History

Artistic Director Emeritus Ping Chong is an internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary artist, and founder of Ping Chong and Company. Since 1972, he created over 100 original works for the stage in New York City, and around the world. In 1992, Chong created the first Undesirable Elements production in an ongoing series of community-based oral history performances exploring culture and identity. Published works include The East West Quartet and a volume on Undesirable Elements. The first comprehensive volume on his body of work, The Interdisciplinary Theatre of Ping Chong: Exploring Curiosity and Otherness on Stage by Yuko Kurahashi, was released in 2019. Ping Chong is the recipient of two BESSIE awards, two OBIE awards, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.

Ping Chong was born in Toronto in 1946 and raised in the Chinatown section of New York City. He studied filmmaking and graphic design at the School of Visual Arts and the Pratt Institute. He began his theatrical career as a member of Meredith Monk's The House Foundation. He collaborated with her on several major works including The Travelogue Series and The Games, for which they shared the Outstanding Achievement in Music Theatre Award in 1986.

In 1972, Ping Chong gathered a group of artists at Meredith Monk’s loft in New York City to create Lazarus, his first independent theatre work. Since then, he has created over 100 major works for the stage. Over the years, he has expanded the range of his explorations to include video and visual arts installations. He is recognized as one of our country's most significant multidisciplinary artists.

Executive Director Emeritus Bruce Allardice and Ping Chong had an artistic partnership that spanned nearly 35 years. Both retired in 2022, upon the 50th anniversary of Ping’s career as a leading artist and theatrical innovator. They worked tirelessly to achieve and hone PCC’s vision of aesthetically rich, socially probing interdisciplinary theater that explores the interconnectedness of cultures and multifaceted identities in the U.S. and across the globe.