Kathy Hsieh is a theater artist. Courtesy of Kathy Hsieh
Good morning. It's Thursday, July 9, and today we turn to the brilliant and hilarious theater artist Kathy Hsieh.
In keeping with previous Messages to the City that have included tips on making your quarantine better—like the one Zoe Scofield made—Kathy's message today includes some life-improving props like a martini glass, a fake beard, and chopsticks.
After discussing systemic racism, Black Lives Matter, and the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on theater artists, Kathy says: "So who says you can't have Cheetos for breakfast?"
She goes on: "I use chopsticks whenever I eat Cheetos because—this is something I learned in theater, everything I know I learned in theater—your hands don't get dirty and you don't get anything on your costumes." And then she demonstrates it.
Some of Kathy's recent creative projects include being commissioned by the Barkada Theatre in Minneapolis to write monologues about being Asian American during the coronavirus crisis. And guess what—you can watch them being performed! Here's "Racial Distancing" and here's "As If You Never Existed."
As a performer, Kathy can be seen in the recent "Patch and Piper Save the Multiverse," a play for the whole family about the power of the imagination when in isolation due to the pandemic.
"If you put water in a martini glass, everyday feels festive, even when you're drinking water."Courtesy of Kathy Hsieh
For anyone interested in taking a deeper dive into her experiences as a theater artist and why she's so passionate about working towards anti-racism, watch this recent interview.
If you'd prefer to read about her, check out this profile about her beginnings as a theater artist.
To find out what's happening here, you'll have to watch the video.
If you want to support some arts groups during this unbelievably difficult time, Kathy suggests making donations to The Hansberry Project or the CD Forum or LANGSTON or Wa Na Wari or—even better—all of the above!!
