College Professor-Turned-Storyteller Joins United Solo

Professor-turned storyteller and performing artist Ada Cheng will bring her heartbreaking solo performance, Breaking Rules, Broken Hearts: Loving across Borders, to United Solo Theatre Festival in New York. Her performance will take place on Saturday 10/13 at 6pm at The Studio Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, New York City). For ticketing information, please go to: http://unitedsolo.org/us/breakingrules-2018/.

Breaking Rules, Broken Hearts: Loving across Borders tackles issues on gender, culture, and feminism. Ada Cheng explores how one learns about womanhood, love, and abuse in different sociopolitical and cultural contexts through personal stories. She examines dynamics in her own parents' arranged marriage back in Taiwan and compares that to her experiences with various forms of relational abuse after crossing borders.

In this solo performance, Cheng asks some fundamental questions: How does one learn about abuse? How does one replicate similar patterns of abuse in one's relationships and thus perpetuate generational trauma? Are her mother's experiences drastically different from her own even though they belong to different generations, have different educational and career achievements, and live in different geographic locations? How does abuse in same-sex relationships get minimized?

An intense personal journey, this solo performance is her coming to terms with what it means to be a feminist in this global context. The subject matters explored in this solo performance are relevant to current debates about gender-based violence, gender equality, and woman's status locally and globally.

Ada Cheng was a tenured professor in sociology at DePaul University for 15 years before she resigned from her tenure position in 2016 to pursue theatre and performance full-time. Since then, she has been featured at storytelling shows in Chicago, Atlanta, Cedar Rapids, New York, Asheville, and Kansas City. She debuted her first solo show, Not Quite: Asian American by Law, Asian Woman by Desire, in January 2017. Her first solo performance received a great review from The Washington Post.

Cheng is the producer and the host of the show, Am I Man Enough: A Storytelling/Podcasting Show, where people tell personal stories to critically examine the culture of toxic masculinity and the construction of masculinity and manhood. She is also the co-producer and co-host of Talk Stories: An Asian American/Asian Diaspora Storytelling Show, a show that features Asian/Asian American performing artists and storytellers. Her motto: Make your life the best story you tell.

UNITED SOLO THEATRE FESTIVAL is an annual international festival for solo performances held at the Theatre Row in the heart of the New York City theatre district on 42nd Street, currently in its 9th season. Fiona Shaw called United Solo "the mecca of the solo shows in the world." Over 130 participants from six continents will present their shows every day from September 13 until November 18, 2018. Numerous performances are already sold out. Through its mission, United Solo presents renowned artists as well as new talents, discovers original stories, connects artists with their audiences, exchanges diverse perspectives, fosters a dialogue for change, entertains, and now also educates through its professional training program led by distinguished artists and cultural icons. Artists and companies interested in being presented at The United Solo Festival in 2019 are now welcome to submit their applications online at www.unitedsolo.org/submit