Noël Alumit is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

.Emmanuel S. Nelson, ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States''.

Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...

, 2009. . p. 21. He was identified as one of the Top 100 Influential Gay People by ''

Out Magazine ''Out'' is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. It presents itself in an editorial manner similar to ''Details'', ''Esquire'', ...

''."Out 100: Books". '' Out'', December 2002. p. 78.

Early life

He was born the second of four children, in

Baguio Baguio ( , ), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, United States. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

and later studied

playwriting A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

at the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute at

East West Players East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As the nation's first professional Asian American theatre organization, East West Players continues to produce works and educational programs that give v ...

."Alumit, Noel 1968-"
''

encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia.com (also known as HighBeam Encyclopedia) is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works including pictures and videos. History The website was launched by ...

'', 2008. He received his Master of Divinity in Buddhist Chaplaincy from the University of the West. In addition to his writing, Alumit has worked as an

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

educator with the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team in Los Angeles."Montgomery and me". '' The Advocate'', July 9, 2002.

Writing

Alumit's play ''Mr. and Mrs. La Questa Go Dancing'' was produced by

Teatro Ng Tanan Teatro may refer to: * Theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and also in

, Santa Barbara,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

.Wenying Xu, ''Historical Dictionary of Asian American Literature and Theater''. Scarecrow Press, 2012. . p. 24. His

one-man show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...

, ''The Rice Room: Scenes From a Bar'', premiered in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

in 1999, and was later staged at San Francisco's

New Conservatory Theatre Center The New Conservatory Theatre Center is a not-for-profit theatre company located in San Francisco, California. NCTC showcases an eight-show Pride Season, an In-Concert/Cabaret Series, Family Theatre performances, ''YouthAware'' Touring Educational ...

in 2000. It was voted one of the best solo shows of the year by the ''

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1966 by Bruce B. Brugmann and his wife, Jean Dibble. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. It was relaun ...

'', and played to sold-out houses in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities. He also wrote and performed another successful solo show, ''Master of the (Miss) Universe'', at

Highways Performance Art Space A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. ''Master of the (Miss) Universe'' was named "Best Bet" by ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. His debut novel, ''Letters to Montgomery Clift'' (

MacAdam/Cage MacAdam/Cage was a small publishing firm located in San Francisco, California. It was founded by publisher David Poindexter in 1998. In 2003, it published around 30 to 45 titles per year, primarily fiction, short story collections, history, biogra ...

), was published in 2002, and received the 2003

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...

from the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

, the Violet Quill Award from Insight Out Books, the Global Filipino Literary Award from Our Own Voice and the Gold Seal from ''ForeWord'' magazine. His second novel, ''Talking to the Moon'', was released in late 2006 by

Carroll & Graf Carroll & Graf Publishers was an American publishing company based in New York City, New York, known for publishing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction by both new and established authors, as well as issuing reprints of previously hard-t ...

. His collection of short stories ''Music Heard in Hi-Fi'' is forthcoming in summer 2023. His work has also been published in ''Tilting the Continent'' (

New Rivers Press New Rivers Press is an American non-profit publishing press located in Moorhead, Minnesota and affiliated with Minnesota State University Moorhead. As of 2020 they had published more than 400 books. History and mission New Rivers Press was found ...

), ''Take Out'' (

Asian American Writers Workshop The Asian American Writers' Workshop (often abbreviated AAWW) is a nonprofit literary arts organization founded in 1991 to support Asian American writers, literature and community. Cofounders Curtis Chin, Christina Chiu, Marie Lee, Marie Myung-Ok ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

), ''Subterraneans'', '' DisOrient'', and '' Lion's Roar''.

Acting credits

As an actor, Alumit's film and TV credits include ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...

'', ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'', and ''

Red Surf Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

''. He has performed in many Los Angeles productions, including the world premiere of

Chay Yew Chay Yew () is a playwright and stage director who was born in Singapore. He was artistic director of the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago from 2011 to 2020. Career Yew's breakthrough work came from his early plays ''Porcelain'' and ''A Lan ...

's '' A Language of Their Own'' (

LA Weekly Theater Award LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the '' LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal ...

for Ensemble Performance) and Michael Kearns' '' Who's Afraid of Edward Albee''.

Honors

Alumit received an Emerging Voices Fellowship from

PEN Center USA West PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN, an international literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being the PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unifi ...

and a Community Access Scholarship to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

's Writers Extension, studying fiction and the personal essay form. He was awarded the

Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize The Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize is an American literary award, presented to two writers, one male and one female, from the LGBT community to honour their body of work. First presented by the Saints and Sinners Literary Festi ...

by the

Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Saints and Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival is an alternative literary festival specializing in LGBTQ+ literature. It is held in various locations around the French Quarter neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana each March. Overview ...

in 2010. He was appointed to the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs in 2012.

Bibliography

*''Mr. and Mrs. La Questa Go Dancing'' - A play about a Filipino couple dancing the night away, finding new meaning to their lives by retelling stories about their son *''The Rice Room: Scenes From a Bar'' (1999) - A one-man show portraying the life as a gay Asian man in Los Angeles, told through six characters *''Master of the (Miss) Universe'' (2001) - A one-man show describing life as a young, gay, Filipino boy growing up in the Ramparts area of Los Angeles, while using authentic video footage from various beauty contests *''Letters to Montgomery Clift'' (2002) - A coming of age story of Bong Bong Luwad, a Filipino boy, who enlists the spirit of 1950s screen idol Montgomery Clift to help him find his mother who is imprisoned in the Philippines under the Marcos regime *''Talking to the Moon'' (2006) - A magic realism story about an immigrant family and their American-raised son

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alumit, Noel American male bloggers American bloggers Gay novelists Filipino emigrants to the United States American writers of Filipino descent Filipino LGBT novelists Filipino LGBT dramatists and playwrights Living people 1968 births 21st-century American novelists Gay dramatists and playwrights American LGBT novelists American LGBT dramatists and playwrights American male novelists American male dramatists and playwrights American dramatists and playwrights American LGBT people of Asian descent 21st-century American male writers Stonewall Book Award winners American gay writers