FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KST Presents Pria Dahiya’s You and Me and The End of the World, A Freshworks: New Performance in Process
EAST LIBERTY, PA, September 14, 2023 — Kelly Strayhorn Theater presents You and Me and the End of the World, a devised theater piece by Freshworks: New Performance In Process artist in residence Pria Dahiya. The work is presented as a 30-minute showing followed by a Q&A with the audience at KST’s Alloy Studios on Friday and Saturday, October 6 and 7, 2023 at 7:30pm. This digitally sick, nauseatingly young, and fearfully queer performance project explores first love, first loss, and coming of age online.
“At a certain point I realized that so many people had experienced things associated with coming of age — falling in love, processing loss, and finding the work of art that changes your life forever — online. In the past, it may have meant going to a concert and seeing someone across the room, but now it is just between you and your phone or computer. For several years I’ve wanted to do a project that would physicalize, through theater, these isolating and alienating experiences I’d experienced firsthand” — Pria Dahiya
Embodying the disconnect between the bewildering psychological excess of living online and the frightening reality of living offline, the performance in progress explores the relationship between alienation, desire, mortality, and the internet. In an isolated corner of the world, on an isolated corner of the internet, two teenagers seek understanding through imperfect screens, confessional posting, and constant communication.
Pria Dahiya is in the last phase of her undergraduate career in Carnegie Mellon University’s John Well’s Directing Program. Her relationship with KST started when she assistant-directed Adil Mansoor’s Am(i)gonne at KST’s Alloy Studios in 2022.
“I was blown away by the amount of freedom the rehearsal process had and by the amount of time we were able to build in the space. The production was relatively simple, yet so much time and so much support was given to it. I had also seen Lyam B. Gabel’s performance, the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table at KST and again was blown away by the amount of resources and support for these fascinating, hybrid, boundary-pushing pieces” — Pria Dahiya
As a part of the Q&A, the artist welcomes a myriad of reactions to the themes presented by the performance in progress. Dahiya hopes that audiences who have grown up online will see their experiences reflected onstage, and audiences who have not will gain a deeper understanding of how growing up online influences our perception of the world and ourselves.
Download the .pdf HERE.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Pria Dahiya is a director, visual artist, and writer exploring internet
culture through literary adaptation, movement, and media design. Pria has spent twenty-one years being biracial, bisexual, and chronically online. Her work touches on the absurd code-switching and constant alienation of this duality, and how the internet can hide, broadcast, and manipulate these conflicting identities. Her recent work, Anything Good Makes Me Want to Die, was an evening of two surreal plays adapted from Otessa Moshfegh’s short stories. These self-produced plays inaugurated her theater company, the New Modern Product Theatre, an avant-garde company centering the realities of being raised online.
Yin Raquino (they/them) writes sonnets with their right hand and cracks the knuckles of their left. They return to Pittsburgh bruised, sober, and eager to devise art that is aligned with their integrity, intuition, and newfound definition of inquisitiveness. They believe it is imperative that we refuse to assemble a museum exhibit of loose threads in our denim pockets. We cannot afford to tear each other down anymore when ecstasy does the unraveling for us. They’ve made an oath to their Filipino ancestors to sustain virginity in their drinks, but never their mouth.
Rory Janney (she/her) is a writer, actor, playwright, 
costume designer, theatre & community maker based in Pittsburgh. Her work explores alienation, community, trauma, loneliness, and grief through all things human, fantastic, absurd, and grime. She likes tchotchkes, bric-a-brac, knick knacks, women, horror stories, sunscreen, monsters, soft-yolky insides of hard and ugly things, hard-snarly insides of pretty polite things, chasing grace, embracing ugly, pirates, bats, and therapy. Having been a part of New Modern Product Theatre’s baptismal piece, she is excited to continue the work to make this happen.
Rowan Acadia Dunlop is a proud Cajun from the back pastures of Vermont. As a writer, dramaturg, visual artist, 
and founding member of New Modern Product Theatre, Rowan’s work revolves around the rural experience, the study of the past for the sake of the future, and holding hands. Rowan works on war dramas and good old fashioned love stories, and has worked with the DOD as a scriptwriter for President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition, with the U.S. Army War College, researching/devising WWII case study exercises, and with StoryWarrior Media Capital, producing children’s animation. Rowan also enjoys working with goats.
davine byon (she/her) is a performance artist, theatre designer, and digital hoarder. her work visualizes the media landscapes that hold our
silly and shameful collisions, offering that they might also be precious, even sublime. she is traumatized by brutal anonymous internet behavior and charmed by the hope that none of it matters.davine’s recent work has been featured at Kelly Strayhorn Theatre, 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.
ABOUT FRESHWORKS: NEW PERFORMANCE IN PROCESS
Freshworks is KST’s creative residency for 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 artists with planning support and guidance, studio space, production staff, lighting and sound design and encouragement for creative risk taking. Artists are invited to apply either as an individual or as a collaborative group.
Freshworks artists are provided a $1,000 honorarium and $1,500 resource budget during the residency. This is to help offset the costs of creating new work. Each residency will take place over a two-month period. During these two months, artists will develop a 30-minute live showing that is a first draft of an original artistic project. The first month is intended for planning; this includes what form the project will take, securing collaborators, and brainstorming design. During this time, artists will meet weekly with KST Programming and Production Staff to chart out production and scheduling needs as well as utilize their outside perspectives. The intention is that KST Staff is present to pose questions that can help the artist think through various aspects of ideas.
The second month is focused on in-studio rehearsal and creation of a 30-minute draft of their project. Weekly meetings with KST Staff continue and shift focus towards actualizing production needs.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. At the end of the process, they will have valuable insight into further developing their project.
taylor knight and anna thompson are co-founding artistic directors of the Pittsburgh-based multidisciplinary performance entity slowdanger. Founded in 2013, slowdanger uses movement, integrative technology, found material, electronic instrumentation, vocalization, physiological centering, and ontological examination to produce their performance work. The more they engage in this collaborative work, the more they recognize the manifestation of their work as a non-binary entity that is one body amassed of multiple bodies in space. Each work seeks a deeper understanding through the practice of making. This ever evolving process is akin to the construction zone where inspiration was drawn for the name, slowdanger. anna and taylor have worked with Sidra Bell, Francesca Harper, Roderick George, Bill Shannon, MICHIYAYA Dance, Nile Harris, Jasmine Hearn, Maree Remalia|merrygogo, CorningWorks, Mark C. Thompson, The Pillow Project |Pearlann Porter, Jil Stifel, Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson and more.
COMMUNITY
DANCE | COMMUNITY
DANCE | COMMUNITY
DANCE | COMMUNITY
FUNDRAISER | COMMUNITY
DANCE
DANCE
EAST LIBERTY, PA — Kelly Strayhorn Theater is pleased to announce Or Forever Hold Your Peace, a 75 minute theater experience from Big Storm Performance Company. Based on the real-life experiences of the creators, this show explores the B plots, uncomfortable interactions, and opportunities for personal discovery that occur at weddings.
E Forney (she/they) works in higher education administration, organizes with leftists, and dabbles in many other things. When she is not at rehearsal, Forney is recording with her podcast co-hosts for One More Thing, coordinating events for Puzzled Pint, playing video games, or dabbling in some new hobby (right now it’s rug tufting). Forney has worked as support or tech for multiple Big Storm productions (“Quest”, “Portals on Penn”, “Say That to My Face”, “Dance Show: A Dance Show”) and looks forward to more!
Phillip Fry (he/him) graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2017 with a BS in Mathematics and a Minor in Theater Performance. When not rehearsing, Phil enjoys playing video games, reading, discovering new breweries in the area, and visiting with his family. His previous works include, Stage: Portals on Penn, Say That to My Face (Big Storm PC); Film: Tributaries (Crazy Pants Productions); Voice Over: No Exit, Cave of the Green Light (Play on Words Podcast). Phil would like to thank his fiancée, mom, dad, brother, and sister for pushing him to keep doing theater and to his cats that keep them company during the down time.
Yang Zhen Lee (They/Them) is a comics and tattoo artist who likes to dabble in many things. Zhen was in Teresa Martuccio’s Pink Potatoes, and in some City of Play events such as “Emotional Landscapes,” “Intimate Subjects,” and “Fantastic Adventure: Greenfield Bridge.” When not rehearsing, Zhen likes playing games, moving through the world in new ways, petting animals, and seeing what art peeps have been making. Zhen says “Thank you to the fun and warmhearted folks of Big Storm for being absolute sweeties. Thank you Forrest for helping me go through lines many many times.”
Jess Malandro (she/her) currently works at the University of Pittsburgh’s Big Idea Center as manager for student programs. When she isn’t working at Pitt, Stick City Brewing Company, or rehearsing with Big Storm, you can find her reading and/or furiously snuggling her two cats (Dae and Bucky). Over the past few years, Jess has performed with Big Storm in productions such as Say That To My Face and Portals on Penn. She would like to thank her fiancé, Phil Fry, for getting her to rehearsals on time and being a major support system over the past couple of months. Lastly, she would like to thank José and Taylor for being so awesome throughout this process (and every other time, really).
José Pérez IV (he/him) Julio/Dance Core, Dance Captain, Choreography, Playwright – is a fight choreographer and theater maker. Artistic Director of Big Storm Performance Company. MFA in Performance Pedagogy from the University of Pittsburgh, BFA in Drama from NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing. When not making new theater, he likes to read in cafes and wave at dogs. José’s original work has been seen in New York City venues, on the hills of the Smoky Mountains, and in a moving car.
Olivia Devorah Tucker (they/them) is a transfemme Jewish demonologist with an affinity for vibrant theater and baking thematically-shaped challah. Professionally, Olivia serves as Program Coordinator for SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva (founders of Queer Talmud Camp), where they study as a teacher-in-training. Olivia Devorah has variously performed, puppeteered, sang, danced, devised, and dramaturged for FOLKLAB’s QUEER (2018), Moriah Ella Mason’s Queer Jewish: Dancing In Diaspora (2019), Teresa Martuccio’s Pink Potatoes (2019) and Gunner LaBuff’s Hatena, A Guinea Pig Play (2019) at the Glitterbox. Olivia sends thanks to friends, family, the Highland Park pool, and the Phantom of the Attic comic book store for getting them through the tough times!
Matt Vitullo (he/him) is thrilled to be in yet another Big Storm production! Matt graduated from the University of Pittsburgh for theater and has been performing in the city ever since. Previous roles include Benvolio in Romeo & Juliet (Pittsburgh Classic Players), a tea shop fighter in Portals on Penn (Big Storm), and a lovesick bard in Quest (Big Storm). When not performing, Matt can be found playing Dungeons & Dragons, gaming, reading, writing, or spending time with friends (as safely as possible, of course). “Thank you to Big Storm, especially José and Taylor, for making so much cool art that I get to participate in, and to my incredible friends who always give me support and lend me an ear while I talk about this show endlessly. Thank you!! :^)
Ariel / (they/them) is an interdisciplinary performance artist dancing onto the scene from underground art spaces in Pittsburgh, New York, Shanghai, the Bay, and Hong Kong. With roots in butoh, martial arts, and street dance, they are thrilled to be performing with Big Storm for their funky and athletic choreography. Notable venues where they have performed and displayed works include SPACE Gallery, The Space Upstairs, GPAC Center, Baryshnikov Dance Center, Alloy Studios, New Hazlett Theatre, and Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. They are concurrently making films as part of the Spring 23′ cohort in the Digital Documentary Filmmaking Fellowship at the Warhol Academy.
Charlie Left is a nonbinary screenwriter, competing slam poet, and performing artist in Pittsburgh, PA. Their work has appeared in Pretty Owl Poetry, Medium, and elsewhere. They’re in the Pittsburgh Prison Book Project’s leadership group, a volunteer non-profit organization based in Pittsburgh that sends reading and educational materials to prisoners across PA. They formerly curated and emceed The Bantha Readings in Pittsburgh, a series dedicated to showcasing local writers. Their work, best described as creative nonfiction with a surrealist twist, focuses on the role of gender and masculinity in our everyday lives. Find them online @charlie_left or charlieleft074@gmail.com
Jade Young (they/she) is a trans/non-binary dancer, singer, actor and writer. They have been training in dance since the age of three years old. They are a dancer in the styles of jazz, tap, hip hop techniques, jazz funk and contemporary dance. They graduated in 2021 from Full Sail University with a certificate in Creative Writing. Most recently Jade has done stand-in/photo double work for actress Andra Day in the Lee Daniels directed film “The Deliverance” and acted in City Theatre’s 2022 Young Playwright’s Festival. When Jade isn’t dancing or performing she is studying piano and voice under the amazing Cathie Crocker, plays their Taylor acoustic guitar and enjoys spending time with their family and orange tabby cat Simba. “Thank you to the cast members and team of Big Storm. It’s been an absolute joy working with all of you. Thank you to my Mom, my brother Mason and best friend Rebekah Davis for your love and support”. Follow them on Instagram @jadenjewel13.
Lucy Jaffar (she/her) is a dancer and arts administrator from San Francisco. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a BS in psychology and a BA in dance and has had the opportunity to dance and train with amazing organizations including San Francisco Ballet, Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, ODC, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and DancEsteem San Francisco. Lucy can normally be found adventuring in nature, playing guitar, or spending quality time with her family, friends, and two boxer dogs. She would like to thank Dylon for being the best support system to her through everything.
Sarah Hoy (she/they) is a current student at Point Park University studying Theatre Arts with a minor in musical theatre! They are very excited to be doing their first show with Big Storm Performance Company and have loved the process with this amazing group. Previous works include Coping with COPA (flash dancer), Men On Boats (swing/Mr. Asa), and the RLM One Act Festival. She’d like to thank her friends and family and amazing coworkers for supporting her in all the work! @sarahhoyarts
2020 Guggenheim Fellow Shamel Pitts is a performance artist, choreographer, conceptual artist, dancer, spoken word artist, and teacher. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Shamel began his dance training at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts and, simultaneously, at The Ailey School. He is 2003 YoungArts Finalist and a first prize winner of the YoungArts competition. Shamel then went on to receive his BFA in Dance from The Jui
ushrik Fredricks (Performer)
Marcella Lewis (Performer)
Lucca Del Carlo (Video Lighting Designer) 
Sivan Jacobovitz (Composer) 
Originally from Brazil, Mirelle Martins (Costume Designer, Creative Director) received her Bachelor Degree in Social Communications (UnB 2002-06). She has worked as an artist, independent curator and art producer since 2010. In 2013, Mirelle started to research her own artistic expression in performance art with the intensive summer course of Gaga.people.dancers in NYC. Since 2015, she has been producing Gaga courses yearly in Brazil, so far reaching over 1200 students. In 2016, as a 32-year old, Mirelle made her dancing debut in “BLACK VELVET”, a duet by Shamel Pitts, with light designer Lucca Del Carlo. The show toured in the US and internationally from 2017 to 2020, and has received the Audience Choice Award in Stockholm Fringe Festival (Sweden, 2017), and Best out of Town Production by ArtsATL (Atlanta, 2018). The partnership with Pitts continued with “BLACK HOLE” (2018), where Mirelle has collaborated as performer and costume designer. Since 2019, Mirelle is one of the founding artists of TRIBE, Brooklyn-based arts collective led by Pitts, where she also acts as Creative Director. 
Naomi Maaravi (Black Tarp Designer)
Itai Zwecker (Photographer, Cinematographer) 
Diarra Imani is a Pittsburgh-based artist that is dedicated to truth-telling in her work. Whether it be through 