Soaring Solo Studios SOLO LABS are webinars FOR Solo Artists BY Solo Artists. This session focuses on taking your Solo Show to schools, conferences & beyond!
Join accomplished solo artist Ada Cheng for a 90 minute online deep dive into taking your Solo Show all around the world!
In this session, Ada Cheng will discuss how to make an impact with our art and performance using her own personal experiences on and beyond performing on stage. While solo performance is part of the discussion, she will include different art forms such as storytelling, writing, comedy, etc. She will discuss how to reframe our mindset and use art and performance in the service of community or communities. She will explore the various ways we can bring our art and performance to spaces such as universities, schools, conferences, nonprofits, and community organizations and centers. She will specifically discuss how to pitch our solo performance to conferences and universities as well as how to make a positive impact on nonprofit and community organizations with our creations. This session will be helpful for solo performers who seek to extend their impact beyond stage.
About the Solo Lab instructor:
An award-winning storyteller, solo performer, and keynote speaker, Dr. Ada Cheng uses storytelling to illuminate structural inequities, foster critical awareness, and build intimate communities. Since 2016, she has toured her solo performances Not Quite and Loving Across Borders nationwide, presenting at universities, theaters, conferences, and community spaces. She has used both solo performances as keynotes for academic conferences as well as university and community events. She premiered her third solo performance, The Trouble with My Hair, in Los Angeles in October 2025 as part of Soaring Solo Studios’ Stars Series. She is currently touring with her third solo performance The Trouble with My Hair: Coloring, Cutting, and Coming into Who I Am, developed with and directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson. Her solo performance has been accepted to the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival, Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival, Tampa Fringe Festival, and Vancouver Fringe Festival. It will also be part of the Women’s History Month events for University of Georgia at Athens and UIC. In addition, this solo performance will be part of the Texas Feminist Sociologist Conference in May. As a producer committed to amplifying marginalized voices, Dr. Cheng has created numerous storytelling platforms that center BIPOC and queer community members and support the sharing of difficult and vulnerable stories. She has been a speaker with the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau since 2019. Dr. Cheng was named the 2023–24 Lund-Gill Endowed Chair at Dominican University and was a recipient of the 2024 Public Humanities Award from Illinois Humanities. Her work bridges academia, storytelling and performance, and advocacy.
LAB info and policies:
Tuition for this workshop is just $29 and is non refundable & there is no cancellation for this event. We will be recording this workshop, so if you can not attend LIVE, you will receive the recording later to view.