Kit Yan is a queer, transgender, and Chinese-American award-winning poet. He also writes plays and screenplays. Yan lives in New York.

Early life

Yan was born in Enping, China. As an infant, he moved to Hawaii and lived on Oahu until he was 18. He moved to Massachusetts to attend

Babson College Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Established in 1919, its central focus is on entrepreneurship education. It was founded by Roger W. Babson as an all-male business institute, but became coeducational i ...

, graduating in 2006.

Career

Theater

Yan is a 2019 Vivace Award winner;

Dramatists Guild Foundation The Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) is a public charity. According to its website, its mission is "to aid and nurture writers for the theater; to fund non-profit theaters producing contemporary American works; and to heighten awareness, apprecia ...

Fellow; 2019

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Writer in residence; a 2019 MacDowell Colony Fellow; 2019-2020 Musical Theater Factory Makers Fellow; a 2019-2020

The Playwrights' Center The Playwrights' Center is a non-profit theatre organization focused on both supporting playwrights and promoting new plays to production at theaters across the country. It is located in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Oc ...

Many Voices Fellow; and a 2019 National Alliance for Musical Theater (NAMT) selection for ''Interstate''. Yan has worked with collaborator Melissa Li on a production of ''Interstate'' at Mixed Blood Theatre Company in March 2020, a first draft commission of ''Miss Step'' from

5th Avenue Theatre The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theatre located in Seattle's Skinner Building, in the U.S. state of Washington. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land are owned b ...

, and a commission from Keen Company for a ''Keen Teens'' one act musical. In 2017, Yan, MJ Kaufman, and Cece Suazo found Translab, an incubator for transgender and non-binary voices in the American Theater supported by

WP Theater WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater based in New York City. It is the nation’s oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female-iden ...

and

Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

Plays

Interstate

Yan wrote ''Interstate, an'' Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical. The story centers around Dash, a transgender spoken word performer, and his best friend Adrian, a lesbian singer-songwriter. As an activist musical duo, they become internet-famous and embark on cross-America tour. Their political and personal music touches Henry, a transgender teenage boy in a small Kentucky town. He finds solace in their art while struggling with his own identity and family. Consequently, Henry becomes a video blogger, documenting his own gender journey. He sets out on a quest to meet his heroes in person, hoping to find answers to his own struggles. Interstate tells the story of two transgender people at different stages of their journey and how they navigate love, family, masculinity, and finding a community in the social media era. ''Interstate'' won 5 awards at the 2018 New York Musical Festival, including Best Lyrics. Residencies: * 2018: New York Musical Theatre Festival, Space on Ryder Farm selection, Musical Theater Factory, terraNOVA Collective's Groundworks Residency at the IRT; 29 Hour reading at Studio 353; Project Reach workshop;

Dixon Place Dixon Place is a theater organization in New York City dedicated to the development of works-in-progress from a broad range of performers and artists. It exists to serve the creative needs of artists—emerging, mid-career and established—who a ...

staged reading. * 2019:

Fellowship 2018/19; Johnny Mercer Colony at

Goodspeed Musicals Goodspeed Musicals is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, located in East Haddam, Connecticut. A distinctive feature of the view from the Connecticut River, th ...

Miss Step

''Miss Step'' is a heartfelt 80s dance musical comedy featuring a transgender/non-binary (TGNB) cast, live aerobics, stunts, competition, and exercise. Yan wrote a classic underdog story that portrays TGNB people as ordinary and extraordinary, defying all odds to sing, dance, compete, dazzle audiences, and find family in the most unexpected places. Residencies: * 2018: Village Theatre At the Table residency; Mitten Lab residency; First Draft Story Summit. * 2019:

First Draft Commission, MacDowell Colony Fellowship

T(estosterone)

''T(estosterone)'' follows two trans and gender non-conforming friends on a trip to Planned Parenthood as one gets on and the other gets off testosterone. Yan asks whether testosterone is the holy grail of (trans)masculinity or just another drug? Hormones can be magical, alchemical. Rubbing gel on the chest and arms once a day or a weekly shot can transform a body. Access, quality, and outcome, however, are not evenly distributed. T is an investigation into real trans lives and the oversimplified narratives that surround testosterone as hormone replacement therapy. Residencies: * 2017:

The Civilians The Civilians is an investigative theatre company in New York City founded in 2001 by Artistic Director, Steve Cosson. The Civilians artists pursue their inquiries using interviews, community residencies, research, and other methods. Working with ...

R&D residency; The Syndicate First Read Series selection; Playwrights Realm fellowship Semi-finalists; Playspace table reading at the Lark; DVR Foundation Playwrights Program Finalist; and 2019 Relentless Award special consideration * 2019: The Hub D.C. reading.

Mr. Transman

''Mr. Transman'' tells the story of Ariel, a moody trans/non-binary person in recovery, who unknowingly is entered into an alternative beauty pageant. To win, they must perform in a gender they're struggling to understand and compete against their most hated ex-romantic partner. Residencies: * 2018 Translab fellowship reading.

Queer Heartache

''Queer Heartache'' is Yan's award-winning one-person slam poetry theater show. It relates the resilience of queer love in all its forms—like between cis and trans siblings, lovers, and pride parade attendees — in the face of societal and medical treatment barriers. ''Queer Heartache'' won a combined total of five awards at the

Chicago Fringe Festival Chicago Fringe Festival was an annual performing arts festival showcasing traditional and non-traditional performances. CFF aimed to provide a space for artists to produce shows that would not otherwise be seen and a festival that was accessible ...

and

San Francisco Fringe Festival The San Francisco Fringe Festival, or SF Fringe, is a fringe theater festival produced by the EXIT Theatre in San Francisco. It is one of the oldest fringe festivals in the United States. It takes place over the course of two weeks every Septembe ...

. Produced at the American Repertory Theater; Diversionary Theater; IRT Theater,

The Brick Theater The Brick Theater is a venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that presents dance, performance art, drag, comedy, film, music, experimental theatre, and more. Gothamist has hailed the space as “one of the city’s most reliable sources for smart, funny, ...

Transgender Theater Festival;

;

; and on eight national college tours.

Film and TV

After Earth

Yan and

Jess X. Snow Jess X. Snow (Chinese: 陈雪; born 1992) is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, public artist and poet. Biography Biography Jess X. Snow's parents immigrated from Nanchang, China to Canada after the Cultural Revolution. From 2009 to 2013, Sno ...

wrote and produced ''After Earth.''

Synopsis

As rising sea levels threaten the loss of their motherland in Hawaii, the Philippines, China and North America, four women fight to preserve the volcano, ocean, land, and air for future generations in an immersive three-channel documentary created by a majority LGBTQIA cast and crew of queer Asian/Pacific Islander elders and youth.

Safe Among Stars

''Safe Among Stars'' was produced and co-written by Yan and

Synopsis

A queer Chinese-American woman struggles to tell her immigrant mother why she left school. She teleports into her own galaxy where no violence can touch her.

Poetry

''Queer Heartache'' is a full length poetry collection (TransGenre Press, 2016) adapted from Yan's award-winning one-person slam poetry theater show. Yan’s poetry explores his identity as transgender, queer, Asian American from Hawaii, asking what makes queer hearts and families and what forces constantly work to break them apart.

Poetry and speaking engagements

Yan's first solo slam poetry show, ''Queer Heartache,'' premiered at the 2015 International Chicago Fringe Theater Festival. GLAAD featured Yan in the ''Trans People Speak'' series in 2012. Yan spoke at the 2009 National Equality March. He was a featured speaker at the True Colors Youth Conference, the New England People of Color Conference, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Awards and honors

Yan and his collaborator Melissa Li won the inaugural Vivace Award for Musical Theater. In 2015, the Chicago Fringe Festival honored him with three awards: The Audience Choice; Artist's Pick; and Spirit of Fringe. In 2016, Yan won the Best of Fringe and the Volunteer's Choice awards at the San Francisco Fringe Festival. His poetry has been reviewed in

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

, Bitch Magazine,

Curve Magazine ''Curve'' is a global lesbian media project. It covers news, politics, social issues, and includes celebrity interviews and stories on entertainment, pop culture, style, and travel. History and profile Founded by Frances "Franco" Stevens in San ...

, and Hyphen. It has been featured in the anthologies Flicker and Spark, Glitter and Grit, and Troubling the Line. Yan won the first annual Mr. Transman competition in 2010.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yan, Kit Date of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American poets 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American screenwriters American LGBT people of Asian descent American LGBT poets American LGBT dramatists and playwrights American LGBT screenwriters LGBT people from Hawaii Chinese LGBT poets Chinese LGBT dramatists and playwrights Chinese LGBT screenwriters Babson College alumni American spoken word artists American male poets American male dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters Slam poets Transgender poets Transgender dramatists and playwrights Transgender screenwriters 21st-century American male writers Year of birth missing (living people) American transgender writers Chinese transgender men American transgender men