Kristina Wong #FoodBankInfluencer
Feb 28, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Bowker Auditorium, UMass Amherst
Written and performed by Kristina Wong
Directed by Jessica Hanna
Performance artist, comedian, actor, and writer Kristina Wong is a real-life food bank influencer in Los Angeles. She brings glamor and pizazz to the emergency food system like nobody asked for. Her avant premiere of this new work of karaoke and storytelling takes us through America’s food insecurity issues from big cities to the Navajo Nation. This high energy, one-woman show will help us to look at the future of food access. If food banks were originally a stopgap for a temporary crisis and now have become a permanent part of American survival, does this mean we are in a perpetual state of crisis? Wong is a Doris Duke Artist Award winner, Guggenheim fellow, and Pulitzer Prize finalist in drama. She has performed on stages across North America, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Africa. She’s been a guest on late night shows on NBC, Comedy Central and FX. Her commentaries have appeared on American Public Media, PBS, Vice, Jezebel, Playgirl magazine, the Huffington Post, and CNN.
Warm up for this show with an activating panel conversation: “Sex, Lies, & Foodbanks”! Wednesday, Feb. 26, 4-6 p.m. | UMass Old Chapel | Free with registration Featuring participants from UMass, Grow Food Northampton, and the Amherst Survival Center, and dynamically moderated by Kristina Wong, this panel will explore topics related to food access and food justice and raise awareness of resources available to the UMass community and beyond. Bring your taste buds and your questions! Co-sponsored by the School of Public Health & Health Sciences and presented in collaboration with Grow Food Northampton and SPHHS.