NEW YORK CITY: Pink Fang (formerly Ping Chong and Company), in partnership with Hunter College’s theatre department, has announced the Ping Chong Archival Symposium, a semester-long partnership with screenings, workshops, and a full-day gathering of conversations, panels, artistic activations, and a reception that will explore the archive and legacy of Ping Chong. The symposium will bring together artists, scholars, students, and the public to illuminate the impact, evolution, and future of Chong’s interdisciplinary practice, which has transformed the landscape of contemporary performance in America and beyond. The day-long symposium at the center of the partnership will be held on Dec. 6 at the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall at Hunter College (CUNY), with screenings on Nov. 4 and 20 and Dec. 4. Registration is free and open to the public.

“This symposium is both a celebration and a continuation of Ping’s lifelong inquiry into how art can create understanding across differences and be the basis for pedagogical and intergenerational, community centered approaches,” said the Pink Fang leadership team of Jane Jung, Mei Ann Teo, and Sara Zatz in a statement. “As we move forward as Pink Fang, the ongoing preservation and activation of Ping Chong’s archive is a key pillar of our mission and work. By including artistic responses, learning opportunities, and activation around Ping Chong’s archive, this event will illuminate all of the tenets of Pink Fang’s new mission [and] explore how his archive can live and evolve—as a space for learning, reflection, and inspiration for the next generation of artists, educators, and changemakers.”

The symposium will include a keynote conversation with Ping Chong and Mei Ann Teo, Pink Fang’s artistic director of new work. It will be followed by a panel discussion on Ping Chong’s pedagogy with moderator Priscilla Page, MFA/PhD, of University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Victoria Abrash, MFA, of the New School; Dongshin Chang, PhD, and Claudia Orenstein, PhD, of Hunter College; Yuko Kurahashi, PhD of Kent State University; and Christopher Totten of New 42/New Victory Theater. 

After the discussions, six Pink Fang-affiliated artists will present original creative responses to Chong’s archive and influence in archival activation performances. They are Pink Fang resident artist Nile Harris; transdisciplinary artist-scholar Tomi Tsunoda; projection designer Kate Freer; choreographer, dancer, educator and former PCC Creative Fellow Johnnie Cruise Mercer; writer, performer, and cultural organizer Kirya Traber; and lighting designer Tuce Yasak. A closing reception will follow. 

Preceding the symposium, a series of public screenings of Ping Chong’s interdisciplinary works will be held at Hunter College throughout November and early December, as well as workshops and discussions with Pink Fang artists and academics, exploring his creative legacy. They include:  

• Nov. 4, 11 a.m.-1 p.m: Inside/Out: Voices from the Disability Community (2008), co-written and co-directed by Ping Chong and Sara Zatz. This documentary theatre piece presents the firsthand experiences of seven individuals living with disabilities while tracing the history of the disability rights movement in the U.S.
• Nov. 4, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: I Will Not Be Sad in This World (1992), Chong’s first pure dance work, focusing on the visceral and animal nature of human experience, and Angels of Swedenborg (2011), which reimagines spiritual and corporeal realms in a dance-theatre hybrid. It originally premiered in 1985 and was revived in 2011 for La MaMa’s 50th anniversary season. A post-screening discussion will follow with Hunter’s MFA dance director maura nguyễn donohue and Pink Fang performers Perry Yung and Jeannie Hutchins. 
• Nov. 20, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Hunter College Community Workshop with Pink Fang artists, where students, faculty, and staff can learn some of Pink Fang’s interview-based methodologies and community-engaged practices, designed to build original theatrical performances from personal stories. Generative techniques will be taught around personal narrative, intercultural communication, and self-expression.
• Dec. 4, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: Cathay: Three Tales of China (2005), an epic puppet theatre work spanning China’s ancient past, wartime struggles, and modern transformation. Combining over 150 puppets, recorded soundscapes, and video projections, Cathay explores continuity and change across centuries. A post-screening discussion will follow, with theatre professor Claudia Orenstein and Stephen Kaplin, Cathay puppet artist, co-artistic director of Chinese Theatre Works, and co-founding member of Great Small Works.

This partnership builds on Pink Fang’s history of university collaborations. Hunter students can also experience an artist lunch for students with Ping Chong, class visits, and a co-taught course, “Multicultural Theatre Performance: Engaging Community Voices and Stories,” that introduces students to the Undesirable Elements methodology of community-based storytelling. Dongshin Chang and Pink Fang’s interim education manager Chaesong Kim are the instructors, with guest visits from Pink Fang artistic director of engagement Sara Zatz. In the 2025-26 season, Pink Fang is also engaging with LaGuardia Community College and the New School to deepen dialogue between academia and socially engaged performance practice.

“The Hunter College Theatre department values these opportunities for our diverse students to engage and explore the work and artistic practice of Ping Chong,” said Louisa Thompson, chair of Hunter College’s theatre department, in a statement. “I am excited to extend this exploration to the larger community.”