Literature To Life Will Present THE LATEHOMECOMER at The Rogue Performance Festival

Literature to Life (LTL) has announced its participation in the 2024 Rogue Performance Festival, presenting its Signature Performance of The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang. The Latehomecomer is a tribute to Yang's grandmother and tells the story of her family's journey from the Ban Vinai Refugee camp in Thailand to America. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of the Hmong people, who have worked hard to make their voices heard. 

Join us as Hmong actor, Jasmine Vang, brings this powerful story to life in her debut performance. The Latehomecomer was co-adapted by Aurea Tomeski and Elise Thoron, and directed by Aurea Tomeski. 

“I am thrilled to do my part, as director and co-adaptor, in bringing this powerful and timely story to the Rogue Festival and the Fresno community,” says Tomeski. “I hope that audiences will continue to think about it and talk about it long after they leave the theater. Kao Kalia's memoir, published in 2008, gave voice to a community that had largely stayed in the shadows, and with this theatrical adaptation, Literature to Life is pleased to be part of the change that brings wider visibility to the Hmong culture.”

The performances will take place at the following times:

• Friday, March 1 at 5:30PM

• Saturday, March 2 at 2:00PM

• Sunday, March 3 at 6:30PM

• Friday, March 8 at 7:00PM

• Saturday, March 9 at 5:00PM

For more information, or to buy tickets, please visit the button below.

Literature to Life (LTL) is a performance-based literacy program that presents professionally staged verbatim adaptations of American literary classics. Initially conceived as the educational program of the renowned American Place Theatre, LTL is now an independent organization with a mission to perform great books that inspire young people to read and become authors of their own lives. 

LTL has announced the debut performance of Jasmine Vang, Hmong American theatre artist based in Fresno and Los Angeles, California. She is a creator/performer and currently works with Good Zoo studios as a teaching artist for Hmong actors and creators. Her work centralizes around creating more representation and recognition to the Hmong Community in the arts. 

Vang says, “I am so excited to bring The Latehomecomer to the Fresno Community! Being born and raised in Fresno as a Hmong American, this story deeply resonates with me, my family and my people. I have worked with Literature to Life on this piece since 2020 and this debut is the fruition of a four-year-long process. I am so proud of The Latehomecomer and what it means for Hmong dreamers in America. Not only is it a message to the Hmong community that we are seen, it is proof that our dreams are possible and above all, we are empowered. I can't wait to share The Latehomecomer with you all!”

Founded in 2002 by Fresno playwright Marcel Nunis, the Rogue Festival is now one of the oldest and best respected Fringe theater festivals in North America. The Rogue provides a venue for artists to present their most daring and experimental work and gives audiences a unique chance to see new, bold and utterly unconventional performances before anyone else.

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