Kevin Kantor

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Kevin Kantor is a trans, non-binary actor, director, theatre artist, and spoken-word poet. They served as the first non-cis acting apprentice with the Actors Theatre of Louisville [ when? ] [1] [ non-primary source needed ] and have since performed in regional U.S. theaters [2] including Arizona Theatre Company, and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. [3] Kantor's writing has been featured in publications such as TeenVogue, BuzzFeed , Button Poetry and elsewhere. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Kantor graduated with a bachelor's degree in acting and directing from the University of Northern Colorado in 2015. [2]

Poetry

Kantor has toured their poetry nationally and has performed at over eighty colleges and universities throughout the United States. [3] Kantor founded the University of Northern Colorado's SOAPbox Slam and was a member of the Denver Minor Disturbance Youth Poetry Slam team. [3]

Kantor performed their poem "People You May Know" at the 2015 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. [4] A video of the performance received attention from the media sites Buzzfeed, [5] HuffPost, [6] Bustle, [7] and Independent. [8] Kantor used poetry to process their trauma and raise awareness about society's treatment of rape victims. [5] [6] They then came out as trans non-binary. [2]

Endowing Vegetables with Too Much Meaning is Kantor's self-published poetry chapbook published on July 16, 2015 through CreateSpace. It includes the poems "People You May Know," "A Letter From Cancer," and "Honest Confessions on Letting Go." [9] Kantor's first full-length collection of poetry entitled Please Come Off Book was published by Button Poetry on March 23, 2021. [3] [10]

Theatre

In 2019, Kantor originated the role of Mia in Andrew Bovell's Things I Know to Be True , a co-production between Arizona Theatre Company and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. [11] Bovell worked with Kantor to develop an authentic vocabulary for the trans character of Mia. [2] In 2022, Kantor performed in repertory at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in the roles of Parolles in All's Well That Ends Well and Trinculo in The Tempest. [12]

In 2023, Kantor performed the leading role of Casey in The Legend of Georgia McBride with Arizona Theatre Company. [13] [14] In 2024, with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Kantor played the title character in a new play titled Dracula. [15]

Television

Due to their advocacy for sexual assault survivors, Kantor was one of 50 guests invited to stand with Lady Gaga in her 2016 Academy Awards performance of the song, "Til It Happens to You" from The Hunting Ground , a documentary about rape on college campuses; it was nominated for "Best Original Song" at those Oscars. [2] Kantor guest starred as themself in season two episode four of American Crime, an American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television series produced by John Ridley. [16] Kantor performs their poem "I am Sure" at the beginning of the episode which aired on January 27, 2016. [16] [17] Kantor also worked as a content supervisor on the series. [3]

Additional written publications

Kantor's writing can be found in the following anthologies:

References

  1. ↑ Harling, Willem Finn (2021-03-23). "May We Present... Kevin Kantor's Please Come Off-Book". Lambda Literary Review. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lengel, Kerry (May 9, 2019). "How a transgender character changed when a trans actor was hired for the role". The Arizona Republic . Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kantor, Kevin (March 23, 2021). Please Come Off-Book. Button Poetry. ISBN   978-1-943735-91-4.
  4. ↑ Saul, Heather (May 6, 2015). "Kevin Kantor: Student logs into Facebook to see alleged rapist under 'people you may know". Independent. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  5. 1 2 Strudwick, Patrick (2015-05-05). "This Man Logged On To Facebook And His Rapist Appeared Under "People You May Know"". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  6. 1 2 "When My Rapist Appeared Under Facebook's 'People You May Know' Tab". HuffPost. 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  7. ↑ "Kevin Kantor's "People You May Know" Spoken Word Poem Shows What It's Like When Facebook Tells You That You "May Know" Your Rapist". Bustle. 2015-04-23. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  8. ↑ "Brave student breaks the silence of male rape in powerful stage performance". The Independent. 2015-05-06. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  9. ↑ Kantor, Kevin (July 16, 2015). Endowing Vegetables with Too Much Meaning. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN   978-1512133417.
  10. ↑ hksspr (2019-05-22). "Non-Binary Actors and the Theatre Industry: An Interview with Kevin Kantor". HKS Student Policy Review. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  11. ↑ Cristi, A. A. "Photos: Milwaukee Repertory Theater Presents American Premiere of THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  12. ↑ Woodzick, K. (2022-08-26). "Theatrical Mustang: Queering the Canon With Kevin Kantor and Sophia Metcalf". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  13. ↑ Star, Kathleen Allen Special to the Arizona Daily (2023-06-12). "'The Legend of Georgia McBride' brings joy to the stage in Tucson". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  14. ↑ Watts, Lydia (2023-06-17). "Actor finds home at the Arizona Theatre Co". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  15. ↑ "Dracula". cin. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  16. 1 2 "American Crime: Season 2, Episode 4". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  17. ↑ Canada, Quianna (2023-03-18). "The Poetic Injustice of the Non-Ideal Victim". Quianna Canada. Archived from the original on 2024-06-23. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  18. ↑ Clark, Annie E.; Pino, Andrea L. (2016). We believe you: survivors of campus sexual assault speak out (First ed.). New York: Holt Paperbacks. ISBN   978-1-62779-533-3.
  19. ↑ Zalewski, Marysia; Drumond, Paula; Prugl, Elisabeth; Stern, Maria (2018-05-11). Sexual Violence Against Men in Global Politics. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-315-45648-5.
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