Internationally acclaimed performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon will bring their new poetry-comedy show to Australia and New Zealand this month.
The tour will see Alok take the stage in Sydney on Monday 19 September, before heading to Brisbane on Tuesday 20 September, Perth on Wednesday 21 September, Melbourne on Thursday 22 September, and then Auckland on Friday 23 September.
Alok’s work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition.
In 2021 they headlined the New York Comedy Festival and this year they headlined the Just for Laughs Festival in Vancouver and performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival last month.
They are the author of Beyond the Gender Binary (2020) which has been described as a “clarion call for a new approach to gender in the 21st century” and the poetry books Femme in Public (2017) and Your Wound / My Garden (2021).
On screen, they recently wrapped the Netflix/Blumhouse feature film Absolute Dominion. They have also appeared in the Netflix docu-series Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, HBO’s late-night sketch series Random Acts of Flyness and the documentary The Trans List.
Born in America’s conservative south to Indian and Malay parent’s Alok experienced two very different worlds between his home life and school life. It wasn’t until they were in college that they discovered the words to describe themselves.
“When I was in college, for the first time, I heard about non-binary and gender non-conforming and it just hit me like a ton of bricks.
“And it was really emotional for me, because it made my entire life make sense,” they say.
“Because when I was younger, I’d known that there were people who transition from being assigned male at birth to being a female and vice versa. But I didn’t know that there were people who were neither.” Alok told the ABC’s Mon Schafter earlier this week.
Catch the show which challenges gender norms and celebrates difference and individuality.
Visit www.tegdainty.com for tickets & tour information.
OIP Staff
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