An unexpected case involving an actress and a director, and the conception and birth of her child, has gained attention.
In 2025, a stage production titled “Family Triangle” was presented at the Taipei Arts Festival, telling the story of a couple’s road to conception. A lesbian couple who desire to have a child wish to go through in vitro fertilization, something that is highly regulated in Taiwan.
They run into an issue over the chosen sperm donor — one of the couple’s siblings.
Still from the stage production. | TPAC
The stage production is actually not just that — it is based on the actors real lives.
Ray Tseng and her wife Hung Chien Han desired to have a child, something reflected on in the stage production, and eventually came to the decision of using Tseng’s eggs and Hung’s brother’s sperm, Hung Wei Yao, to conceive a child that Hung Chien Han would carry.
The production recently won an award at the Taipei Theatre Awards, where they announced that the production was based in truth, as Hung, who is eight months pregnant, showed off her baby bump.
Ray Tseng, Hung Chien Han, and Hung Wei Yao | Taipei Theatre Awards
With the reveal, some debate has followed, especially considering the Assisted Reproduction Act, which has strict guidelines for where IVF can take place. Usually, lesbian couples are eligible, but there are guidelines in place to prevent close relatives from donating to each other, which Hung Wei Yao’s donation may not count.
| Bea Borgers
The couple reportedly traveled abroad for the procedure, thereby avoiding complications. However, legal experts have pointed out that although the IVF procedure may not fall under Taiwanese law, issues surrounding parentage, registration, nationality, and the recognition of legal parents may arise after the child is born.