Review: KRISTINA WONG, #FOODBANKINFLUENCER at Portland Center Stage
Kristina Wong's latest solo show tackles food insecurity with humor, parody, and passion.
A parody karaoke musical about social justice that you can sing along to? Yes, please!
Kristina Wong is now at Portland Center Stage for a very limited run of her latest solo show, Kristina Wong, #FOODBANKINFLUENCER, presented with Boom Arts.
You may remember Wong from her previous PCS appearance in Kristina Wong, SWEATSHOP OVERLORD, her Pulitzer Prize Finalist and multi award-winning solo show about organizing mask-making during the pandemic. This time, her subject is food insecurity. And before you think "that sounds heavy," know that you will leave this theater enlightened, hopeful, and energized to take action.
Wong's work defies easy categorization. It's theatre, personal storytelling, and performance art all at once. And in #FOODBANKINFLUENCER, it's also a karaoke musical. She parodies greatest hits from the past few decades and beloved showtunes with Weird Al-level wit, using humor and song to examine the causes of food insecurity, the current emergency food system in the United States, and the limitations of charity.
The PCS main stage is a big space for a solo show, but Wong's passion for justice is more than big enough to fill it. There's nothing quite like watching someone perform work they're on fire about, and that fire is contagious. The musical element makes the show even bigger: just like real karaoke, you get to sing along, and that participation transforms the room. The overall feeling is communal and galvanizing, less like watching a show and more like attending a rally (we Portlanders know a thing or two about those).
What all of this adds up to is sharp social commentary that is absolutely a call to action, but never once feels like a lecture. You'll learn about the political decisions over decades that have left 1 in 7 Americans food insecure, but what you’ll leave with is optimism, not outrage. If political choices got us here, different political choices can get us out.
Kristina Wong, #FOODBANKINFLUENCER runs through June 7. Definitely go see it. Details and tickets here.
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