Pictured left to right:

Stephen - Balfour Clark

Rae - Vi To

Toby - Aaron Applebey

Leo - Bridget Gao

The Playwright

Cha Mangan (he/they), is a Leuk-kreung Amehlika writer and neuroscientist hailing from suburban Philly. Their work centers strange, unhinged, petty, and audacious Asian psyches within surreal circumstances. His plays interrogate “authenticity” and “objectivity” within status quos; how do capitalistic systems muddy our senses of self? How are imaginations of Asian people constructed in modern American art, media, and literature? How objective are research institutions that create and uphold our scientific beliefs?

Cha is a two-time Fulbright Grant awardee, American Blues Theater Blue Ink semi-finalist, Chisa Hutchinson Signpost Fellowship semi-finalist, Molly Thacher Kazan Prize awardee, and a member of the 46 Minute Theater Collective. They’ve had the great privilege of having the work engaged with the Workshop Theater, Southeast Asian Lit Circle, Mixed Asian Media, the Fulbright Association, the 46 Minute Collective, and the Tin Can Contingency. He also loves straight espresso shots and cold, cold showers.

The Director

Samantha Toy Ozeas is a Brooklyn-based stage and film director. They have presented and developed work with Ma-Yi Theater Company, SheNYC, Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective, Southern Plains Productions, Dartboard Productions, Grassroots Artist Collective, Four Plays And, and 46 Minutes Collective. Sam has worked as an assistant / associate at Playwrights Horizons, Audible Theater, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare.

For the past two seasons, Sam has worked as a narrative shorts programmer for the Asian American International Film Festival presented by Asian Cinevision. Her film work has been presented regionally at Hollyshorts Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, and New York Shorts International Film Festival. They are a member of Leon Levy Foundation Roundabout Directors Group 6 and a 24 Hour Plays: Nationals Alum. Graduate of the John Wells Directing Program at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. Samanthatoyozeas.com

The Producing Body: Tin Can Contingency

Tin Can Contingency is an artist collective and production company built by and for early-career artists. We engage primarily in the mediums of theater and film, but are open to all forms of creativity. Through community-oriented events, we create a “third space” that bridges the gap between the social and the artistic so that our community can gather, share, connect, and inspire one another. We believe in art that unapologetically upends expectation and challenges thematic and aesthetic stasis in our industry. Since our founding in August, 2025, we have facilitated developmental workshops for five emerging playwrights, organized fundraising, production, and post-production for a short film, and hosted several artistic events engaging local artists in their community. tincancontingency.com

The Production Team

Stage Manager - Carina Jiang

Desk SM - Yining Shang

Intimacy Director - Hannah Kunce

The Designers

Scenic and Props Design - Ningning Yang

Lighting Design - Willem Hinternhoff

Costume Design - Paola Castañeda

Sound Design - Christy Pang

The Exhibition: Misalignment

The visual art exhibition Misalignment presented in tandem with Tin Can Contingency's Dragoness invites artists to respond to paradoxes, splits, and contradictions. The exhibition explores what it means to be tugged between identities, cultures, locations, and ideas of self; work that traverses the distance between the image of yourself and how others imagine you, and the ongoing formulation of the self from these contradictions. We are interested in identity as paradox, in life as contradiction, and in practices that honor the multitudes within and the multiple realities that serve us both for expression and for protection. Work featured confronts internalized oppression, betrayal—of language, land, lineage—and the uneasy desire to pass, belong, or ascend.

The Venue: Inspiration Point

Inspiration Point Center for the Arts is a cultural arts center and theater in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx. Their mission is to provide essential community programming, free and low-cost access to the arts, and opportunities and support for local artists.

Dragoness will be produced in the 2,500 sq ft black box Tiffany Street Theater and Misalignment will go up in the Fashion Moda Modern gallery, utilizing the full space and creating an immersive viewing experience for audience members.

Timeline

Dragoness will go up at Inspiration Point Thursdays through Sundays between May 28th and June 7th, with 4 shows each week. Misalignment will also be on display in the gallery May 28th through June 7th.

Get Involved

The Dragoness Team must raise $10,000. In order to achieve this goal, we need your support. Your pledge will contribute to covering the cost of space rentals ($2,800), design ($2,600), marketing ($1,000), and stipends for our cast and crew ($3,600). Gifts of $500 or more will receive credit in the performance program, two complimentary tickets to a performance of your choice, and our endless gratitude! Gifts of any size will be greatly appreciated.

Dragoness

A high-octane, satirical commentary on race and creating art under capitalism, Dragoness interrogates the ethics of reinventing identity in order to satisfy the expectations of those in power.

Team Members