RELEASE: New Freshworks Performances in Progress: Moire del Carmen’s Baquiné and Rickia Davenport’s The Choice
KST showcases two new artistic inquiries: one by a queer artist reclaiming identity and loss through Puerto Rican tradition, and another uplifting the strength of African American women navigating reproductive health struggles.
Moire del Carmen, Photo Credit: Courtesy of Moire del Carmen
PITTSBURGH, PA – This fall, Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Freshworks creative residency returns to KST’s Alloy Studios, showcasing two new performance works-in-progress that transform deeply personal experiences into collective celebrations of resilience, imagination, and community. On Friday and Saturday, October 3 – 4, Moire del Carmen shares Baquiné, a theater work drawing from the Afro-Caribbean tradition in Puerto Rico that celebrates a child’s passing as the birth of an angel. Rickia Davenport’s dance-theater piece, The Choice, explores the complex reproductive health challenges faced by African American women and the power of their voice on Friday & Saturday, November 7 – 8.
Written and performed by Puerto Rican trans artist Moire del Carmen, Baquiné is an absurd romp through death and back. This humorous one-act play follows Moire and her friends as they grapple with loss, trying to make art while the seductive pull of death threatens to consume them. Moire shares, “In Puerto Rico, it is believed that when a child dies, it is not a cause for mourning because an angel is born from their innocent soul.”
This tradition carries deeper meaning for Moire as a trans woman who has also lost a close trans friend. “Since coming out, the idea of my funeral has haunted me. Will I be buried in cropped hair and a suit? Since I’ve only lived as myself for four years, I feel like a child of sorts,” she reflects. “Some years ago, I lost a close friend who was also trans. I became obsessed with using theater to speak to him again. I began having visions of trans people in a fabulous afterlife, in their highest glam, celebrating and ironically singing to ‘Hell’ by the Squirrel Nut Zippers.” Inspired by Moire’s lived queer experience, Baquiné explores what happens when grief is met with laughter, love, and the transformative power of art.
Rickia Davenport, Photo Credit: Courtesy of Rickia Davenport
Directed and choreographed by Rickia Davenport, The Choice blends contemporary, hip-hop, and modern dance with compelling visuals, crafting a deeply personal yet universal story of struggle, resilience, and hope. Topics like motherhood, child loss, bodily autonomy, and societal expectations collide in this intimate performance.
Despite her traumatic experience of child-loss at birth, Rickia decides to brave through her vulnerability and share the complex reproductive health challenges faced by African American women through her work: “‘The voice of the voiceless’ is my goal throughout the entire show. What happened to my son and me could have been prevented with the right care and attention during my pregnancy. Our voices, mine and my son’s, were significant then, and they carry even more weight today”. Through movement and storytelling, Rickia calls for African American women to be proactive, empowered, and supported in their healthcare journeys. “My hope is that this work can provide healing, impart knowledge, and inspire meaningful change in the medical field for others who may share similar experiences”, said Rickia.
Kelly Strayhorn Theater invites audiences to witness Moire and Rickia’s creative process and be collectively inspired by their journey of healing. Through artistic experimentation, they honor what has been lost while celebrating what endures: love, community, and the unbreakable spirit of creation.
Moire del Carmen: Baquiné
Friday & Saturday, October 3 – 4, 2025 | with post-show discussion
KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.
Tickets are Pay What Moves You, $15 – $30 per attendee, and can be reserved here.
Content Disclosure: This performance includes strong language, partial nudity, and simulated substance use, as well as mention of death and suicide, substance abuse, and sexual assault.
Rickia Davenport: The Choice
Friday & Saturday, November 7 – 8, 2025 | with post-show discussion
KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.
Tickets are Pay What Moves You, $15 – $30 per attendee, and can be reserved here.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Moire del Carmenis a multidisciplinary artist and actress from Puerto Rico, whose work blends functionality, craft, costuming, and portraiture. With an MFA in Costume Production from Carnegie Mellon University, she bridges craft and performance, using costuming as a tool to embody and dramatize the experiences of trans women, drawing inspiration from drag culture. She views the manipulation of thread and fabric as an affirmation of her gender identity, while reflecting on the historical undervaluing of “domestic arts.”
Rickia Davenport, a proud native of Pittsburgh’s Hill District and South Hills, has dedicated over 12 years to shaping students’ lives through dance and fitness. With a strong background in Hip-Hop, Ballet, Contemporary Dance, and Fitness, Rickia’s teaching reflects her life’s journey. Currently, she serves as the Arts Education Director at K-Theatre Dance Complex and as a lead Teaching Artist for Propel Charter Schools. Rickia has also forged impactful partnerships with organizations like Voices Against Violence, Gwens Girls, and more.
ABOUT FRESHWORKS
Freshworks is KST’s creative residency for emerging artists and collaborators based in the greater Pittsburgh region. Freshworks made its debut in 2013 and supports playful exploration in performance through interdisciplinary work in contemporary dance, theater, music, and multimedia.
The program provides emerging artists with planning support and guidance, studio space, production staff, lighting and sound design, a stipend and resource budget, and encouragement for creative risk taking. Artists are invited to apply either as an individual or as a collaborative group. Artists without extensive experience in new work development are highly encouraged to apply. This residency is dedicated to nurturing those who are just beginning to explore original work, providing a unique opportunity for experimentation and artistic growth.
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.