KST’s Freshworks Program Supports Local Performances in Progress Exploring Diaspora and Bodily Autonomy
Caroline Yoo / Davine Byon and Anna King Skeels in April and May
East Liberty, Pittsburgh, PA—Kelly Strayhorn Theater welcomes audiences to KST’s Alloy Studios for artists Caroline Yoo and Davine Byon’s new performance in progress, Prophecies & Soy Sauce Shots on Friday and Saturday, April 5 – 6 at 7:30pm and Anna King Skeels’ unstitch on Friday and Saturday, May 3 – 4 at 7:30pm. Each performance includes a post-show discussion. The events are parts of KST’s Freshworks program, a creative residency offering an exciting glimpse into emerging artistic endeavors.
Freshworks first debuted at KST in 2013 and has been supporting innovative exploration in performance through interdisciplinary work in contemporary dance, theater, music, and multimedia.
Each season, we proudly present two projects from promising Pittsburgh-based artists and support them with two months of guidance, studio time, financial resources, and encouragement for creative risk-taking. The goal of the residency is for the artist to experiment and explore early iterations of ideas and share a draft of these concepts in front of an audience.
Prophecies & Soy Sauce Shots is an experimental performance comprising movement, text, music, sound, smell, and media. Artists Yoo and Byon guide the audience through three distinct vignettes, exploring the intricacies of their cultural identities, communal memories, and perceptions of belonging.
Yoo and Byon begin their exploration with an intimate conversation about their relationship with food, the Korean diaspora, and each other. They then lead an interactive satirical diversity exercise, prompting the audience to question the societal narratives imposed on their bodies. Finally, community collaborators join them in collective movement and music, “creating a home for ourselves within ourselves,” as Yoo comments.
For their May presentation, Freshworks artist Anna King Skeels focuses on healing the relationship between one’s mind and body. Their performance, unstitch, is a big-hearted and unadulterated tour through the organs of a soft and scarred body being torn apart at the seams.
This new performance in progress examines the effects of our relationships with others and the trauma we have endured on vital parts of our bodies from the point of view of a fat queer person. With movement and fiber arts at its center, unstitch is a gutsy theatrical exploration of a person’s inner workings.
KST’s Programming Manager Sarah Gilmer talks about how both groups of artists got selected for Freshworks, “as artists, they have presented compelling new works which are relevant to our society in meaningful ways”.
At the same time, Gilmer emphasizes Freshworks’ mission: “We want to encourage the creative exploration of Pittsburgh-based artists and support them through their journey. They are all at pivotal moments in their careers as artists and we’re grateful to provide space for them to bring their ideas to life.”
A site of community building and resistance, KST is a home for artists and a welcoming space for historically resilient people. We look forward to having you join the performance and stay for the post-show discussion.
Artists interested in future Freshworks opportunities can apply for the 2024/2025 cycle beginning May 6, 2024. Preview the application now in the application guidelines and sign up for the Info Session on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.
Freshworks: Caroline Yoo and Davine Byon, Prophecies & Soy Sauce Shots
Friday & Saturday, April 5 – 6, 2024
7:30pm – 9:00pm (including discussion)
KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $10 – $25
Tickets for Prophecies & Soy Sauce Shots are available on a sliding scale, from $10 to $25 per attendee, and can be purchased at kelly-strayhorn.org or at the door.
Freshworks: Anna King Skeels, unstitch
Friday & Saturday, May 3 – 4, 2024
7:30pm – 9:00pm (including discussion)
KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $10 – $25
Tickets for unstitch are available on a sliding scale, from $10 to $25 per attendee, and can be purchased at kelly-strayhorn.org or at the door.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Caroline Yoo is an interdisciplinary artist working in performance, social practice, intimate gatherings, and video installations. She uses translation to map forgotten histories – to reveal psychological shadows haunting the diaspora – and performs contemporary translations of rituals for the living. She is a co-founder and leader of JADED PGH, Hwa Records, and Han Diaspora Group, artist collectives focused on the Asian diaspora experience. Yoo has performed, exhibited, and produced at Carnegie Museum of Art; Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco; University of Michigan Ann Arbor; McDonough Museum of Art; University of Southern California; LA Art Show; Kelly Strayhorn Theater and more.
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davine byon is an artist learning to fall in love with awkwardness, koreanness, mistranslations, and herself; this project is a checkpoint in that endeavor. her recent work in theatrical media design and performance art have been featured at Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Rivers of Steel, Quantum Theatre, the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, Pao Arts Center, Lenfest Center for the Arts, the New Hazlett Theater, City Theatre Company, and The Andy Warhol Museum; BFA Carnegie Mellon University.
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Anna King Skeels (they/them/theirs) is a playwright, actor, and big nerd originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and currently living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a recent grad of Point Park University Theatre Arts. With an objective of using theatre as a tool for social justice, they create work with the intent to empower marginalized individuals. Skeels believes that community liberation and healing is possible through theatrical strategy. A psychological movement enthusiast, Skeels is always looking for a chance to make your theatre experience as queer as possible and take every opportunity they can to celebrate fat and trans bodies.
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ABOUT KELLY STRAYHORN THEATER
Named after 20th century entertainment legends Gene Kelly and Billy Strayhorn, both natives of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) is a home for creative experimentation, community dialogue, and collective action rooted in the liberation of Black and queer people. We welcome our home to all who uplift Black, Indigenous, people of color, and queer voices.
KST is an institutional arts anchor in Pittsburgh’s East End that has served the community for more than two decades. Since launching KST Presents programming in ’08, KST has been Black-led, fostering radical imagination for Black and queer arts, culture, and community in Pittsburgh by cultivating BIPOC and/or queer artists, entrepreneurs, and arts administrators, developing their careers, and shifting narratives around Black possibility.