Kit Yan, slam poet

Award-winning poet and playwright

Award-winning transgender Asian American writer Kit Yan will perform an intimate evening of new poetry and spoken word. Their work often asks questions about race, class and gender in a world that tries to define our ever-shifting identities and understandings of ourselves. Join Kit for an evening of art, real-time processing and stories from the road.

Kit is a 2021 Jonathan Larson Grant and Kleban Prize recipient for libretto, a 2021 Sundance IDP Fellow and grantee, a Vivace Award recipient for big ideas in musical theater, a former Musical Theatre Factory Makers Fellow, Playwright’s Center Fellow, Company One/Pao Arts Fellow, Lincoln Center writer-in-residence, Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow and a MacDowell Fellow.

They have written for Disney and their films have been shown at OUTfest, CAAMfest, The LA Asian Pacific Film Festival and The Asian American International Film Festival, among many others. Their work has also been produced by the American Repertory Theatre, the Smithsonian and Diversionary Theatre. Kit is currently developing work for TV and film.

Artistic statement: “When I think about storytelling, I think about people. How complicated, beautiful, messy and strange we can be. How everything about us is a little sculpture made out of everyday moments in our lives. I am who I am because I am Asian, I am transgender and I was raised poor in Hawaii. I love all of these things about me, and my stories reflect the experiences I’ve had—the time I got a blood transfusion because I stopped taking T without consulting my doctor; the time I went on tour with my best friend who I was in love with, but who was in love with our drummer; the time in my life when I took step aerobics classes with older women who kicked my ass and made me feel free in my body. Without all these memories, I wouldn’t have stories. And without these stories I wouldn’t remember.”

Supported in part by:

https://mellon.org/

Artist Links

Kit Yan website

Please note, this performance will include mature content and topics, such as sex, sexuality, death, grief, blood, and some explicit language.

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