LEADERSHIP
INSIGHT COLAB THEATRE IS ACTIVELY RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS!
Support needs include: Marketing/PR and communications, finance and bookkeeping, grant writing, fundraising, and production/workshop coordination.
INSIGHT COLAB THEATRE LEADERSHIP TEAM:
CECILIA J. PANG, PH.D.
Artistic Director
Cecilia is a director, actress and playwright who is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at CU Boulder. Her 50 plus directing credits range from classical Greek tragedies to contemporary comedies to Broadway musicals to new play development. Born and raised in Hong Kong, and educated in Canada and America, Cecilia brings to her work an East-West fusion aesthetics. But she never forsakes her Chinese roots. She is the Artistic Associate of the New York based Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company, for whom she even made a documentary film: Little Tiger depicts how a group of Chinese immigrant artists who struggle to retain their cultural identity in America by preserving a dying art form.
JENNIFER SO
President
As a first generation American on her Dad's side, Jennifer is thrilled to be part of Insight Colab Theatre! She has a Bachelors of Theatre Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado, and loves performing on stages around Denver. You may also hear her giving you traffic reports during rush hours on the radio; on KOSI 101.1 FM. In 2011, Jennifer was performing in, "Joy Luck Club" with founding member, Tria Xiong, when the idea for Theatre Esprit Asia formed. Being part of the re-branding and the creation of this new theatre company has been a dream come true! The sky is the limit, and she's so excited to see how Insight Colab Theatre will continue to inspire and illuminate our world.
FAYE YUAN KLEEMAN, PH.D
Treasurer
Faye is a professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at CU Boulder. She is a linguist and literary scholar working mainly on the literature and culture of Japan, Taiwan and China, with a particular focus on issues such as comparative literature, (post) colonialism, gender, films and popular culture, comparative aesthetics, Japanophone and Sinophone literature, and environmental studies. She also teaches lyrical texts for Japanese Noh theater, Kabuki plays, and joruri puppet plays. Faye is a big fan of all traditional Asian theater and dance tradition. Her publications are extensive, including books such as In Transit: Formation of an East Asian Cultural Sphere and Under an Imperial Sun: Japanese Colonial Literature and the South. Born and raised in Taiwan, and educated in Japan and US, Faye speaks multiple Asian languages and brings her own lived, cross-cultural experience to promoting transcultural awareness in and outside the theater world.
TARIKA CEFKIN
Founder
Tarika is a founding Board member of Theatre Esprit Asia, and was an integral part of the rebranding and strategic planning of the newly formed Insight Colab Theatre. She holds a degree in Speech & Theatre and East Asian Studies from St. Lawrence University. She studied at Shanghai’s East China Normal University in 2007. In 2011, Tarika received a Master’s degree in International and Intercultural Communication, with an emphasis in International Human Rights, from the University of Denver.
Past theatre credits include Eurydice in Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, Maria in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Stepsister Joy in Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, as well as roles in Theatre Esprit Asia's productions of Fermata and One Night of Thunder.
Tarika currently serves as the Executive Director of the Nathan Yip Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity that supports rural schools in Colorado and China. Tarika also volunteers as the Public Safety Chair for the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival’s Operations Committee.
DAKOTA MAKINEN
Social Media Manager
Dakota Makinen attends the University of Colorado at Boulder on the full ride academic and housing scholarship, The Chick Evans Scholarship. There, she studies Journalism with a minor in Spanish while participating in acapella and theatre performance groups extracurricularly. Dakota is also an acting student of Insight Colab’s Artistic Director, Dr. Cecilia Pang.
As the daughter of a local drummer, arts advocacy has always been something very near and dear to Dakota’s heart. She is delighted to get the opportunity to learn and grow from the inspiring women that make up the Insight Colab Leadership Team.