Oblivious meets Kristina Wong

When I was in college I did an internship with TeAda Productions. Kristina Wong was one of the people who supervised me. I was a wide eyed college student taking in all I could at this arts organization. As years progressed I would run into Kristina at Tuesday Night Cafe and other Asian American events around Los Angeles. Her work always wows me. I am so honored that she did this Oblivious Interview. And I'll give her a pass for her answer to the Wu-Tang question!  

You can check out Kristina in action in her show 'Wong Street Journal' at REDCAT running from Nov 12-15th. Buy Tix Here: Wong Street Journal at REDCAT

Follow Kristina Wong on Facebook (iloveKristinaWong), Twitter (@mskristinawong), and Instagram (@mskristinawong).  Check out her website for more info on her shows and dates! (KristinaWong.com).

Photo credit - Tom Fowler

Name(s)
Kristina Wong

Affiliations (arts org, fun things you do, etc) :
I'm a performance artist, comedian and writer.  I make solo theater shows, write plays, make Youtube videos and write essays.  I am also teaching performance at Cal Arts this Fall in the MFA for Creative Writers program this Fall.  And for those who don't ever leave their TV screen to watch live work, I also have been on Comedy Central, FXX, and General Hospital.
 
My new show is The Wong Street Journal and it is at the REDCAT November 12-15.  
Here is the link... http://www.redcat.org/event/kristina-wong-wong-street-journal

What's the one word you are guilty of using too much?
"YaknowwhatImsaying?"
 
How did you end up doing what you are doing now?
As a teenager, I didn't know what I do now could actually be a career.  I thought there were actors and writers but not people who did both and wrote one woman shows.  I always assumed that as a performer, you had to wait for someone to write you a role.  Before college, I pretty much was only exposed to plays and musicals written by white men and thought that if I were to pursue the arts as a career that I'd be at the mercy of "colorblind casting."  I didn't know that humor or performance could be political, feminist or subversive.  I didn't even know what "feminist" was.  When I was at UCLA, I was introduced to the Chicano Theater Movement and theater artists of color making interdisciplinary performance work that was relevant and important.  I was totally into it and convinced it would be my life. 

It was pretty frightening when I graduated from UCLA and all my classmates were working for big fancy corporations and I was making $10/hr at part time job with a non profit arts company and trying to make my career happen.  Those were really ugly times.  I was broke, miserable, and easily discouraged.  My first speaking gigs out of college came when I basically forced myself onto college classes that were teaching www.bigbadchinesemama.com (my fake mail order bride website).  Eventually, in these college classroom settings, I'd talk more and more about my performance work and less about the website.  Because my work doesn't fit neatly into the box of stand-up comedy, it was really difficult to get theaters (who'd never heard of me anyway) to take me on in my work.  I was lucky to have people in my life who were people of color who toured their work to theaters and colleges and they helped demystify things for me.

Now I've made five full length solo theater shows, an ensemble play, and a lot of other crazy guerilla performance projects. I haven't had a job working for someone else in ten years. I'm on tour a lot. I'm always working on ten projects t once. I pretty much don't think I can get a straight job at this point because an employer would google me and the jig would be up.  

Which member of the Wu-Tang Clan best describes your personality?
Flavor Flav.  Am I doing this right?

Dogs or Cats, who wins? Why?
I'm a total cat lady.  But dogs are growing on me.  For someone who tours, cats are the better pet to own because you can leave them for a while and feed them at weird times.  

Photo credit - Tom Fowler

What is the best part of any given day for you?
Around 10am.  The whole day feels possible.  The end of the day gets depressing because nothing got done.
 
In a zombie apocalypse who would you want on your survival team?
People from Vermont.  They seem to know how to do things like make syrup come out of trees and farm animals and shit.

What is the last thing you searched for on google?
"how much do chinese factory workers make" 

If you could talk to your high school self, what would say?
All your dreams are going to come true, so stop doubting it.  And stop picking your zits.
 
What is the best thing or meal you ever ate?
I've had a lot of good food.  But one of the most magical food experience I've had was in Quezon City, Philippines at a place called "Van Gogh is Bipolar".  It's something of an anti-restaurant where everything about the ritual of eating out is flipped over it's head into this spiritual (but not in a creepy way) experience.  It's eating as performance art.  The owner lives in the space and the last part of the meal ends with you alone in his bedroom reading aloud a love letter to yourself.  This is better than it sounds.

Photo credit - Diana Wyenn

What is a memorable project that you are working on or have worked on?
In making The Wong Street Journal, I went to Gulu, Uganda to work with a microloan organization as part of research for my show.  I didn't know exactly what the show would look like but did know that I'd get something amazing out of the experience. My third night there, I met some guys at a food stand in the street.  I followed them into a music studio and we started recording a rap album that now plays in the nightclubs and on the radio in Northern Uganda.  That music and the story of meeting those guys is in The Wong Street Journal.

To check out the music we made together--->  http://kristinawong.bandcamp.com/

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Photo credit - Tom Fowler

Many thanks to Kristina for this interview! Folks should definitely check out her The Wong Street Journal at REDCAT this November!