A.R.T. Announces Diana Oh's WHITE PEOPLE READ

American Repertory Theater at Harvard University (A.R.T.), under the leadership of Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger, announces the next event in the 2018/19 A.R.T. Breakout series: Clairvoyance Installation #2: White People Read. The installation will take place on Saturday, October 27 at 2PM in the Johnson Building of the Boston Public Library's Central Library in Copley Square.

White People Read is the second installation of five in Clairvoyance, actor, singer, songwriter, and generative and performing artist Diana Oh's season-long residency at A.R.T. that centers around the celebration of QTPOC power and Queer magic and increases the visibility and acceptance of these traditionally marginalized groups. The residency will culminate in a solo, spell-casting concert of the same name April 24 - 28, 2019 at OBERON. QTPOC and their allies are invited to participate in all events.

ABOUT CLAIRVOYANCE INSTALLATION #2: WHITE PEOPLE READ

Saturday, October 27, 2PM

Boston Public Library, Central Library, Johnson Building (700 Boylston Street, Boston)

Diana Oh (she/they) invites white-identifying individuals to join with each other to recognize and challenge their place within structures of white dominance in White People Read at the Boston Public Library's Central Library in Copley Square. White participants are invited to self-educate by engaging with a collection of books curated by Oh by queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) and women of color about their experiences, histories, and stories. People of color are invited to join at their own point of interest: as audience or participants.

Those interested in being challenged to listen, learn, and interrogate themselves are welcome to participate in White People Read, a space created for reverence, and an invitation to meditate, reflect, and encourage companionship, understanding, and compassion. Sign up and learn more at americanrepertorytheater.org/shows-events/white-people-read.

White People Read is presented in tandem with What Don't You Want To Hold On To Alone Anymore?, a solo performance by Oh inspired by Oh's reaction to her/their rage and the validation and invalidation thereof. All are invited to react, respond, and interact with the piece.

"For White People Read, I'm creating a dream reading list that feels personal to me," says Oh. "About experiences, histories, and stories of social exclusion and marginalization that I wish all citizens-especially those who are white people in power-could read. I think if we had a broader understanding of the world, we could have a more loving and just society-one where valid rage is validated rather than dismissed, and the rage is collectively explored, alchemized, and transformed into productive and healthy action. White People Read is tongue-in-cheek, and also my reaction to doing so much teaching as a queer femme of color, and the relief I want to feel to know that people are seeking out this information on their own-in our pursuit of love and growth as a society. White People Read is about being seen. Really seen-deeply with understanding."

White People Read follows Chosen Family Portrait, the first installation of the Clairvoyance series, which occurred on Sunday, September 23, 2018 at Autumn (...Nothing Personal), the public art installation by Teresita Fernández at Tercentenary Theatre in Harvard Yard. Chosen Family Portrait included a professional photographer who captured portraits art-directed by Oh of local QTPOC and allied chosen families, a dance party, and a picnic with food was provided by the local, queer chefs of 7ate9 Bakery, Tanám, and Tex Mex Eats.

UPCOMING CLAIRVOYANCE INSTALLATIONS

• INSTALLATION #3: ARTIST IN HER ELEMENT

Date, location, and further Information to follow.

• INSTALLATION #4: THE INFINITE LOVE PARTY - AN INTENTIONAL BAREFOOT DINNER, DANCE PARTY, AND SLEEPOVER

Date, location, and further Information to follow.

• INSTALLATION #5: CLAIRVOYANCE-THE CONCERT AND TREE PLANTING

April 24 - 28, 2019 | OBERON (2 Arrow Street, Cambridge)

Diana Oh is a witch. She knows it. So do her closest friends. Clairvoyance runs in her family. She went to a spiritual counselor in the jungle in Thailand, and the spiritual counselor told her to sing and go wild in Boston. Everything else the spiritual counselor said came true, so Diana is doing it. Clairvoyance is an exchange of energy designed to celebrate the knowledge of our bodies. It's a concert, it's a party, with moments of divination. Diana Oh performs her original soul, pop, rock, and punk music from journal entries and the beyond in the culminating of her season-long residency at American Repertory Theater centering around the celebration of QTPOC power and Queer magic.

ABOUT Diana Oh

Diana Oh (she/they) is one of Refinery 29's Top 14 LGBTQ Influencers, creator of {my lingerie play}, and the first Queer Korean-American interviewed on Korean Broadcast Radio. Upworthy and The Wall Street Journal call her "Badass." The New York Times calls her "Irreverent." You can call her "Friend."

ABOUT BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

Boston Public Library provides educational, cultural and civic enrichment, free to all, for the residents of Boston, Massachusetts and beyond, through its collections, services, programs, and spaces. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library is a pioneer of public library service in America. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children's room. As a City of Boston historic cultural institution, Boston Public Library today features a Central Library, twenty-five branches, a map center, business library, archival center; extensive special collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and prints; and rich digital content and online services. The award-winning renovation of the Central Library in Copley Square, completed in 2016, together with new, renovated and historic branches, provide a transformed library system for the next generation of users. Boston Public Library enriches lives, hosting thousands of free educational programs and exhibitions, and provides free library services online and in-person to millions of people each year. To learn more, visit bpl.org.

ABOUT AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University is a leading force in the American theater, producing groundbreaking work in Cambridge and beyond. A.R.T. was founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, who served as Artistic Director until 2002, when he was succeeded by Robert Woodruff. Diane Paulus began her tenure as Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director in 2008. Under the leadership of Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger, A.R.T. seeks to expand the boundaries of theater by producing transformative theatrical experiences, always including the audience as a central partner.

Throughout its history, A.R.T. has been honored with many distinguished awards including the Tony Award for Best New Play for All the Way (2014); consecutive Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical for Pippin (2013) and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (2012), both of which Paulus directed, and sixteen other Tony Awards since 2012; a Pulitzer Prize; a Jujamcyn Prize for outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent; the Regional Theater Tony Award; and more than 100 Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards.

A.R.T. collaborates with artists around the world to develop and create work in new ways. It is currently engaged in a number of multi-year projects, including a collaboration with Harvard's Center for the Environment that will result in the development of new work over several years. Under Paulus' leadership, the A.R.T.'s club theater, OBERON, has been an incubator for local and emerging artists and has attracted national attention for its innovative programming and business models.

As the professional theater on the campus of Harvard University, the A.R.T. catalyzes discourse, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative exchange among a wide range of academic departments, institutions, students, and faculty members, acting as a conduit between its community of artists and the university. The A.R.T. has trained generations of theater artists through its Institute for Advanced Theater Training, and also plays a central role in Harvard's undergraduate concentration in Theater, Dance & Media.

Dedicated to making great theater accessible, A.R.T. actively engages more than 5,000 community members and local students annually in project-based partnerships, workshops, conversations with
artists, and other enrichment activities both at the theater and across the Greater Boston area.

Through all of these initiatives, A.R.T. is dedicated to producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.

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