Artists & Production Team for Carried by the River
William Yong 楊漢源, Director
William Yong is a multi-faceted artist and an award-winning choreographer, performer and director for dance, theatre and film. Artistic Director of Zata Omm and W Zento Productions, William has dedicated over two decades to breaking new ground by collaborating with artists, scientists, and engineers in visionary, technology-driven performance projects. William’s artistic journey began with music as a member of the Hong Kong Children’s Choir and as the lead singer and songwriter for the band Fundamental in Asia. Trained at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and London Contemporary Dance School in UK. He worked with some of the world’s most influential choreographers including Wayne McGregor and Matthew Bourne. His passion for the arts expanded into an illustrious 30-year career. William has created over 150 acclaimed dance, theatre and film works. In 2024, he became the first Asian choreographer commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada for UtopiVerse, performed at Toronto’s prestigious Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. (photo credit: Jason George)
Diana Tso 曹楓
Diana Tso is a theatre artist, playwright, storyteller, and Dora award winning actor. She graduated from the University of Toronto in English Literature and of Ecole Internationale de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq in France. She’s worked with diverse theatres internationally for over 25 years. Performances include: Modern Times Stage Company’s The Cherry Orchard, Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s Les Misérables and at the 2017 Stratford Festival in Bakkhai and The Komagata Maru Incident. Upcoming 2026: performing in Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s ensemble of Pu Songling: strange stories from a Chinese Studio.
As an artistic director of Red Snow Collective, her productions focus on empowering the voices of women. Her plays, Red Snow (2012) and Comfort (2016) bring to light the resilience of women in war and her Monkey Queen stories re-imagine mythologies from the female perspective. Her plays are available at https://www.canadianplayoutlet.com/products/the-monkey-queen-by-diana-tso creations include: “unwavering”, commissioned by a Convergence Theatre’s 2020 COVID Confessions series: series: https://www.convergencetheatre.com/covid-commissions-art/unwavering-by-diana-tso and HauNodi 河 নদী , co-created with Rubena Sinha, commissioned in 2022 by https://weefestival.ca/shows/haunodi/ (photo credit: Denise Grant)
Shiong-En Chan
…et la petite l’araignée rouge (Productions Araignée Rouge), Les Parfums de mes journées meurent sur ma langue (Radio-Canada), Top Girls (Espace GO), Lion in the Streets and Criminal Genius (Tableau D’Hôte Theatre), Kissed by a Butterfly (POP! Productions), Thinking of Yu and If We Were Birds (Imago Theatre), Canada 300 and An Ideal Husband (Watermark Theatre), I’m Not Here (Composite Theatre) at the Summerworks Festival, Le Menteur and Les Liaisons dangereuses : les correspondances inédites (Théâtre français de Toronto), Caught (Raise The Stakes Theatre), Quel dernier grand conflit pour satisfaire la haine entre les humains (NOUS Théâtre, Théâtre français de Toronto, and Théâtre du Trillium) at the National Arts Centre’s Festival Zônes théâtrales, Chimerica (Théâtre Jean-Duceppe), and Three Women of Swatow (Centaur Theatre).
Shiong-En is excited to be part of Carried by the River by Diana Tso, under the direction of William Yong. (photo credit: Andreanne Gauthier)
Tai Wei Foo 符岱微
Trained in classical Chinese dance and studied contemporary dance at l’École de Danse de Québec. From 2007 to 2013, she performed, danced, and choreographed in Robert Lepage’s production Le Dragon Bleu (Ex Machina). In 2015, she discovered butoh with Natsu Nakajima, Yukio Waguri, and Yumiko Yoshioka. Fascinated by the exploration of trauma through organic movements, her research intertwines classical Chinese dance and butoh to develop her own choreographic language. Her work, Jin Gu Bang (The Golden Stick Ritual), was selected for the CanAsian Dance Festival ’19 and presented at Tangente, co-produced by Festival Accès Asie.
Her upcoming work, Yearning, will be presented at Tangente during Asian Heritage Month, co-produced by Festival Accès Asie. Last summer, she appeared as a dancer and actor in Salesman in China, Wendy and Peter Pan at the Stratford Festival.
Brenda Kamino
Acting: Most major Canadian stages for over 45 years. A veteran performer of the Shaw Festival, she has created roles in new plays at Theatre Passe Muraille, Nightwood, fu-Gen Theatre, YPT, Factory Theatre, Cahoots Theatre Projects, ATP (Calgary) in shows directed by Neil Munro, Nina Lee Aquino, Maja Ardal, Sue Miner, Sally Han, Ron Jenkins, Guillermo Verdecchia, Peter Hinton and Yvette Nolan. She recently was nominated for Best Ensemble for Tableau d’Hote’s “Mizushobai” (Montreal), performed in the Dora nominated “Naomi’s Road” and her one-woman show “At the End of the Day” which she wrote. Film/TV: Two seasons of Sony International’s TV series, “Carter”, CBC’s “Warigami”, “The Glass Castle” and dozens of Canadian episodic TV shows.
Directing: MJ Kang’s “Harabogee & Me” – Shakespeare in Action; “Restless Night” -Shadowpath; Janet Lo’s “Eminent Domain” – Women at Plays. Upcoming: “Bachelor Man” -Renaissance Theatre which she co-runs with Andrew Moodie.
She has been honoured by both CAEA and ACTRA for her work as an advocate for diversity
Honey Pham
Honey Pham is a multidisciplinary performer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Previous credits include: The Play That Goes Wrong (The Citadel/Theatre Calgary/The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), Kitchen Potluck (fuGEN Theatre), A Perfect Bowl of Pho (Toronto Fringe), Narnia (Badhats/Theatre Sheridan), Nobody Asked To Be Here (Musical Stage Co./Sheridan College & Potassium Theatre). TV/Film Credits Include: Zaasaakwe, Fourth Period Burnout (CBC); and The Colour Of Scar Tissue (APTN/ImagiNATIVE/TIFF). Honey has recently completed their Directing Apprenticeship on Waitress (The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre)
Training: Honours Bachelors of Music Theatre Performance, The Royal Manitoba Theatre Center’s Naitonal Mentorship with Kimberley Rampersad. They’d like to thank the After School Leaders Program for providing accessible theatre education for students in Manitoba. And a huge thanks to their mother, sister, & friends.
Michelle Wang
Michelle Wang is thrilled to make her professional debut in Carried by the River. A passionate and versatile performer, Michelle has developed her skills through diverse experiences in community theatre, improv, and as a band vocalist. She has trained with The Second City and studied voice under acclaimed coach Deborah Joy. Michelle is excited to continue expanding her artistic range and looks forward to further performing in the theatre world.
Alice Ping Yee Ho 何冰頤
Alice Ping Yee Ho 何冰頤 is a distinguished Chinese Canadian composer known for her versatile and expansive body of work. She blends genres like opera, orchestral, chamber music, dance, and theatre, with compositions marked by innovation, emotional depth, and originality. Ho has received numerous prestigious awards, including the 2024 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, the 2022 Symphony Nova Scotia Maria Anna Mozart Award, the 2022 Barlow Endowment Commissioning Award, the 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize, and the 2013 Mavor Dora Moore Award for her opera The Lesson of Da Ji.
A two-time JUNO Award nominee, Ho has released 10 solo albums under her name, and her works have been performed by renowned ensembles and orchestras worldwide, such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Polish Radio Choir, Shanghai Philharmonic, National Taiwan Symphony, and Luxembourg Sinfonietta. Her cross-cultural operas, The Lesson of Da Ji, The Monkiest King, and Chinatown, transcend cultural boundaries and highlight her unique voice. Ho’s artistry continues to inspire and engage listeners, reflecting both her deep cultural roots and her universal appeal.
(photo credit: Bo Huang)
Andre du Toit
Andre du Toit is a lighting designer for live performance based in Toronto, although his designs have been seen across Canada and beyond. He has received five Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Lighting Design. His recent designs include Last Landscape, Italian Mime Suicide, Paolozzapedia (Bad New Days); HONEY I’M HOME(Lester Trips); Qalb: A Journey of the Ego, Lady M (1S1 Theatre); Three Sisters (Soulpepper); Universal Child Care, Now You See Her, Mouthpiece (Quote Unquote Collective); speaking of sneaking (Buddies in Bad Times); Here Lies Henry (Factory Theatre); Très Loin (Bouchardanse); Maanomaa, My Brother, Love and Information (Canadian Stage); The Queen in Me (Canadian Opera Company/Nightwood Theatre/Theatre Gargantua); Prince Hamlet, What You Won’t Do For Love, (Why Not Theatre); R+J (Stratford Festival of Canada).
Ting-Huan 挺歡 Christine Urquhart
Selected Theatre Credits: Craze (Set and Costume Designer), Come Home – The Legend of Daddy Hall (Costume Designer), Cockroach 曱甴 (Set and Costume Designer), The Orphan of Chao (Shaw Festival), Universal Childcare (Costume Designer, Quote Unquote Collective), Antigone 方 (Set and Costume Designer, Young People’s Theatre), Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land) (Saga Collectif and Theatre Passe Muraille), Juno’s Reward (Grand Theatre), Mulan Rouge (The Vaults, London UK), Unsafe (Set Designer, Canadian Stage), CAN x Two Temple Place (Digital Designer, Chinese Arts Now, London UK), First Trimester (Performance Designer, Battersea Arts Centre.) Upcoming: Blue for an Alabama Sky (Shaw Festival), Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Sheridan), Feast (Tarragon), Wicked Nix (Young People’s Theatre.) Awards: Dora nominated for Outstanding Costume Design (Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land)) and Outstanding Set Design (Cockroach 曱甴, Antigone 方) Other: www.urquhartdesign.com @christinetinghuanurquhart
Sabrina Weinstein
Sabrina Weinstein is a stage manager, producer, and multidisciplinary theatre artist. Recent stage management credits include The Strange and Eerie Memoirs of Billy Wuthergloom (Stage Manager, Eldritch Theatre), Bad Roads (Apprentice Stage Manager, Crow’s Theatre) Earworm (Stage Manager, Crow’s Theatre), Maanomaa; My Brother (Assistant Stage Manager, Canadian Stage / Bluebird Theatre Collective), The Gray: A Wilde Musical In Concert (Stage Manager, Hart House Theatre), and This Feels Like The End (Stage Manager, Next Stage Festival 2024)
Barney Bayliss
Barney Bayliss studied photography and film production at Ryerson University in Toronto before starting a career in set design for motion pictures. In 1991 he became the Scene Shop Supervisor for the Canadian Opera Company, and for ten years supervised the construction of many opera sets. The new millennium saw him working as a Technical Director for the COC during the planning and construction of the Four Seasons Centre. In 2016 he accepted the position of Technical Director for the National Ballet, and was promoted to Director of Production in 2019. In June 2023 Barney left the National Ballet to start his own Production Management/Technical Direction service, BB TD.
Jse-Che Lam, Education and Community Outreach and Resource Guide Writer
Jse-Che is a Toronto-based educator whose interests include stories about migration, urban issues and all matters concerning Canadian produced film, literature and theatre. She is forever trying to make, savour and perfect as many dumpling recipes from as many cultural backgrounds as possible. In addition to op eds and curriculum writing, she is working on her first screenplay. Working as a member of the Carried by the River team has helped her reflect on what it means to have been raised between two worlds, two cultures and sometimes, two solitudes.
Kim Snider, Education and Community Outreach and Resource Guide Writer
Kim is a drama, English, and gender studies teacher from Toronto, Canada, as well as the former President of the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE). Kim is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Auckland, where her research focuses on the creation of inclusive and joyful schools for 2SLGBTQ+ youth. Kim has written educational resources for Diana Tso’s previous productions Comfort and The Monkey Queen.
Renée Wong (she/they)
Renée Wong (she/they) is a queer, non-binary Hong Kong-Canadian actor, playwright, arts administrator, and emerging filmmaker based in Toronto, Ontario. A graduate of the Humber College Theatre Performance Program, she also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Toronto. Renée is deeply passionate about exploring marginalized stories within Asian diasporas by integrating theatrical elements with film. She is currently developing her first full-length play, 02: 靈異, which delves into queer identities through untold Chinese urban legends. Renée is grateful and excited to be working alongside the team of Carried by the River. Follow her work on Instagram: @reneeewcs
Kyra Tang
Kyra Tang is an Asian-Canadian sketch(y) comedian, actor, and writer, based in Toronto. Growing up in Hong Kong, Kyra focused on the artistry through community youth theatre, whilst achieving distinction levels in her Performing Arts diploma through BTEC, a qualification in vocational expertise well recognised in the United Kingdom, and receiving further training at the NYU Tisch’s acting intensive. Her most celebrated work is her clown character, ‘Kyra de Magica’, a one-woman show she wrote, performed, and produced, at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2023, less than a year since moving and reconnecting to Toronto in August 2022. Her other works include Untitled Video Game Project (Pickles Theatre x Tarragon’s Greenhouse Festival), Up-And-Comer Cabaret (What The Festival), Pride & Prejudice (Faust International Youth Theatre), and more. Kyra is currently pursuing a Performance Acting degree at Toronto Metropolitan University, and is determined to continue to incorporate her transnational perspective into her art.
Ashley Belmer REBEL_PR t www.b-rebelpr.com
Dahlia Katz, production photographerhttps://www.dahliakatz.com/