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POSTPONED:Lecture+Masterclass Series: "From Page To Stage" with Melissa Li and Kit Yan

When
Where

AC-3H Atrium

Contact Name

George Lam

The York College Music Program presents a masterclass with musical theater creators Melissa Li and Kit Yan, on their award-winning musical "Interstate".

The York College Music Program presents a masterclass with Melissa Li and Kit Yan, creators of the award-winning musical Interstate. Sponsored in part by a grant from the New York City Council and the City University of New York.

Interstate is an Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical that follows Dash, a transgender spoken word performer who becomes internet-famous along with his best friend Adrian, a lesbian singer-songwriter. Fueled by the allure of fame and a desire to connect with their community, the band embarks on a road trip across America for their first national tour. Their fiercely political and deeply personal music touches Henry, a transgender teenage boy living in small-town middle America, and he finds solace in their art as he struggles with his own identity and family. After blogging about the band and documenting his own gender journey, he decides to set out on a quest to meet his heroes in person, hoping to find answers to his own struggles. Interstate is a touching story about how two transgender people at different stages of their journey navigate love, family, masculinity, and finding a community in the era of social media. More about Interstate: https://www.interstatemusical.com/

Melissa Li (Music, Lyrics, Book) is a Jonathan Larson Award recipient, a Dramatists Guild Musical Theatre Fellow, a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Lincoln Center Theater Writer in Residence, a Musical Theater Factory MAKER, and a former Queer|Art|Mentorship Fellow. Musicals include Interstate (New York Musical Festival, Winner “Outstanding Lyrics”), Surviving the Nian (The Theater Offensive, IRNE Award Winner for "Best New Play" 2007), and MISS STEP (5th Avenue Theatre). Her works have received support from the Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation, Goodspeed Musicals Johnny Mercer Colony, The Village Theater, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts, and Dixon Place, among others. Melissa has released music as a solo artist and collaboratively, including 2 Seconds Away, Drive Away Home (with Good Asian Drivers), and The Beginning (as Melissa Li & The Barely Theirs). She is proud to be from Boston, and proud to be based in NYC and Baltimore. For more info, visit melissali.com.

Kit Yan (Lyrics, Book) is a Yellow American New York based artist, born in Enping, China, and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. They are a 2019 Playwrights Center Many Voices Fellow, a Vivace Award winner, 2018-19 Dramatists Guild Musical Theater Fellow, a 2018-19 Lincoln Center Theater Writer in Residence, a 2018 Trans Lab Fellow (Public Theater/ WP Theater), a 2018 Village Theater Resident, a 2018 Mitten Lab resident, and a former Civilians resident. Their work has been produced by the American Repertory Theater, the Smithsonian, Musical Theater Factory, the New York Musical Festival, and Dixon Place. Their first musical Interstate, written with collaborator Melissa Li, won the Outstanding Lyrics award at the 2018 New York Musical Festival. Their solo play Queer Heartache has won 5 awards at the Chicago and SF Fringes. For more info, visit kityanpoet.com.