All For One Theater will present The Gift Project, created, performed and music composed by Diana Oh ({my lingerie play}, The Infinite Love Party, My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre, Clairvoyance), and directed by Oh and Cotz at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater (2537 Broadway, New York, NY 10025) on Saturday, April 9 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, April 10 at 3:00 PM.
Multi-Hyphenate, First Generation, Queer Korean-American Clairvoyant and Generative Artist
Diana Oh (they/them) and their live band will present original music written for and inspired by Elders, specifically of Marginalized Experience or Identity.
Over the past several months, Diana met with Elders born in 1956 or earlier, all of whom overcame incredible obstacles and lived remarkable lives. After each filmed interview, Diana retreated to write a song for each Elder, later returning to present them with their finished music compositions. The result is a documentary film series created in collaboration with Oh's documentarian and long-time collaborator jb (they/he/she) chronicling these conversations and performances. The concert will combine clips from the documentary film with a rock & soul & shamanic & boomlala concert of the music into one uplifting evening celebrating the Elders.
Diana Oh says, "I'm Korean-American. And Queer. My parents and my mother's family migrated to America in 1980 and they have lived longer in America than they have in Korea. Before my dad passed away a few years ago I was able to talk to him for hours about his life from start to finish and while I learned so much about him and how he become the human he is, I also learned so much about Korean History, and the hows, the whys, the whats and the whens of my parents' lives in America before any of their children were born. My father passing and my Kun-Emo passing, and my mother getting older, and my Halmoni long passed, and my Chagun-Emo living so far away, I feel the pang of losing the very special generation of people who moved to America and gave birth here. I also think about my partner's parents and how much they've seen and if they ever thought we'd get to the point of having Donny Rump as President: they witnessed the Assassination of JFK, and Martin Luther King Jr., and the Vietnam War. I think about the Survivors of the Holocaust living in America. And the Queer and Gay Folx living through the Aids Crisis. The Americans of Immigrant and Marginalized Experience who've given birth to my generation: they are our Elders now and I'm scared of losing their stories and life seen through their eyes. Thanks to the Pandemic, I felt the panic of the world ending and how anyone who lives beyond 65 years old is a miracle, and I wanted to let them know. That's why I decided to do The Gift Project. I'd meet an Elder living in America who identifies with a Marginalized Experience or Identity, talk with them about anything, let the conversation flow: and then write them a song as a Gift: not a song about them but a song FOR them and then come back to see them and give the song to them as a Gift: so The Gift Project."
All For One Theater Executive & Producing Director Nicholas A. Cotz says, "After losing a family member to the slow and tortuous disease of ALS, I came to realize how important the stories and memories that this family member had accumulated were to my immediate community. He was the lore keeper and family historian, the holder of secrets, and the archivist of multiple generations. When Diana came to AFO with this idea for a project that centers the stories of elders, and that specifically centers elders from communities that are historically marginalized, I knew that AFO needed to get involved. COVID was ravaging our country and we were losing our elders at an alarming rate; a project that focused on their stories and their history seemed essential. A project that would record the stories of first generations, and hopefully inspire others to go out and do the same. And what better way to do that than with song and celebration.
The performances will honor Elders June Oh, Salomon Rettig, Ph.D, Xuyen Hinh, Gordon Rogoff,
Shigeko Sara Suga, Kazi Khatoon, and Dr. MaryLouise Patterson.
The live band includes
Diana Oh (they/them) - Songwriter, Synth, Looper, Lead Vox; Jack Fuller (he/she/they) - Music Director, Keys, Vox;
Matt Park (he/him) - Electric Guitar, Vox;
Viva DeConcini (she/her) - Electric Guitar, Vox;
Michael Maloney (he/him) - Electric/Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Vox; Serena Ebony Miller (she/her) - Bass, Glockenspiel, Cello, Vox; and Timothy Angulo (he/him) - Drums; with musical guests Sarah Shin (she/her) and Tim Hall (he/him).
The creative team includes video production by ZANNI Productions, director of photography jb (they/he/she), associate producer
Josh Adam Ramos (he/him), associate director Sarah Shin (she/her), concerturg Rama Orleans-Lindsay (she/they), lighting designer
Sarah Johnston (she/her), sound design by Hao Bai (she/they), and music direction by Jack Fuller.
The Gift Project was originally commissioned by
The Public Theater (
Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director &
Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) and was developed with support from
The Sundance Institute Interdisciplinary Program.
Tickets range from $25-$35 and are available for purchase by calling the box office at (212) 864-5400 (Tues-Sun 1-6pm) or online at
www.symphonyspace.org/events/the-gift-project.
Diana Oh (they/them) is an open channel to the art that feels good to their body and is driven most by pleasure, mutual care, and keeping things heart-centered. Oh is an Actor, Singer-Songwriter, Writer and a Creator of Installations, Experiences, Rituals, Concerts, Parties, and Unboxable Art. Oh is the Creator of {my lingerie play} (ten underground performance installations in my lingerie staged in an effort to provide a safer, more courageous world for women, queer, trans, and non-binary humans to live in, culminating into a concert of Oh's music), Clairvoyance (a year-long installation, tree-planting and concert series celebrating Queer Magic in Harvard Yard, the Boston Public Library, Institute of Contemporary Art, and Harvard Arboretum with A.R.T.), The Infinite Love Party (an intentional barefoot potluck dinner, dance party and sleepover for QTPOC and Their Allies; Bushwick Starr), My H8 Letter to the Great American Theatre (Public Theater), Asian People are Not (mic.com), and was the mentor for Cherry Lane's Mentor Project 2020 for Shawn Randall's (The Making of) How to Save the World in 90 Minutes, Composer and Initiating Artist for Arden (The Flea). Oh is a Refinery29 Top LGBTQ Influencer, the first Queer Korean American interviewed on Korean Broadcast Radio, a TOW Fellow (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), Van Lier Fellow in Acting (Asian American Arts Alliance), Venturous Capital Fellow, Sundance Institute Fellow, Helen Merrill Award recipient, and band member of the U.S. Open. Oh tours with their art in unexpected spaces and enjoys not fitting into boxes.
All For One is dedicated to producing and developing extraordinary solo theater, and to creating opportunities for solo artists to enjoy sustaining careers. Extraordinary solo theater is unique in its ability to deliver life-changing stories. It speaks with a passion and intimacy that compels us to lean in, learn, relate, and revel, while offering a range of topics and experiences as diverse as humankind itself. Since 2011, All For One Theater has presented acclaimed full-length solo plays Off-Broadway. We also created the AFO Solo Collective (AFO|SoCo) to nurture and develop some of the brightest writing, performing, and directing talent in the solo world.
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