis University. Naya was assistant director to French director Juliette Deschamps for original opera La peintre, Yu-Lin, – a story captured the controversial life of painter Yu-Lin, produced by the Taiwan Philharmonic (National Symphony Orchestra) in Taiwan.
Naya assisted stage director Chay Yew for Stuck Elevator, presenting challenging experiences of immigrants, based on the true story of a Chinese food delivery man who was stuck in the elevator in Bronx , New York, for 81 hours. The production premiered at the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) and Naya traveled with the touring version of the production to International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven. Naya was also working with director Carey Perloff as David Lang‘s assistant, sewing music to the Greek tragedy Elektra seamlessly. The production featured Olympia Dukakis at ACT.
Naya worked on director Robert Woodruff’s production of Oedipus At American Repertory Theatre (ART) in which she was assistant to composer Evan Ziporyn and was production intern to director Chen Shi-Zheng’s Snow in June. Naya has appeared in a number of productions as an actress including The Waiting Room, The Bacchae, Balm in Gilead, Shakespeare’s As You Like It, and A Christmas Carol, which she was also the music director and violinist.
Naya created and taught a class she created called Speak, Act, Because We Care for UMass Urban Scholars Program, MA, exploring topics such as peer pressure, body image and racial prejudice. Naya also worked with prominent Drama Therapist Armand Volkas on Waking Dream Theatre workshop and co-presented at the 2014 Drama Therapy Conference in Yosemite , CA.
Naya received her MFA in Theater Acting with a special emphasis in Directing and a BA in Music Theory and Composition from Brandeis University. Naya has training in drama therapy and expressive arts therapy.