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PILLOWTALK

Set in Brooklyn 2017, PILLOWTALK brings to life one night in the lives of Sam and Buck, a recently married interracial couple. Through a formal exploration of theatrical naturalism and the codified gender norms of ballet’s pas de deux, PILLOWTALK queers the intersections of race, gender, and class to challenge our assumptions of love and marriage. PILLOWTALK confronts the backlash against marriage equality and #BlackLivesMatter, illuminating how liberation and oppression co-exist in our most intimate spaces.

World Premiere: The Tank, New York, Jan. 11-27, 2018
Co-Produced by Kyoung’s Pacific Beat and The Tank
Presented by The Exponential Festival
Download PILLOWTALK Program

Now Touring
Consortium of Asian-American Theaters and Artists “Revolutionary Acts” Festival at Victory Gardens, Chicago. Aug. 17-18, 2018.

Creative Team
Written and directed by Kyoung H. Park
Performed by JP Moraga and Basit Shittu
Choreographed by Katy Pyle
Original Music by Helen Yee
Set and Lighting design by Marie Yokoyama
Sound design by Lawrence Schober
Costume design by Andrew Jordan
Dramaturgy by Jess Applebaum
Assistant Direction by Shannon Matesky
Stage Management by Jamie Rose Bukowski

Community Engagement and Outreach Team
Engagement & Communications Strategy by Peoplmovr
Partnerships & Engagement by Shannon Matesky, Peoplmovr
New Media Strategy & Communications by Denise Shu Mei, Peoplmovr
Press Relations by Emily Owens
Graphic Design by Daniel Lim
Marketing Advisement by Sooyoung Hwang
Promotional photography by andytoad

Reviews

“Pillowtalk” is a political work, and feels very much of this moment. Buck is Asian-American, Sam is African American, and they are two gay men trying to build a marriage and a life together. What gets in their way what keeps them up at night — is that it’s never just the two of them in bed together. The effects of all the homophobia in the outside world climb in after them. So do the strains and legacies of racism that each lives with every day, and sometimes unwittingly inflicts on the other. Given all of that, how do they create a space for themselves that not only feels secure but also holds the hope of a future?” –Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times.

“In Pillowtalk by writer and director Kyoung H. Park, two frames of symbolic white illumination surrounded a gay married couple, one Asian American and one African American. Each time they came together onstage, it was within an area defined by this shrill white light. Who this couple was with each other had been impacted by years of dealing with, reacting to, rebelling against, and being oppressed by whiteness… the myriad questions posed about survival, suffering, and activism provided a rich background. It addressed sex/race/power/marriage in ways I’ve never seen before.” –Nicole Serratore, American Theatre Magazine.

Learn more about PILLOWTALK
“Exponential Festival: Unexpected Theater in Unfamiliar Real Estate”, Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times. Jan. 24, 2018.
“Beyond Whiteness: A January Festival Wrap Up”, Nicole Serratore, American Theatre Magazine. Feb. 2, 2018.
“PILLOWTALK, a Love Story for Post-Marriage Equality World”, Catey Sullivan, Windy City Times. Aug. 8, 2018.
“Kyoung’s Pacific Beat presents PILLOWTALK” by Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody. Jan. 19, 2018.
“Playwright Kyoung H. Park on the Themes in PILLOWTALK and the Importance of Intersectionality”, Jose Solis, StageBuddy. Jan. 15, 2018.
“Bedroom Conversation-An Intimate Moment with the Collaborators of PILLOWTALK”, Jess Applebaum, Culturebot. Jan. 2018.
“Community Partnerships & Long Table Events Announced for PILLOWTALK by Kyoung’s Pacific Beat @ The Tank”, TalkinBroadway.com. Dec. 2017.
“Kyoung Park–BAC Story by Diep Tran”, Baryshnikov Arts Center, BAC Story. Jun. 2017.
“Facing Discrimination Against Gay Marriage”, New York Korea Times. Mar. 2017.

Click here for full press coverage of PILLOWTALK.

Public Programming

FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES ON INTERSECTIONAL COMMUNITY BUILDING
August 17, 2018
Kyoung’s Pacific Beat has partnered with  ALTA—The Alliance of Latinx Theater Artists of ChicagoInvisible 2 Invincible: Asian Pacific Islander Pride of ChicagoNothing Without a CompanyPop Magic ProductionsThe SipUrban Theater Company at Batey Urbano, six, local grass-roots organizations serving queer, artists and activists of color.

Together, we’ll host a long-table discussion on “Feminist Perspectives on Building Intersectional Communities,” facilitated by Joy Messinger (Program Officer of Third Wave Fund) and invited speakers Lenox Magee (The Sip), Denise Serna (Pop Magic Productions), Jessie Fuentes (Puerto Rican Agenda in Chicago), Kyra Jones (Northwestern Univeristy), Hannah Li-Epstein (Nothing Without a Company) and Guest Culturebot Blogger, Tanuja Jagernauth.

The long-table will center Chicago-based, queer artists and activists of color and foster a conversation about the solidarity and dynamics that exists within different affinity groups in the QPOC community and how male-led institutions can relinquish power to elevate female, trans, nonbinary, and GNC leadership. Read “Silos, Scarcity and Specificity: Holding Space for Complexity After Pillowtalk” to learn more.

Celebrating #loveisradical, Kyoung’s Pacific Beat has partnered with Community Partners API Rainbow Parents of PFLAG NYC, BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), CUNY’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), GAPIMNY (Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York), and Indie Theater Fund, along with Cultural Partner the Korean Cultural Center New York, and Official Media Partner Culturebot with support from Peoplemovr, Asian/ Pacific/ American Institute at NYU and ART/NY-NYSCA Creative Opportunity Fund, to center the voices of queer people of color through a series of long-table conversations created in collaboration with our partners to build community, resilience, and resistance. PILLOWTALK’s Long Table Series was curated by Shannon Matesky and Kyoung H. Park.

MARRIAGE EQUALITY ACROSS GENERATIONS
January 13, 2018
From Loving vs Virginia to United States vs Windsor, from the AIDS Crisis to PrEP, from the Stonewall Riots to #BlackLivesMatter—where do we go from here? This interracial and intergenerational conversation will explore the personal impact of marriage equality in the LGBQT community.
Facilitated by Geoffrey Jackson Scott with Guest Speakers Ira Briones, Kevin Nadal, and Kyoung H. Park. Read “Jason Tseng in Reponse to PILLOWTALK’s First Long Table” to learn more.

QUEER AND TRANSMAGIC IN THE WORKPLACE
January 18, 2018
Trans scholars, artists and activists address the economic vulnerabilities of queer and trans people of color. Do diversity and inclusion agendas make us any safer in the workplace? How do we werk our magic against the patriarchy and white supremacy?
Facilitated by Shannon Matesky with Guest Speakers Zavé Martohardjono, Azure Osbourne-Lee, and Pauline Park. Read “Mieke D Responds to PILLOWTALK’s 2nd Long Table on Queer and TransMagic in the Werkplace” to learn more.

LOVE’S POWER/MICROINVISIBILITY
January 25, 2018
This final conversation sheds light on the aggressions and invisibility of QPOC love. What are the spiritual and material dimensions of QPOC love? What are our acts of radical love?
Facilitated by Stephanie Hsu with Guest Speakers Nic Kay and Kirya Trabor. Read “Queering Marriage” by Kyoung H. Park to learn more.

“Want to talk more about the show? Use or search for the hashtag #LoveIsRadical and join the conversation!”

CLAGS APA NYU GAPIMNY BAAD! API PLAG
ART/NY NYSCA Indie Theater Fund Korean Cultural Center Culturebot

PILLOWTALK’s Long Table Conversation Series is presented by Kyoung’s Pacific Beat and Peoplmovr in collaboration with Community Partners: API Rainbow Parents of PFLAG NYC, BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), CUNY’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), GAPIMNY (Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York), and Indie Theater Fund; Cultural Partner: Korean Cultural Center; and Media Partner: Culturebot. Promotional support for PILLOWTALK and the Long Table Conversation series is provided by Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU. Funding support provided by ART/NY-NYSCA Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program).

Development Credits

PILLOWTALK was developed in collaboration with: Daniel K. Isaac, Raja Feather Kelly, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Chuan-Chi Chan, Irfan Prawira, Wade Kramm, and Luis Santiago.

Special thanks to: Nic Adams, Theresa Buchheister, aricoco, Joseph Blake, Jyana Browne, Brian Dang, Scott Davis, Rachel DeGuzman, John Del Gaudio, Rajeeyah Finnie-Myers, Bryan Glover, Emily Harney, David Herskovits, Steven Hitt, Stephanie Hsu, Aaron Jin, Tahir Karmali, Mike Lew, Todd London, Bruce McCormick, Claire Moodey, Kevin Nadal, Antje Oegel, Quinn Orear, Jorge Ortoll, Handan Ozbilgin, Rey Pamatmat, Ralph Peña, Carlos Salazar, Jennifer Salk, Cara Scarmack, Leslie Schultz, Vernon Scott, Tom Sellar, Sarah Cameron Sunde, Patrick Surillo, Eleanor Wallace, Jennifer Wright Cook, and Michael Yarbrough.

PILLOWTALK received a public reading at the Ma-Yi Writer’s LabFest (June 2014) and was developed in Target Margin Theater’s Institute for Collaborative Theater-Making (March 2014) and the Lark Play Development Center (June 2015). A workshop production of PILLOWTALK was developed in part during a BRIClab Residency at BRIC House, Brooklyn, NY (September 2015), followed by a post-showing artist and audience dialogue featuring Katy Pyle, Artistic Director of Ballez. Kyoung’s Pacific Beat hosted a long-table titled “PILLOWTALK- Post Gay Marriage Politics” moderated by and Stephanie Hsu, Prof. at Pace University, at Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies “After Marriage” Conference (October 2016) and was featured in CUNY’s 2016 Prelude Festival at the Martin Segal Center Theater (October 2016). PILLOWTALK was written with support from a Creative Mellon Fellowship at the University of Washington (February 2017) and was developed in part during a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York NY (March 2017) and presented in LPAC’s Rough Draft Festival 2017 (April 2017). The World Premiere of PILLOWTALK was co-produced by Kyoung’s Pacific Beat and The Tank (Rosalind Grush and Meghan Finn, Co-Artistic Directors), presented by The Exponential Festival, and funded, in part by NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program), WOVEN (We Oppose Violence Everywhere Now), Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, and The Indie Theater Fund.