Artistic Director (Applied Theatre)
Priscilla Lai Ching Ping
Priscilla was trained at L’Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, in France and Central School of Speech and Drama, in United Kingdom. She received a Master of Arts in Applied Theatre (CSSD, University of London, UK), Master of Social Science (HKUST, Hong Kong) and Bachelor of Business Administration (HKUST, Hong Kong). Priscilla works across theatre in education and communities in both Hong Kong and UK, from directing, acting to workshop facilitation (education, community and theatre for business professionals).
Priscilla has facilitated and directed theatre productions with different communities in both UK and Hong Kong. She was the assistant director of ‘Those Three and Me’ a performance of Creative Community, part of CLG funded inspiring communities large scale arts program in Dagenham, UK. She also co-facilitated workshops and a performance in prison performed by inmates. Apart from that, she has created drama projects with ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Other companies she has worked with include: Young Vic Theatre (A project with refugees), Green Shoes Art (Community Theatre), T.I.E school touring performance and workshops with Gender Intelligence (LGBT Group), storytelling and workshops with Yellow Earth Theatre (Britian’s Largest East Asian Theatre Company), Orpheus Centre, Graeae Theatre (Disable Theatre), Chinese Mental Health Association and Doncaster prison.
As a performer, Priscilla has been involved in theatre productions in Europe and Hong Kong. She also plays the piano, violin, drums and ocarina, and has been an actor-musician in several performances. Recent theatre credits in Europe include: Performance at St. Pancras International Station: 2 Chairs to the power of 2 Actors x 15 mins (Camden Frindge Festival, London), Nightingale (Young Vic Theatre, London), We are Shadows, an opera in piece (Spaitalfields Music Festival, London), A devised piece: What’s the entropy of a Bluberry Muffin? (Blaade Ensemble) Backyard Songs (Riotous Theatre), stage reading of Smile as they Bow (Bermese Theatre Workshop) and Lautes Leicht (SHUNT). She has also been invited to perform in several festivals in Europe, including: S-T-R-E-T-C-H Night (Theatre of Inspiration London, UK) Setkani 2010 (Festival in Czech Republic) and Pilot Night 2011 (Festival in Coventry, UK). Other performances in Hong Kong include: Theatre Horizon: Our Town, Journey to Inferno, River Boy, Defiance (first and re-run), and Snow White, an interactive performance on stage management, a production by LCSD and Theatre Horizon.
Priscilla has also worked with Television and film, credits include: educational programmes for Radio Television Hong Kong and Night andFog directed by Ann Hui (opening film of 33rd Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2009).
As a facilitator, Priscilla conducts drama and music workshops across Hong Kong and UK. She was a facilitator for Big Foot Arts Education, an arts education company that has been a major contributor to the UK’s resurgence of creative education within mainstream schools. She has also worked with Barking Broadway Theatre and Drama Workhouse, delivering drama workshops for children from 6 to 14 years-old. Apart from drama workshops, Priscilla delivers storytelling and shadow puppet theatre performances and workshop-performances in primary and secondary schools across London, Essex and Surrey. She has also been teaching English and Chinese drama classes and directing student performances for local schools in Hong Kong. Companies she has worked with include: Theatre Noir and Hong Kong Teachers Drama Association. Priscilla has also taught storytelling summer course (in Mandarin) with EXCEL in Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
As an applied theatre practitioner and performer, Priscilla focuses her research in story-telling with different communities, creativity in theatre education and training programs for business professionals using theatre techniques.