Katie Ka Vang

Katie Ka Vang is a Hmong American performance artist, poet, and playwright. She has created and written several performance pieces and plays, most of which are influenced by her upbringing in Hmong culture. Her productions center around themes of the complexity of culture, community, dis-ease, and diaspora.

Katie Ka Vang
Alma materBrown University
Occupation(s)Performance artist, poet, playwright
Websitehttps://www.katiekavang.com/

Early life

Vang was born in Santa Ana, California, lived in Colorado, and moved to Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1999. Growing up, Vang attended Hmong church, where she sang in the praise choir and developed a love for music that influences her plays. For college, she attended Concordia University, where she studied marketing,[1] then attended Brown University and graduated with an MFA in Playwriting.[2]

Career

In 2011, Theater Mu premiered Vang's first play, WTF.[3] Since then, Vang's works have appeared at numerous venues, including Mixed Blood Theater, the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent, Walker Art Center, Exposed Brick Theatre, Pillsbury House Theatre, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and Pangea World Theater.[4]

Vang has received grants from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. She received an NPN Creation Fund grant to complete Hmong Bollywood. In 2012, she was awarded the Woman of the Year award; this recognized her contributions to the lives of Hmong women and the Hmong community. Vang has also worked as a program director, volunteer, and teaching artist with the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent, one of the world's first Hmong arts organizations.[5][6]

In 2009, she self-published a book of poetry and prose called Never Said.[7] Vang has also published work in the St. Paul Almanac, Bakka Mag, Asian American Press, and Voices from the Asian American Experience.

As of 2023, Vang was named one of ten Artist Disruptor Fellows at The Center for Cultural Power, where she will work with the Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.[8]

Works

Plays
  • Hmong Bollywood (2013)
  • WTF (2011)
  • 5:1 Meaning of Freedom; 6:2 Use of Sharpening
  • Fast FWD Motions
  • In Quarantine
  • FINAL ROUND
  • Spirit Trust
  • Again (2023)

Personal life

In 2012, Vang was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.[6][9] She has been in remission since 2016.[9]

References
  1. Preston, Ro (5 January 2012). "Playwright looking a different ending to illness diagnosis". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 9 February 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  2. Regan, Sheila (28 March 2023). "In Katie Ka Vang's musical, 'Again,' friends navigate moving forward through cancer diagnoses". MinnPost. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  3. Katona, Robyn (28 March 2023). "'A hugely personal story': Theater Mu debuts musical exploring cancer". Sahan Journal. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  4. Vang, Katie Ka (2023). "About Katie Ka Vang". Katie Ka Vang. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  5. "Katie Ka Vang". Theatre Arts & Performance Studies. Brown University. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  6. Combs, Marianne (14 March 2013). "Katie Ka Vang beats cancer, returns to stage in 'Hmong Bollywood'". MPR News. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  7. "Katie Ka Vang presents "Many Hats" at the Lowertown Reading Jam". Saint Paul Almanac. 25 July 2012. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  8. "Meet the Constellations Fellows!". The Center for Cultural Power. 5 April 2023. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  9. Hewitt, Chris (22 March 2023). "Katie Ka Vang is in remission and opening the musical 'Again'". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
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