December 14–16, 2015
Granoff Center, Studio One
Written by Katie Ka Vang ’16 MFA. Directed by Rebecca Noon.
A part of Writing Is Live
Spirit Trust is a play about guardian angels helping their spirits and humans to heal and and live.
In the world of Panooramen (the world of the guardian angels) there is a body of water named Mekong Ma’am, which can help heal broken spirits. Reema is spirit to human Violet. After undergoing too many chemo treatments and failed transplants, Reema has become slightly broken, and Angel has snuck her into Panooramen to find Mekong Ma’am so that she can save Reema and Violet. But can they find Mekong Ma’am before it’s too late?
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About the production:
MFA Playwriting Thesis Productions follow through on earlier experiments in rehearsal to public performance, engaging with the writer’s root definitions of a public. How and who are assembled, and what’s their job before, during, and after the show? The production was presented as part of the extended Writing is Live festival that celebrates the diversity and strength of new theatrical voices while simultaneously exploring the meaning of text in performance.
Katie Ka Vang ’16 MFA is a Hmong American playwright and theatre artist. She has been described as a, “dynamic performer and relentless writer of truth.” She has performed for Pangea World Theater, Theatre Mu, Pillsbury House Theatre, Exposed Brick Theatre, Ordway Center for Performing Arts, Center for Hmong Arts and Talent, and The Walker Art Center. She has self-released a collection of poetry and prose called Never Said. Her work has been published in Saint Paul Almanac, Bakka Mag., Asian American Press, BlueFifth Magazine, and Voices from the Asian American Experience. She is the recipient of a 2016 Knight Arts Challenge Award. She received an international playwright’s residency at The Royal Court Theatre in London. She has received grants from the Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, and The National Performance Network’s Creation Fund and Forth Fund. Her commissioned performances and plays include wtf and Hmong Bollywood. Her work has been developed and produced at Theatre Mu, Pangea World Theatre, Out North Contemporary Art House, The Bushwick Starr, and Bedlam Theatre. She was a Naked Stages Fellow where she created the performance, 5:1 Meaning of Freedom; 6:2 Use of Sharpening. She also received The Woman of The Year Award from The Amherst Wilder Foundation’s HWAT’s program for her play wtf.
