The Archive of Voices at Tisch Drama Presents: Beyond the Tradition

The Archive of Voices at Tisch Drama is proud to present the second annual event in celebration of our digital archive of plays written by and for people of color. In collaboration with Bobst Library, The Archive of Voices Presents: Beyond the Tradition will feature the work of contemporary Asian theater makers including Sanjit De Silva, Diana Oh, J. Oconer Navarro, and Mei Ann Teo.

Moderated by Tisch Drama Chair Tomi Tsunoda and Tisch Drama student Rohun Sharma, the conversation will focus on subverting and surpassing stereotypical views of Asianness, pushing beyond shame and familial expectations and dispelling lingering ideas of “the model minority” while working and making art. We welcome you to join us for a lively conversation as well as readings from the panelists' work. FREE! Food will be provided.

Panelists 

J. Oconer Navarro (He/Him)

J. is an award-winning writer, music director, pianist, and educator based in NYC. Currently serving as Music Director on the Broadway Production of Here Lies Love, J. is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing Jonathan Larson Grant, an alumnus of the Composer-Librettist Studio at New Dramatists, and is widely recognized for his work in Music Direction. Additionally, J. is a Music Supervisor/Arranger for Camp Broadway, a long-time Music Director at Lincoln Center Theater - Education Department, and a Composer in Residence for The Church of Saint Paul the Apostle, NYC. He is part of the founding faculty at the Musical Theatre Intensive at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and is a Visiting Assistant Arts Professor and current Head of Music and Vocal Performance at The New Studio on Broadway at NYU-Tisch Department of Drama.

Mei Ann Teo (They/She)

Mei Ann is a queer immigrant from Singapore making theatre & film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/devisor/dramaturg, she creates across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. As an educator, she served for seven years as the Chair of Drama/Resident Artist at Pacific Union College where she founded a program focused on original ensemble creation and rooted in personal and communal history. 

Sanjit de Silva (He/Him)

Sanjit is an Actor/Writer/Director. He wrote, starred and co-directed the short film Time After. He’s written four plays with Deepa Purohit, the latest, Crushed Earth, was commissioned by People’s Light and his TV pilot, Lankan, was developed at the Orchard Project Episodic Lab. Sanjit's various stage credits include: Broadway: War Horse (Tony-Award Best Play, Lincoln Center Theater). Off-Broadway: An Ordinary Muslim (NYTW, Dir. Jo Bonney), Dry Powder (World Premiere, Public Theater, Dir. Thomas Kail, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critic's Circle Award Nominations for Best Featured Actor), Awake and Sing (Public Theater/NAATCO). Sanjit has been in several films such as Afterparty, The Girl is in Trouble (produced by Spike Lee), The Company Men (with Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones), and the critically acclaimed Arranged. His television credits include shows such as New Amsterdam, Evil, Tell Me A Story, Blindspot, Time After Time, Madam Secretary, Blacklist, Elementary, High Maintenance, Homeland, Blue Bloods, and The Good Wife. He received his M.F.A from NYU's prestigious Graduate Acting Program.

Diana Oh (They/Them)

Diana Oh is an open channel to the art that feels good to their body and is driven most by mutual care, pleasure, and keeping things heart-centered. Oh is also a Creator of Performance, Installation, Music, Concert, Documentary Film Multi-Media Wizard Phoenix Hybrid Art, Gatherings, Ritual, Party, and New Mediums. Oh also identifies as a Clairvoyant (a title passed onto them by their political revolutionist and persecuted South Korean father). Passionate about healing and queering processes, Oh is a Refinery29 Top LGBTQ Influencer, and the First Queer Korean-American interviewed on Korean Broadcast Radio. They are the Creator and Co-Director of The Infinite Love Party, {my lingerie play}, CLAIRVOYANCE, Asian People Are Not Magicians, My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre (The Public Theater), and “The Dope North Star Workshop.” They are a Sundance Institute Fellow, a TOW Fellow, NY Community Trust Helen Merrill Award Recipient, Art Equity Fellow, and a Steinberg Award Recipient. 

Tomi Tsunoda (She/Her)

Tomi M. Tsunoda (she/her) is an Associate Arts Professor and Chair at the Department of Drama. She received her BFA in Drama from NYU, and her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.

Her current projects combine both practical and critical work in dramaturgy, progressive arts pedagogy, fiber art, literary non-fiction, eco-philosophy, facilitation, and transformative justice, putting these fields into conversation as a way to address sustainable practice and systemic and cultural change.

Rohun Sharma (He/Him)

Hailing from Las Vegas, Rohun is a senior within Tisch Drama, minoring in the Business, Entertainment, Media, and Technology. Extracurricularly, he has been the All Asian Arts Alliance’s Director of Programming, the Tisch Undergraduate Student Council’s Treasurer, and the Founder of the Young Artists Fellowship. Looking forward, Rohun is excited to work in theater and film and television, as an actor, writer, and dramaturg.