News

Moving Earth Productions is very excited to announce Kelly’s directorial debut with her video “Love is Easy…Relationships are Hard,” launched on Valentine’s Day 2012. To watch the video, click below!

Moving Earth Productions is proud to announce that Kelly’s ensemble spoken word poetry theater project, “Say You Heard My Echo,” has been selected for Rising Circle Theater Collective’s inkTANK Playwrights Lab and PlayRISE Festival alongside projects by playwrights Raquel Almazan, Matthew Paul Olmos, and Susan Soon He Stanton.

The intensive 12 week playwrights lab will culminate in the PlayRISE Festival in June 2012 that will feature all of the playwrights’ full-length works. “Say You Heard My Echo” is a spoken word theater project dealing with Asian Pacific Islander American women in NYC 10 years after 9/11 grappling with ideas of the sacred, that will premiere for Asian American Arts Alliance’s Locating the Sacred Festival in NYC in September 2012. For more info on Rising Circle Theater Collective, click here. For more info on “Say You Heard My Echo,” click here.

Moving Earth Productions is very pleased to announce that Kelly’s spoken word dance solo show exploring ideas of global economy, beauty myth, and plastic surgery as related to the history of Barbie doll manufacturing in Taiwan has been selected as a recipient of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Fund for Creative Communities Award. This will support the continued development of the project with her collaborators as it moves towards full production in 2013. For more info on “Formosa,” click here.

Michelle Park of NY1 covered the first public presentation of Kelly’s new spoken word theater project “Say You Heard My Echo” alongside Nico Daswani (Program Director) & Andrea Louie (Executive Director) of Asian American Arts Alliance.

To see the NY1 interview, click below!

Kelly has just been selected as Urban Word NYC & New York Live Art’s Artist-In-Residence for 2011-2012 during New York Live Arts (formerly Dance Theater Workshop) Inaugural Season under the joint leadership of Bill T. Jones & Carla Peterson.

As a part of the New York Live Arts’ Studio Series, Kelly will be developing a new spoken word poetry movement theater solo show. Post-show talks will be moderated by Kamilah Forbes (Hip Hop Theater Festival, Def Poetry). In-progress viewings of the solo show will be on January 20-21, 2012 at New York Live Arts. For info, click here.

Kelly will also be mentoring six youth poets in their own solo shows which will premiere at New York Live Arts in November.

For more info on Urban Word NYC: http://www.urbanwordnyc.org/uwnyc/.

For more info on New York Live Arts (formerly Dance Theater Workshop): http://www.newyorklivearts.org/, http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org/.

Kelly’s spoken word theater project “Say You Heard My Echo” which tracks the stories of three NYC Asian American Pacific Islander women in their search for the sacred a decade after 9/11 was recently selected as a 2011 Grantee by the Asian Women Giving Circle.

The project which has been commissioned by Asian American Arts Alliance in conjunction with Flushing Townhall will premiere in NYC in October 2011. Stay tuned for updates!

In celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, HBO is re-broadcasting “East of Main Street: Asians Aloud,” which features Kelly as one of 14 diverse Asian American Pacific Islander American stories. The documentary will be re-broadcast throughout the month of May 2011 from the 2nd to the 31st.

Also, HBO will be premiering Part 2 of “Asians Aloud” profiling apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas, Chef Anita Lo, and pro skateboarder Willy Santos. For schedule information: click here, and to watch the trailer and read the original press release, click here.

Moving Earth Productions LLC is proud to present the digital release of Kelly’s second spoken word album in collaboration with producer Black Cracker, Further She Wrote.

To listen and download, go to http://kellytsai.bandcamp.com/album/further-she-wrote .

Track listing:

1. Real Women I Know
2. Self-Centered
3. The Ballad of a Maybe Gentrifier
4. Beto, Bed-Stuy Sketch #1
5. The Confessions of Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
6. Letter to Lauryn Hill
7. A Decade in Haiku
8. Weapons of Mass Creation
9. Black, White, Whatever…
10. Kindness over Genius
11. Resolve

Kelly is one of the 14 Asian Pacific Islander Americans profiled in HBO’s ground-breaking mini-documentary, “East of Main Street: Asians Aloud.”

Join HBO as it celebrates Asian Heritage Month by presenting “East of Main Street: Asians Aloud,” a collection of stories and perspectives from a diverse group of Asian Americans – recent immigrants, 1st & 2nd generation, East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian. From religion to politics, from cultural identity to ethnic identity, the documentary is an exploration into perspectives and lives of not only Asians who left their lives half a world away to come to the US, but also those who have always called America home.

Join HBO as we examine the rich, broad and unique experiences of the Asian American journey; from young to old, from East, to West.

Starting on May 3rd and continuing throughout the month, enjoy the premiere of “East of Main Street: Asians Aloud” along with the line-up of movies and short films featured HBO On Demand. You can find them all on the ”Asian Heritage” tab in the ”Movies” category.