MY LITTLE CHINA GIRL

A KOREAN AMERICAN STORY WRITTEN, PERFORMED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY SOOMI KIM DIRECTED BY LETA TREMBLAY

Photo by Peter Yesley

(MLCG)

ABOUT THE SHOW

When David Bowie died, performing artist Soomi Kim was suddenly reminded of her own coming of age in the MTV generation and her adolescent desire to be the exotic Asian woman in Bowie’s China Girl video. MLCG (My Little China Girl) is a high octane solo performance that traverses Kim’s experiences as a first generation Korean American navigating the single most tragic event in her life, the confiscation of memory and the attempts that were made to replace them. MLCG (My Little China Girl) will pair award winning artists Kim and director Leta Tremblay with video artists Justin West and Kevan Loney.

This Dixon Place Commission is made possible, in part, with funds from the Heathcote Art Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Heathcote Art Fund and other generous supporters.MLCG (My Little China Girl) premiered at Dixon Place and ran for 6 shows in November, 2017.

Photo by Leyna Papach

Contact: soomikimperformingartist@gmail.com

CREATIVE TEAM

Performed, written and choreographed by Soomi KimDirected by Leta TremblayVideo design by Justin West and Kevan LoneyScenic design by Bryce CutlerDramaturg: Mia ChungSound design: Iggy HungOriginal music composed by Adam RogersLighting designer: Rob LavaverieChoreography consultant: Zeke StewartOriginal collaboration: Suli Holum

Photo by Leyna Papach

ARTIST BIOS: Soomi Kim (creator/performer) has been producing, creating, per-forming, co-devising theater for over 10 years. Visionary Asian American Artists Trilogy: Chang(e) (HERE Arts Center Artist in Residency, NPN Live & Onstage, Consortium For Asian American Theatre Artists in Philly, Headwaters Theatre, Portland, Or. presented by Boomarts), Dictee bells fall a peal to sky (Culture Proj-ect’s Women Center Stage Festival & CAATA in L.A.) and Lee/gendary (written by Derek Nguyen; HERE Arts Center, NYITA win for Outstanding Production & FNAATF, NYC) all co-devised with director Suzi Takahashi.

SOOMI KIMPhoto by Leyna Papach

Other residencies & grants: Mabou Mines, Hemispheric Institute, Asian Arts Initiative, NPN Creation and Forth Fund, Heathcote Art Fund, Urban Arts Initiative grant. Guest artist: Harvard University, Marymount Manhattan College, Oregon State U and NYC Asian American Student Conference. Kim has been featured in the NY Times, Timeout NY, Korea Times, Huffington Post, KoreAm Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, NPR’s WHYY in Philly, Oregon Arts Watch and Culturebot. www.soomikim.com

LETA TREMBLAY

Leta Tremblay (director) is a Theatrical Director based in New York City who strives to create space for Intersectional Feminism, Queer Voices, and Revolution in her artistic pursuits. The New York Times called her work; “Sweet and boisterous… an adventure and an event.” She assisted acclaimed SITI Company Artistic Director Anne Bogart on Kurt Weill’s musical opera LOST IN THE STARS at CAP UCLA. Leta is a graduate of Smith College and the Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Institute, where she now returns as a teacher and mentor. She is the Producing Artistic Director of Caps Lock Theatre and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

www.letatremblay.comPhoto by Leyna Papach

JUSTIN WEST TREM-Justin West (Projection Design) is a New York based projection and scenic designer. His work has been seen at Classic Stage Company, the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Keen Company, Walkerspace, The York Theatre, New Ohio Theater, La MaMa ETC, Clarion Opera, Dixon Place, Pace University, the Actors Studio Drama School, Pan-Asian Rep, Symphony Space, The Abingdon Theatre, the Alchemical Theater Laboratory, The Lion at Theatre Row, the American Bard; and regionally at Cas Di Cultura (Aruba), Park Playhouse (Albany), The Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia), The Byham Theater (Pittsburgh), the Provincetown Tennessee Williams’ Fest, Quisisana Resort, and more. www.justinwestdesign.com

BRYCE CUTLER

Bryce Cutler (Scenic Design) is a scenic and media designer based out of NYC. Pre-vious designs include premieres by John Patrick Shanley, Dael Orlandersmith, Matt Aucoin and Grammy award winner Steve Mackey. His design for The Lady In Red... was selected for international exhibition at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial and his work has been published in The Contemporary Performance Almanac. He is the recipient of the 2017 USITT/Live Design Rising Star Award and is co-founder of Third Space, a political theater collective. Education: Carnegie Mellon University. www.brycecutler.com

MIA CHUNGMia Chung’s (dramaturge) plays include YOU FOR ME FOR YOU, CATCH AS CATCH CAN, and THIS EXQUISITE CORPSE. She recently received the Frederick Loewe Award in Music-Theatre. YOU FOR ME FOR YOU had a Korean premiere at the Nation-al Theatre Center of Korea, a UK premiere at The Royal Court Theatre, a US premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and multiple regional productions. The play is published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. Awards, commissions, fellowships, residencies and workshops include Huntington Theatre Fellowship, Ma-Yi Writers Lab, New Drama-tists, NYTW, P73, Playwrights Realm, South Coast Rep, Stavis Playwright Award, and TCG Global Connections.

IGGY HUNG ADAM ROGERSIggy Hung (sound design) is a sound designer,

engineer and composer. Originally from Taiwan, his works have been heard throughout Taiwan

including Taipei Arts Festival, Taipei Fringe Festival and Taipei International Puppet

Festival before came to the US pursuing his career. Last time Iggy joined with Soomi for

Chang(e) at HERE Arts. Other credits: The Cherry Orchard (The Actors Studio); Our Lady

(New Rep Theatre, MA); Assistant for Wild With Happy (Public Theater); A Twist of Water (59E59); Rapture, Blister, Burn and Captors

(Huntington Theatre Company, MA). Iggy holds a MFA in Sound Design from Boston University.

Adam Rogers (composer/musician) A native New Yorker, Rogers has been the guitarist of choice for many of the greatest names in music: Michael Brecker, Cassandra Wilson, Chris Potter, Joe Jackson, John Zorn, Norah Jones, Paul Simon, John Pattitucci, Ravi Coltrane, Regina Carter, Christian Mcbride and Phillip Bailey to name just a few. He has appeared on over 200 albums and toured worldwide over the last 25 years. Adam has released six recordings featuring his unique compositional and improvisational abilities, the most recent being his genre bending power trio “DICE” which was released in June 2017 on his own imprint, Adraj records. Rogers has composed music for Lee/gendary, Dictee: bells fall a peal to sky and Chang(e).

Photo by Leyna Papach

“Soomi Kim is a nationally recognized performing artist who is most famous for spearheading a trilogy of plays, inspired by the lifeworks of Bruce Lee, artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, and performance artist & political activist Kathy Change. These cultural icons are connected not only by their performance practice, and not only by their deaths at young ages; in performance Lee, Cha, and Change are also connected through Soomi Kim’s body, conjuring their legacy for us as present matter. Kim’s performance work asserts Asian American representation and politics as fundamental to the understanding and practices of U.S. citizenship and belonging including concerns of labor, immigration, and empire. Through these iconic figures’ stories, Kim weaves her own autobiographical narrative into a genealogy of resistance through aesthetic practice. Her work inspires questions about history and repertoire, using the body and its movement as forms of writing history, made all the more urgent for the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, imperialism, and

nation entangled and reformulated through her work.”

--Professor Vivian Huang, Harvard

Photo by Leyna Papach

P R E S SInterview in Huffington Post

Gay City News Interview with David Noh*MLCG (My Little China Girl) was given an “Aggie Award” (Named after Agnes Moorehead) as one

of the 10 memorable performances of the year by David Noh of Gay City News!

Theatermania lists MLCG as one of 11 Asian American shows to watch 2017-18!

“Best Bet” Pick + review: Theatre is Easy

Feature and interview on SinoVision Channel

Interview on Blasting News

Photo by Leyna Papach

TECH RIDER

- Short throw digital projector— 3,500 lumen or higher; .52 throw ratio or similar (can be a little higher throw ratio, depending on the space.)

- 1x Apple laptop for playback (Qlab ins talled)

- 1x Lav Mic set (Mic, Transmitter and Receiver)

- 1x audio interface (For voice effect in Qlab)

- Cables connecting each other into house audio system)

- 2 tvs — composite A/V in

- 2 square box/cubes — ideally these would be one box with a lot more clearance underneath or a low, enclosed table to hide the projector

*We have a projection screen that would need to be shipped.

We will provide: camera for live feed video, tripod, slide projector, cables for video Photo by Leyna Papach