RELEASE: New Freshworks Performances in Progress at KST’s Alloy Studios by Zuly Inirio and Anya Collins
KST’s Freshworks reaffirms its commitment to encouraging and supporting creative risk-taking.
Zuly Inirio (Left); Anya Collins (Right). Photo credit: Kristin Pulido; Joy Holder
Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) is thrilled to present two upcoming Freshworks: New Performances in Progress in the Winter/Spring 2025 season, featuring Afro-Latina soprano Zuly Inirio and choreographer Anya Collins. On Friday and Saturday, April 4–5, Zuly’s La Voz que Soy explores her identity while challenging preconceived notions within the exclusive, Eurocentric opera world. On Friday and Saturday, May 2–3, Anya’s Fugue draws from the Baroque musical structure to embody the struggle between focus and distraction in the modern world through dance.
Freshworks is KST’s creative residency for emerging artists and collaborators based in the greater Pittsburgh region. The program provides artists with planning support and guidance, studio space, production staff, lighting and sound design, a stipend, and a resource budget.
KST takes pride in Freshworks for its commitment to encouraging creative risk-taking. Over two months, Zuly and Anya bring their ideas to the table, receiving feedback from KST’s Programming, Production, and Marketing teams while also enjoying the space for artistic exploration and self-reflection.
La Voz que Soy, or The Voice I Am, is Zuly’s reinterpretation of the 1958 French opera La voix humane. Using the opera’s original framework of revisiting her past love through a final phone call, Zuly recreates her experience getting ready at home for an audition while calling her mother. The work lives like an archive, tracing stories from Zuly’s childhood that shaped her identity. It follows her journey to the present as she grapples with the reality of fitting herself as an Afro-Latina singer in the predominantly Eurocentric opera world. “Or do I even want to fit in,” Zuly challenges in a profound way.
Meanwhile, inspired by Baroque music through a modern lens, Anya reimagines the classical fugue, the Baroque musical form where phrases chase and build on each other. Their choreography reflects today’s fast-paced media landscape, using fugue’s fragmented structure to embody the struggle between focus and distraction. Fugue is also an eager experiment with the Baroque music style and its associated, 17th and 18th centuries European dance forms. Combining the movement vocabulary from that period with a modern concept, Anya expressed their excitement: “I can’t wait to challenge myself, deciding where I’m going to break the forms and where I’m going to follow them.”
“It’s been incredible to see artists bring fresh ideas in design, narrative, music, and more each week,” says KST’s Programming Manager, Sarah Gilmer. “Both La Voz que Soy and Fugue interrogate genres of European music through different artistic forms. At KST, we strive to create a supportive environment for this sort of creative risk-taking, connecting artists with the resources they need to bring their stories and ideas to life.”
Freshworks: New Performance in Progress invites audiences to witness Zuly and Anya’s creative process in real time and the magic of the invaluable community support. As Freshworks continues to foster creative experimentation, KST remains dedicated to nurturing the future of performing arts in Pittsburgh and beyond.
Zuly Inirio: La Voz que Soy
Friday & Saturday, April 4 – 5, 2025 | with discussion
KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.
Tickets are Pay What Moves You, $15 – $30 per attendee, and can be reserv
Anya Collins: Fugue
Friday & Saturday, May 2 – 3, 2025 | with 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
Afro-Latina soprano, scholar, and TEDx Speaker Zuly Inirio (She/Her) is from the Dominican Republic and has appeared as a soloist throughout the United States and Europe. She actively pursues bringing awareness to Afro-Latinidad in classical music with her ‘Afro-Latinx Song and Opera Project’ whose goal is to commission new works about Afro-Latin and Afro-Latinx communities, as well as decolonize the classical music canon by uplifting the contributions and stories of Afro-Latin American and Afro-Latinx classical composers.
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Anya Collins (They/Them) is an emerging choreographer from Pittsburgh, PA, and Miami, FL. They attended New World School of the Arts High School and New York University Tisch School of the Arts. During their time at NYU, Anya crafted a repertoire of 11 student works across diverse mediums, ranging from solo pieces to collaborative endeavors for both film and stage.
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FRESHWORKS APPLICATION
Interested to be the next Freshworks artist? The application for 2025-2026 is now open until April 6. For more information and the application guidelines, please visit here.
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.