Dr. Li-Rong Lilly Cheng served as Professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Executive Director of Chinese Studies Institute at San Diego State University. She is the Director of the Chinese Cultural Center at SDSU. Professor Cheng served as a member of the board of trustees of the Campanile Foundation of San Diego State University. She is the past chair of the Multicultural Issues Board for the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and served as chair of Education Committee for the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) and is the president elect of IALP. She is a Fellow of ASHA and received the Honors of ASHA (the highest honor) in 2013.Professor Cheng is the President-Elect of the IALP. She was selected by ABC as one of 25 most influential women in the history of San Diego. Professor Cheng was the past President of the Phi Beta Delta Chapter at SDSU. She has received many awards from San Diego State University and professional organizations. She was selected as the outstanding alumnus of Michigan State University. Dr. Cheng is the recipient of the 1997 ASHA Award for special contributions to Multicultural Affairs and the recipient of the 2002 Diversity Award from the California Speech & Hearing Association. She is on the editorial board of several major professional journals. She has numerous professional publications and has lectured all over the world. In 2007, she received the best research article award from Council of Exceptional Children. She has taught Chinese to individuals across the life span in a multitude of settings. In 2010, she received the Humanitarian Award from the Asian Heritage Foundation. In 2011 she received the Asian Heritage Award on behalf of SDSU for bringing "Romance of the Western Chamber - a Musical" by Howard Rubenstein and Max Lee to the Dongpo Theatre in China. She received the 2012 Monty’s Award from SDSU. She received the 2013 Diversity Award from CAPCSD. She served as consultant for the Sesame Street and Tiffany and Company. Dr. Cheng has published numerous articles and books on cross-cultural communication research, translation and interpretation, language learning and language teaching focusing on the development of an optimal language learning environment (OLLE). She is a frequent keynote speaker on the topic of speech, language pathology, culture, cross-cultural understanding, language learning and language teaching.刘丽容博士曾任圣地亚哥州立大学言语语言听力科学研究院教授及中国研究所所长，现任圣地亚哥州立大中华文化中心院长。刘教授亦曾是圣地亚哥州立大学基金会董事，曾任美国言语语言听力学会(ASHA: American Speech Language and Hearing Association)多元文化委员会主席及国际语音及音声教育委员会(IALP: International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics)的主席，并出任IALP主席。她是ASHA的资深会员并于2013年11月中旬在芝加哥召开的美国语言言语听力学会年会上，荣获该协会最高荣誉奖，成为获此殊荣的首位华人。

刘教授曾任Phi Beta Delta国际荣誉学者学会会长。她曾多次获得圣地亚哥州立大学和各类专业组织颁发的各种奖项，并获选为密歇根州立大学杰出校友。她同时也是美国语言听力协会(ASHA)的院士。基于对多元文化议题的特别贡献，刘博士于1997年获颁美国言语语言听力学会(ASHA)多元文化成就奖，并于2002年获得加州语言听力学会多元文化贡献奖。她是许多主要专业期刊的编辑委员，曾发表许多文章，并于世界各地讲学。2007年，刘教授的论文得到全美特殊儿童学会优秀著作奖。她曾针对不同的人群和地区、环境教授中文。在2010年，她获得了亚裔传统基金会颁发的人道主义奖。2012年，她获得了圣地亚哥州立大学颁发给杰出校友的蒙蒂奖。 并于2013年获得了CAPCSD颁发的多元奖。她也曾任芝麻街公司和蒂芙尼公司的资深顾问。

刘博士发表和出版了许多关于在最佳语言学见环境中进行语言学习和语言教学的文章和书籍。她也出版了根据中国民间故事改编的十二生肖故事书。她经常针对语言学习和语言教学的话题发表主题演讲。目前，她所发表的研究报告超过150篇，并出版了大量书籍。

Rosa was born in Chongqing, China, and grew up in Taiwan. She came to the US for graduate study. She graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, with a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and Science. She worked on Renewable Energy Research and Development for 50 years in Oak Ridge, TN, and Rochester Hills, MI before moving to San Diego.

She met Drs Howard and Judy Rubenstein in 2019 - A Renaissance Couple. Howard was a retired medical doctor becoming a playwright. Judy was his publisher. They introduced her to Howard’s play “ Romance of the Western Chamber” - An English musical adaption of one of the most famous classical Chinese pieces of literature. She found the lyrics poetic and the music mesmerizing. She was deeply moved by a western medical doctor who’s profound knowledge of Chinese culture and traditional classical music was obtained through his tireless research and study.

She suggested a west coast premier of the play in San Diego to the Rubensteins. Through Dr. Lilly Cheng of the SDSU Chinese Cultural Center and Dr. Niyi Cocker of the SDSU School of Theatre, Television and Film the play was put into production.

As an executive producer of the play, she is deeply grateful to the Production Director Mr. Peter Cirino, Musical Director Ms. Lucy Lin and Orchestra Director Dr. Angela Yeung for their devotion and efforts to bring the play to fruition. Special thanks to Lucy Lin for her enormous efforts and passions of providing tireless free vocal training to the singers and other cast members.

This play is in memory of Dr Howard Rubenstein. He passed away in September 2020.

Niyi Coker, Jr. is a Professor & Director of the SDSU School of Theatre, Television, and Film. He is a recipient of the prestigious Washington DC Kennedy Centre Award in Directing. His documentary “Black Studies USA” was Finalist for Best documentary at the Hollywood Black Film Festival. His narrative “Pennies for the Boatman” won Best Film script at the 2012 Madrid International. His latest documentary film “Ota Benga – Human at the Zoo” received its premiere at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC in 2015. The film won 2016 Best documentary at London International Film Festival and Best Foreign documentary at the Nice International.

He received a Carnegie Fellowship in 2016 and 2017, to write and direct “Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa the Musical” in Cape Town, South Africa, which was produced by the United States Consulate in Cape Town. It opened at ArtsCape in Cape Town in February 2017 and toured the USA in 2018 & 2019, courtesy of the U.S. State Department. Before he joined SDSU in 2018, he served for 14 years as the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Chair & Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri.

JUDITH S. RUBENSTEIN, Executive Producer, is the wife, widow, of Howard Rubenstein, the celebrated author of Romance of the Western Chamber, who with Max Lee wrote Romance of the Western Chamber – a Musical. Judy was born in NYC, 1942, attended school in Maplewood, New Jersey, and graduated from Columbia High School (president of the Parnassian Society), Wellesley College BA, Harvard Graduate School of Education MAT & EdD. She is the senior author of Essentials of Reading and Writing English, (three volumes plus Teacher’s Guide, National Textbook Company), and author and coauthor of several other books, CDs, and articles published in Adolescence, JAMA, and The Boston Globe. Since 1994 she has been the founder, CEO, and publisher of Granite Hills Press, an independent publisher of books, plays, and CDs in San Diego, California. Sharing with Howard a lifelong love of theater, she and Howard and others helped produce his plays in San Diego, New York City, Florida, Washington state, and Hangzhou, China, the world premiere in Howard’s English of Romance of the Western Chamber – a Musical. Howard and Judy were married for over fifty years until his death and have four children and four grandchildren.

Peter James Cirino graduated from University California San Diego UCSD with a Master of Fine Arts. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees from Southwest Texas State University. After graduating from UCSD, Peter founded Planet Earth Multi-cultural Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, an alternative theater that produced avant-garde plays, Television series, films, late-night cabarets, traveling shows, and collaborative works. Peter has translated many classic Spanish works for English productions. Professional acting experience includes numerous Spanish-language commercials, films, and voice-over credits. Currently Peter is a professor at San Diego State University. He has also taught at UCSD creating a series of student written plays and monologues. Additionally, Peter developed the curriculum for the Teatro Meta program at the Globe Theatre. Peter has been the Artistic Director for the San Diego Asian-American Repertory Theatre and Co-Artistic director and founder of TuYo Theatre in San Diego.

Desiree Fernandez is a dramaturg and performance scholar from Las Vegas, Nevada. She received her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Soka University of America in 2017 with a focus in humanities and dance studies. In 2019, Desiree received her first masters degree in Theatre from San Diego State University, fostering her passion for dramaturgy and movement studies. She graduated with her second masters degree from NYU Tisch’s Performance Studies program in 2020 in which she used her research performance, trauma, epigenetics, and Riccanness to create a film and visual essay set in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Desiree has worked as a dramaturg, choreographer, and assistant director for San Diego State University, The Moxie, The Lark, Tuyo, San Diego Repertory Theater, Super Summer Theater, and Blackboard Plays. Coming from a Filipino, Cuban, and Mexican background, Desiree has a passion for work that nurture’s truth-telling narratives allowing the silenced to be heard and the invisible to be seen.

Lucy C. Lin initially studied voice under Anita Lee Mixson and Prof. Shiou-Ling Tseng,and continued with Hara Nobuko and Takiko Okabe at the Tokyo University of the Arts before going to Rome. There she attended the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia, receiving vocal training in the bel canto style from Maria Teresa Pediconi and Francesca Esposito. Upon graduation, she was awarded a scholarship for further training in opera performance at the Royal College of Music in London. She joined the Glyndebourne Opera as an understudy and sang the part of Despina in Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte.” Lucy performed in concerts, national radio and television in many countries while she was in Europe for 14 years, and also co-hosted a 13-episode TV program, “The Land of Living Dragon,” for Tyne-Tees Television in England. Lucy came to the United States in 1977, studying with James Schwabacher, director of the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, and received Broadway musical training with Ms. June Montague. Lucy performed for many charity organizations in classical concerts, Broadway musicals and fundraisers for the Peninsula Symphony and a production of “The Sound of Music” in San Francisco. Lucy began her teaching career in 1978 when her teacher, Ms. Montague, retired. Her vocal studio, “A Touch of Opera Studio,” has produced many concerts and performed for many charitable organizations. Lucy was the winner of Guam’s Maga’lahi Award in Performing Arts in 1997, and a nominee for the National Medal of Arts Award in Washington, D.C. in 1999. She also produced and hosted a weekly public radio program, “The Beautiful World of Classical Music,” in 2000. Since retiring from the performing world, Lucy is still active in vocal coaching, conducting workshops and master classes, and producing concerts. Lucy has also served as musical director for the San Diego Chinese Choral Society since 2009. She founded the Bel Canto Foundation of Guam in 1997, and in San Diego in 2010. Lucy was awarded a Living Legacy Award by the Women's International Center in 2012 for her contributions to the arts, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition in 2017 by Congressman Scott Peters for her dedication to the arts and to our community.

Dr. Angela Yeung is Artistic Director of the Greater San Diego Music Coterie, in which she conducts the Greater San Diego Chamber Orchestra and Chorus, and directs the annual Winter and Summer Chamber Music Festivals. A frequent clinician for ensembles, orchestra, band and choirs, Dr. Yeung has held masterclasses around the world, among them at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne, Australia, and the Durham School in Durham, England. Nationally she was the featured conductor of StringFest for the Sweetwater School District in San Diego in 2012 and 2013, conductor for the Antelope Valley Union High School District Honor Orchestra in 2019, and a clinician for the University of Illinois String and Orchestra Clinic in 2020. She is a regular adjudicator for the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, the largest music competition for pre-college students in the world.

Born and Raised in San Diego, I am attending SDSU as a third year film production major. I've worked with our director, Peter Cirino, for two previous shows as an assistant director and wanted to expand my horizons and try producing. What pulled me to this show was the beautifully written story and once reading the script I was eager to become involved in anyway possible. I'm very proud to be a part of this incredible crew!

Crystal is originally from El Centro CA, earned a BA in Theatre from SDSU, and sings in punk bands. Crystal has stage managed for SDAART, Playwrights Project, Circle Circle dot dot Theatre Company and now TuYo. Crystal has always wanted to be a part of a production that encompasses the plight of people of color and the disadvantaged. An activist for the queer community and all other marginalized people, Crystal hopes to shed light on these communities through theater, music and art. Crystal thanks: Mom, Yanina, all of their friends, Jay Sheehan, Peter Cirino, and SDSU. The love and respect Crystal has received from those closest is the driving force behind all that has been and will be.

Emerson Clarke is from Dartmouth, Massachusetts and is currently a second year student at San Diego State and has enjoyed her first year in Southern California! She is a Film Major with an emphasis in Critical Studies, but has worked in the theatre world since she was young. She performed in many productions throughout her childhood and teenage years. Recently, she has performed and directed a short play for the Playwrights Project through SDSU and has worked on many short films and productions throughout her first semester. She has always had a love for theatre and is very excited to be working on this production with an amazing cast and crew!

Rain is the Director of Marketing for Romance of the Western Chamber. Rain is from Paso Robles, California, and is a junior at San Diego State University majoring in public relations and minoring in communications. Rain is involved in multiple student organizations at SDSU. She is on the public relations/social media team for The Look Magazine. She is also the President of a club that focuses on creativity, Kolorhouse. She has always had a love for theatre and acting. She is grateful to be involved in promoting this amazing play and highlighting all the talented people who made it possible.

Hadyn Gabbert, is working as the Video and Live Streaming Designer for our production of Romance of the Western Chambers. She is from Spokane, Washington, and is currently a student at San Diego State University, majoring in Television, Film, and New Media with an emphasis in production specifically cinematography. Hadyn has worked on fourteen different SDSU production sets both in film and theatre in the last year. She also works as a videographer and editor on the Instructional Technology Services Video Production Team at SDSU.

Patricia was born and raised in Beijing, China. As a child, she was able to frequently attend a nearby old Chinese opera house in the neighborhood and she watched many Classical Chinese art performances. Later, after moving to the United States and traveling to many countries, she immersed herself in the arts of many nations. She found a passion in performing arts and founded Blue Ming Chinese Dance Company in 2010. Patricia works as Blue Ming's dance choreographer and has taught numerous Chinese folk and classical dances to adults and children, winning top places in various dance competitions. 
Patricia also produced dance and musical shows for last 13 years in San Diego, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles areas. During these years, she designed costumes, stage props, and stage lighting for all her own productions. She is also the editor of Blue Ming's website.

Patricia was trained by Chinese Classical dance master Xiaona Hu, the Lead Dancer of Dong Fang Performing Art Group in China. Patricia is super excited to have the opportunity to work with the production team of "Romance of the Western Chamber" as choreographer. This is a romantic story that was passed down from many generations ago. Patricia is very grateful that Dr. Rubenstein gave it new life in the West. She feels honored to have the opportunity to contribute to this great work. She also considers this is a wonderful opportunity to work and learn from so many talented and passionate artists on the team.

Javier Piñón is glad to provide sound design and live mixing for Romance of the Western Chamber! His previous design shows have been SDSU’s Long Christmas Ride Home and Love’s Labour’s Lost, but he has been around the school for several years now in shows like Pippin and Miku and the Gods. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Music Recording from SDSU in 2021 and formed Calibrated Productions, a company dedicated to helping minorities reach their full potential as artists. Javier has devoted himself to utilizing his creativity and experience to guide artists through every step of the music production process, video content creation, and music distribution. He works to provide minority artists of any skill level with the resources they need to push their creative careers forward, whether it’s booking studio time in their Long Beach studio, or performing for a crowd of Smash Bros players at The Pit in La Mesa. He is glad to add his work for Romance of the Western Chamber to the list, and he hopes you enjoy his and others’ designs in the show!

Clarene is pleased to be part of the Creative Team of “Romance of the Western Chamber.” She has been involved in costuming and cosplay since 2004. Previous works include California Youth Conservatory Theatre’s “Annie Jr.” and various productions from San Diego State University. She graduated from SDSU with a BA in History and Minor in Theatre, and also holds a degree in Fashion Design from San Diego Mesa College. All of these have contributed to her admiration and devotion to historical fashion.