Page 25
Wednesday
Kit Yan, slam poet
OCT 9 7:30 pm
Onstage Seating
OCT 9 | Kit Yan
Page 26
There will be no intermission during this performance. PROGRAM Kit Yan Queer Heartache
Queer Heartache is a full-length poetry collection adapted from Kit Yan’s awardwinning, one-person slam poetry theater show. Yan’s poetry explores their identity as transgender, queer, Asian American from Hawaii, while asking what queer hearts and families are made of and interrogating the forces that are constantly working to break them apart. Queer Heartache is a testament to the resilience of queer love in all its forms—between cis and trans siblings, lovers, pride parade attendees, and many more—in the face of heartbreaking barriers everywhere from the dating pool to the medical establishment. Wrap yourself in a rainbow and enjoy the ride. Kit Yan is a Yellow American, New York based artist born in Enping, China and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Yan is a 2019 Vivace Award winner, Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, 2019 Lincoln Center writer-in-residence, 2019 MacDowell Fellow, 2019-2020 Musical Theater Factory Makers Fellow and a 2019-2020 Playwright’s Center Many Voices Fellow. Their forthcoming works with collaborator Melissa Li include a production of Interstate at Mixed Blood Theater in March 2020, a first draft commission of Miss Step from 5th Avenue Theater and a commission from Keen Company for a Keen Teens one-act musical. Interstate won five awards at the 2018 New York Musical Festival, including Best Lyrics, and it is a 2019 NAMT selection. Yan’s show Queer Heartache has won five awards at the Chicago and SF Fringe Festivals. Yan’s work has been produced by the American Repertory Theater, the Smithsonian, Musical Theater Factory, the New York Musical Festival, Diversionary Theater and Dixon Place. They have been a resident with the Civilians, Mitten Lab, 5th Avenue Theater and the Village Theater. In 2018, Yan founded Translab, an incubator for transgender and non-binary voices in American theatre, along with MJ Kaufman and supported by WP Theater and the Public Theater. There will be a Q&A session with the artist after the performance.