What Metamorphosis Means to Us
Our first show of the year, Metamorphosis, is this Sunday 1/28. It marks the beginning of a journey our 2024 Artists in Residence will embark on, teases the coming Year of the Dragon, and marks a time of transformation… or perhaps a time of stillness as we all sit and stretch in the goo.
In this new blog series, we take you behind the Keepsake curtain to read about why we choose certain show themes, where they come from, and what they mean to us.
For the past two years, we’ve kicked off our annual residency for songwriters and storytellers with a show called Foresight. It was always a show that marked something new, an intention-setter, an introduction. When Jasmine and I sat down to plan the 2024 shows, this didn’t feel quite right for our new line-up of residents, half of whom had already played shows with us before, and all of whom would be officially introduced at our December fundraiser show, House for the Holidays. Instead, we chose to center our winter show around the theme of metamorphosis.
The idea came organically, as any metamorphosis should. It came from songwriter in residence Kacia Flórez’s song “Maravillosa Mariposita” about a butterfly. (Watch Kacia perform the song live with katrina sotera at our July 2023 show, Women of the House, in the video below.) It came from all the butterfly symbols we’ve used in our past From Story to Song posters. It came from one of storyteller in residence katherine gan’s poems, “Chrysalis,” an ode to friendship.
The idea to incorporate dim sum in the show also came naturally, at least at first. We were in search of a venue that could showcase all six residents on stage together and found the perfect fit, available on a Sunday afternoon, and that seemed warm and cozy for January in New York. They happened to serve dim sum, and this show happens to take place around the Lunar New Year, a holiday everyone on our team celebrates. We would all leave our winter cocoons to enjoy yum cha and wade through the wintry goo together. Then the venue fell through, but we were too attached to the idea not to pursue it.
Now, the show is happening this Sunday 1/28 at The LGBT Community Center, a beautiful space that can accommodate all our needs and provide a safe and supportive “stage” (there won’t be a real one, but that matters less to us) for our artists. We’ll also livestream it, of course. You can still purchase tickets here, and in-person tickets are inclusive of a buffet catered by Dim Sum Go Go as well as hot tea.
The concept has already come full circle, with beloved Keepsake all-star Frank Song Jr. hosting a metamorphosis-themed Open Mic earlier this week. Frank spoke about moving through things as he unpacked this concept of transformation, asking artists to perform work that helped them unfurl or let go. 2024 resident Emily McNally closed the Open Mic with a surprise performance, and they also reflected on what the theme meant to them by explaining that they were in a constant state of transformation, just with different phases.
Our last thought for you before this weekend’s show is that, especially with everything going on in the world now, what metamorphosis means to us is not necessarily (and perhaps shouldn’t be) contingent on growth and re-birth. Perhaps it could also mean to stretch, to breathe, to unwind. And of course, we’ve made a playlist for that. It features some of our favorite artists, including cover star Jensen McRae as well as Kimaya Diggs, Joy Oladokun, Helena Hallberg (all pictured below), and more.
We hope to see you either in person or through the screen this Sunday, where you’ll hear less from us and more from our 2024 Artists in Residence: Adeline Um, Azhar Bande-Ali, Emily McNally, Kacia Flórez, katherine gan, and Paula Croxson.
