Connie comes to Circa Pintig with a full compendium of communications and marketing management credentials which she merged with healthcare engagement when she immigrated to the US in 2005. Connie was editor of a travel trade publication in Singapore in the 80s and shifted to advertising when she returned to Manila. Following a successful career in the Philippines where she was vice-president of Chicago-based Leo Burnett Advertising Co., she immigrated to the US where her first job was as executive director of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Chicago.
Connie graduated from the University of San Francisco in California with a B.A. Major in English. She took up M.S. communications coursework while teaching college freshmen at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Open University. At the same time, she was VP of the Pasig Chamber of Commerce & Industry and volunteer business mentor of the Philippines Business for Social Progress Corporate Volunteers for Enterprise Development. She was credited for helping turn business around for a couple of small and medium businesses in Central Luzon.
Merging communications with health care and community involvement in the US, Connie trained as an LPN and phlebotomist, worked as a website content writer at a CNA school, and did volunteer work with AFIRE Chicago where she later became coordinator of the Immigrant Family Resources Program. While with AFIRE, Connie completed the Basic Immigration Law Course at the National Immigration Paralegal Institute. She also volunteered with Upwardly Global which helps executive-level immigrants find equal work in the US. At present, Connie tutors international students in English and US naturalization interviews and civics exams. Her interests lie in humanities, classical literature, and theater. She enjoys re-visiting required college readings now that there are no tests that follow.
Gemma is a resident of Aurora, Illinois, and is married to Venu Kosanam, a software architect for AT&T. Gemma and Venu are blessed with one daughter, a sixth-grader, SE. A leader in her own right, Gemma was an active youth member in her community, with a well-rounded personality and a great passion for the arts. She has directed stage shows in her college years and has directed and choreographed music videos as her way of motivating people into action at her workplace. She graduated college as a recipient of the Jose Maria Gepuela Scholarship Foundation. Being a scholar inspired her to keep on giving and making a difference. To this day she continues to serve her hometown with philanthropic work through various scholarship programs. She has been a past president and adviser of the Chicago Nightingales. Gemma is the manager of Amita Health Children’s Center of Chicago and Adolescent Behavioral Health Service.
Larry Leopoldo is a multifaceted talent from Chicago, known for his roles as an actor-playwright, cultural activist, entrepreneur, and now, a Teaching Artist at CIRCA Pintig. He is a founding member of CIRCA Pintig and an active member of the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago, promoting Filipino culture and history through the arts. Larry has adapted Filipino literary works for the stage and played Carlos Bulosan in Pintig’s inaugural play. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from DePaul University and authored ‘The Mysteries of the VERM.’ Beyond his artistic endeavors, he co-owns Leopoldo Catering and is a contractor. Larry also leads CIRCA Pintig’s BITAW – Flash Fiction Workshop, fostering young Filipino Americans’ writing skills through engaging exercises and discussions, emphasizing the art of crafting concise, impactful narratives. This workshop underscores his commitment to nurturing creativity and storytelling within the community.
Myra Kalaw is a poet and a book & paper artist. She has lived and worked in Chicago for over 30 years, has worked with the local CIRCA Pintig Theatre and The Bread & Puppet Theater of Vermont. In its inaugural year, she was chosen as one of 8 artists of Chicago Puppet Lab, an 8-month residency program by The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. When not actively collecting oral histories, Myra can be found deep in the inter webs of cubivino.net, making paper goods for digital connoisseurs, and doing social media for artists and theater groups.
Angela is one of the founders of Pintig Cultural Group (1991) and CIRCA (2001). She received her doctorate in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her scholarly work focused on social movements, race & ethnic relations, and cultural organizing. Her article entitled “Marching in March: Early Participation in Chicago’s Immigrant Mobilizations”, co-written with Prof Cedric Herring, appears in the book “Reinventing Race, Reinventing Racism” from Brill Press. Angela served as a Board member of the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE).
Jennifer Ligaya is an AfroPinay sound & performance composer and artist scholar born and raised in Chicago with an interdisciplinary background in visual art, vocal performance, dance, and theater. Mother to a Scorpio son, and PhD candidate of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, her original work includes solo and collaborative performance compositions and sound installations. A sponsored artist, grant recipient, and commissioned multimedia artist, Ligaya has been thankful to have had the opportunity to work with many impactful organizations including Honey Pot Performance and CIRCA-Pintig. Her creative work highlights critical conversations around identity, liberation, ancestral indigenous knowledge systems, and moments of communal healing, through the weaving of traditional and contemporary sound, performance, and personal ancestral folk arts practices. Ligaya’s research interests sit at the intersections of performance, sound, and dance studies, alongside Cultural Studies and Womanist Theory. Her current creative practice explores routes of return through the lens of Afro-Asian feminist subjectivity and speculative arts, indigenous healing and survival practices, and genealogies of anticolonial spiritual-political resistance.
Website: www.jenniferligaya.com
Giovanni Ortega (Dramatist Guild, SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA) has been working professionally for over a decade as a proponent of the performing arts as a multidisciplinary artist and educator. Playwright credits: The Butterfly of Chula Vista (San Diego Rep commission); Sama Sama: Solidarity in the Fields, Criers for Hire and Allos – the Story of Carlos Bulosan (East West Players commissioned production). Criers for Hire has been performed in Chicago, Sydney and San Francisco. ALLOS has toured Chicago, Honolulu, Austria, Uganda (Kampala Theatre Festival), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco and Singapore. Director credits include: Nicky, a modernized adaptation of Chekhov’s Ivanov, We Are Nothing Without Hantu Hantu (Hollywood Fringe) Halo Halo (Third Culture Theatre), Angel from Manila (Echo Theater), Lena Passes (Pasadena Playhouse) Scrimmage (East West Players), The Hotel Play (A.D., Center Theatre Group/ Playwrights’ Arena), La Madre de Todos los Exilios (La Casa Tercer Acto, Bogotá), Cabaret, Spring Awakening – The Musical, Urinetown. In Singapore, Giovanni directed The Body Series, Evolution, Kabaret Singapura and worked with Poetry Festival Singapore to create Benches and Palindromes (Theatre) followed by Belonging, Atlas and Nomads (Films). As a performer, he starred in San-San Onglatco’s film Zenaida (AFI Film Festival )and Dreams, A Musical at the Hawaii Theater. Additional credits: President Marcos in Imelda, The Musical (East West Players), Romance of Magno Rubio (Inside the Ford – LA Weekly award nomination), Dogeaters, The Refugee Hotel (Center Theatre Group) and Conjunto. For more information: www.giovanniortega.com
Louie is a long-time member of Circa-Pintig and has directed many of its productions. He was also a member of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and has served as musical director of several PETA productions. He has completed his doctoral program on media and community activism. Louie has designed our Community Workshop Series, among other programming.
Ginger Leopoldo is an educator, actor, director, and community organizer. She is a proud founding member of the Pintig Cultural Group and the founding Artistic Director of the Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts (CIRCA). Her work includes performing, directing, producing, and facilitating theatre productions and workshops of all ages. Ginger has helped to create a youth heritage curriculum with techniques that utilize a basic integrated theatre arts workshop methodology as well as a facilitator of Activism & Art workshops for college students. She received her B.A. and M.A. in theater from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ginger has collaborated with other theatre organizations around Chicago such as Old World Theatre Company and A-Squared Theatre Workshop. With over 20 years of experience as an educator and literacy coach for public school teachers through a nonprofit that engages at-risk youth with arts-based literacy programs, in addition, she has been the Program Director for America’s Children’s Museum on Wheels: StoryBus, delivering an interactive hands-on literacy experience for young learners throughout Chicago. Most recently she has taught ESL to students in China and is an adjunct lecturer in the ESL program at the University of the Potomac. In 2020, she led CIRCA Pintig to adjust to global virtual events and productions for the community. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in organizational and educational leadership.
