Hello! I’m Kevin, a Hakka Chinese-Canadian theatre creator, dramaturg, facilitator, video artist, and producer. I’m the co-founder and Artistic Director of Broadleaf Creative – a company that produces social justice and climate justice-informed artworks. I’m also the Director of Producing and Creative Associate at Why Not Theatre leading a diverse portfolio of large-scale and touring projects including the world premieres of Mahabharata and What You Won’t Do For Love. Currently I’m the inaugural Jini Stolk Creative Fellow, leading a research project on how large-scale legacy institutions in Canada can better collaborate with BIPOC artists and companies.
I’ve been lucky to collaborate with organizations across Canada and the world, including: Barbican Centre (UK), National Arts Centre (Canada), Shaw Festival, Stratford Festival, Tarragon Theatre, Festival Theaterformen (Germany), Luminato, Great Canadian Theatre Company, Public Energy, First Ontario Performing Arts Centre, foldA, Cahoots Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Thames Art Gallery, Music Picnic (Macau-Toronto), Blooming Ludus (UK/Canada/Korea); have had artistic residencies with fu-Gen Asian Canadian Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Gardarev Center (USA), and others; and I’ve been a guest artist and speaker at organizations like University of Toronto, Brock University, Paprika Festival, Ontario Presents, Theatre by The Bay, Ontario Presents and more.
My ongoing work The Chemical Valley Project is a solo-show created with Julia Howman with dramaturgy by Aamjiwnaang First Nation water protectors Vanessa Gray and Beze Gray. The show has been performed across Ontario, British Columbia and in Germany and has been adapted into a live-stream experience and a museum installation. The show makes its Montreal premiere March 14-24 with Teesri Duniya Theatre – tickets available now!
Support Vanessa and Beze Gray’s vital activism at landandrefinery.org and aamjiwnaangsolidarity.org.
Here’s an interview with me about the show on Intermission magazine.
I’m currently creating new artistic projects exploring the Hakka-Chinese experience in Canada. The works, entitled Benevolence, include new solo-show in developed with Tarragon Theatre, a short documentary developed with Reel Asian International Film Festival, and an installation at the Market Gallery in Toronto from May – July 2024.
You can find my contact info below if you want to connect about my work, or if I might be able to help with yours! I’m always excited to chat about performance, environmentalism, activism and the convergence of any and all of those things.
What Kevin’s working on:
Creating: Benevolence, a series of new works exploring the Hakka-Chinese experience in Canada, including a theatre show, short film, and museum installation. The theatre piece has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council, and Tarragon Theatre’s inaugural Greenhouse Residency; the short film was created with ReelAsian International Film Festival; and the museum installation will premiere in May – July 2024 at Toronto’s Market Gallery at St. Lawrence Market.
Writing: Transmission, a new short monologue created as part of the 2023 Climate Change Theatre Action has been performed at the Boston Conservatory, Wilson College Mumbai, the University of Regina, York University, Artists for Climate & Migrant Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty in Toronto, and Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization‘s Arts, Health, and Climate Roundtable at Lincoln Centre, New York.
Creating / Performing: The Chemical Valley Project with Broadleaf Theatre, Julia Howman, and Aamjiwnaang First Nation Water Protectors and Land Defenders Vanessa Gray and Beze Gray. The show tours to Teesri Duniya Theatre in Montreal in March 2024.
Directing / Producing: Kevin is the Producer, Dramaturg, and Associate Director of What You Won’t Do For Love written by David Suzuki, Tara Cullis, Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain, produced by Why Not Theatre, which tours to the Vancouver Playhouse February 13-17, 2024. He also Co-Directed the show’s 2021 film adaptation.
Producing: Kevin is Director of Producing and Creative Associate at Why Not Theatre. Among his projects with Why Not, Kevin produced and company managed the 2019 national tour of Prince Hamlet and is currently lead producing the World Premiere of Mahabharata at the Shaw Festival and Barbican Centre and the tour of What You Won’t Do For Love.
Kevin Matthew Wong 