Help BAPAC keep TORNKID alive!

What is Tornkid?

Tornkid is a new play written by Filipino-American playwright Katelynn Kenney and devised by members of the Baltimore Asian Pasifika Arts Collective (BAPAC) in collaboration with Cohesion Theatre Company.  This new work draws on the power of indigenous Southeast Asian and Pacific mythology and folklore to tell the story of a young child stuck between worlds and their journey to discovering, accepting and embracing their identity. 

The idea for a new play created by AAPI artists about AAPI characters was sparked in September of 2018 following our first public appearance and performance called "Reflections on Identity" at the inaugural Charm City Night Market.  Shortly after BAPAC established itself, Cohesion Theatre Company generously offered our new organization a space to perform and a slot in their 2019 Season.  Thus, the journey to bring Tornkid to life began and we have since been hard at work devising, creating, and breathing life into the story of Tornkid and their other half. 

Director: Cara Hinh
Playwright: Katelynn Kenney
Puppet Master: Jessica Rassp
Mask Designer: Tara Cariaso
When: May 23-June 9, 2019

[BAPAC and Cohesion Theatre with Katelynn Kenney during our first devising workshop for TORNKID.]

[Rehearsals for TORNKID. Photo courtesy of Cat_Rice Photography.]

[Image: Masks for TORNKID created by Tara Cariaso, Filipino-American mask maker of Waxing Moon.]

[Images: Original puppetry by Cohesion Theatre Company's Artistic Director Jess Rassp for Tornkid.]  [Puppets shown: Tree Spirit and Fisherman.  Photos courtesy of Cat_Rice Photography.]

What the funds are for:

We need your help to keep this beautiful story alive!  Thanks to our partners at Cohesion Theatre Company, we have a space and means to produce Tornkid.  As a new arts organization, however, we still need your support to help us meet our production needs.  So far, BAPAC has raised about a third of its fundraising goal through this campaign and other initiatives and events, such as our March storytelling event AAPI Voices: This Is How We Party!  The $4000 raised from this campaign goes primarily toward providing stipends for our production staff, actors and other artists involved in the creation and marketing of Tornkid.  BAPAC firmly believes that all artists should be paid for their art and we work hard toward ensuring that the artists we contract are compensated for their time, effort and contributions.

Any additional funds raised from this campaign will go toward helping us keep Tornkid alive past our current production with Cohesion Theatre.  One of our goals is to continue producing Tornkid as an educational theatre program that can be brought to students all over Baltimore and Maryland.  In particular, we hope to produce Tornkid for immigrant, refugee and Third Culture youth.  This play was written with the intention to reach out to individuals caught between cultures and struggling with their identity.  It is our vision to make Tornkid the first of many educational programs BAPAC produces. 

Additional funds will also help us bring Tornkid to NYC this Summer 2019.  As of May 18, Katelynn Kenney's submission for Tornkid was officially accepted into Ladyfest at The Tank in New York City.  Ladyfest features new work by women-identifying artists working in New York.  

Should we surpass our $4000 goal, the additional funds would help us: 

- allow New York based playwright Katelynn Kenney premiere Tornkid with BAPAC at The Tank in NYC;
- help BAPAC produce Tornkid  as an arts integrated educational theatre program for schools throughout the DMV .

How you can help:

Please consider donating to this campaign and sharing it with your friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and via email and text message.  Each share really makes a difference and brings us closer to all of our goals.

Note: ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE.


[Below Images of Tornkid courtesy of Shealyn Jae Photography.]
Performers: Surasree Das, Brian Lai, Kim Le, Mika Nakano, Jess Rivera.



Who are we? 

The Baltimore Asian Pasifika Arts Collective (BAPAC) is a new arts organization that was created in 2018 to address the deep need for Asian American and Pacific Indigenous representation and advocacy in the arts communities of Baltimore.  Our goal in establishing BAPAC was to ensure that AAPI art makers would always have a means to advocate for themselves and a platform to share their stories within the Baltimore arts world.  We aim to create original content, commission new work and highlight art that centers on the stories of the AAPI community and our experiences.

Since establishing ourselves in September 2018, we have performed and partnered with organizations such as Charm City Night Market, Baltimore Center Stage, Cohesion Theatre, The Motor House and Towson University's Asian Arts and Culture Center.  Through our arts programs and initiatives, we hope to continue building relationships with neighboring communities and strengthening solidarity with other underrepresented and misrepresented communities in Baltimore. 


We are exceedingly grateful to those in our community who have supported Baltimore Asian Pasifika Arts throughout its journey thus far.  Thank you for your continued support.

[Image from BAPAC appearance at the Charm City Night Market in 2018.]

[Member Elizabeth Ung and BAPAC Directors as guest panelists for Baltimore Center Stage's AfterThoughts following a performance of Lauren Yee's King of the Yees.]

[BAPAC with artists Kim Hak, Akiko Kitamura and the performers of Cross Transit at Towson University following Cross Transit performance and post-show talk back moderated by BAPAC.]


Note: Since creating this campaign, BAPAC has joined Fusion Partnerships and is now a fiscally sponsored program of Fusion.  We thank House of Bankerd for their incredible support in helping us get our feet off the ground.