Lodestar Quarterly

Lodestar Quarterly
Figure reaching for a star Issue 13 • Spring 2005 • Featured Writer • Drama

Vessels

Kim Yaged

Characters, Time, Place, Setting

Characters

12-17, a girl representational of girls between the ages of 12 and 17, boyish, she is aged beyond her years.

25-54, a woman representational of women between the ages of 25 and 54, androgynous, she is hardened beyond her years.

AGED, an elderly woman, masculine but obviously female, she is a unique mix of fury and peace.

Time

The past and present.

Place

The lesbian diaspora.

Setting

The set should be minimalist, suggestive of a mood rather than literal.

Pre-War

(ALL stand in a circle, each turning as she speaks.)

12-17

I am birth

AGED

I am death

25-54

I am what happens in-between.

(They stand back to back to back forming a triangle of sorts.)

AGED

Women were not admitted to universities in Germany until 1908.

(Photos of female German intellectuals FLASH.)

12-17
(fantasizing)

A woman is --

25-54

woman

AGED

woman

12-17

woman --

25-54

less than.

AGED

Women were prohibited from political organizing until 1908.

(Photos of protestors FLASH.)

12-17

woman

25-54

woman

AGED

woman

12-17

Less than

25-54

A lesbian is

(Photos of nothingness FLASH.)

12-17

woman

25-54

woman

AGED

woman

25-54

Not a woman

AGED

Vessels

12-17

Just a place to put my --

25-54

Triangles

AGED

Pink --

12-17

homosexual men

AGED

Black --

25-54

asocial behavior

AGED

Red --

12-17

political dissidents

AGED

Green --

25-54

criminal activity

AGED

Triangles

12-17

Lesbians

25-54

Didn't even rate our own

12-17

Triangles

AGED

Unequal status

25-54

Paragraph 175 illegalized homosexual activity between men

12-17

Sickness, crime and sin

25-54

But not women

AGED

Why bother?

12-17

Not a threat

AGED

Lesbians were not hunted and persecuted as much as men

12-17

No legal basis

25-54

Don't take lesbians too seriously

12-17

Temporary

25-54

Curable

AGED

Condition

25-54

Mostly gay men were targeted

12-17

Vessels

AGED

Merely vessels

(12-17 toes the party line.)

12-17

"You should not associate lesbians with the Holocaust."

(25-54 lines up next to 12-17.)

25-54

We were all so surprised

(AGED lines up next to 25-54.)

AGED

-- Not all --

25-54

We shouldn't have been.

(AGED transforms as she breaks out of formation.)

AGED

At first I tell myself, "I am not ashamed. I wear star." Then we hear about the triangles. And this, well, it did not resonate, not so much. I still remember. "What comes next?" I wonder. Patches for woman, mother, bitch, whore -- all the appropriate nomenclature for female lined up on my sleeve like military personnel. My badges of dishonor. This way, don't look at me, don't talk to me. You know my place immediate -- no words, no thought is necessary. Ease, acceptance, passivity -- the tranquilizer of a society so that hell can burn around you -- registrations, interviews, people gone missing -- no explanations, small articles on the bottom left corner of the Saturday evening news, but you do not have to acknowledge -- patriot, loyalist -- support the troops! Your mission is acceptance.

12-17

It was clear from the very beginning

25-54

Financed

AGED

Military finance

12-17

Lobbyists

25-54

Put him in office

AGED

Shrewd

25-54

Propaganda

12-17

Shrewd

AGED

Play off the fear

25-54

Defend ourselves to death

12-17

As long as we win the war

25-54

Terror

AGED

Whose war is it

12-17

Terror

25-54

"Mass power of suggestion"

AGED

And who would go against it?

25-54

"Climate of fear"

AGED

What's a person to do?

25-54

I'm not political.

AGED

Platform --

25-54

Law and order

12-17

Traditional values

AGED

Forced to vote

25-54

I didn't even want to

AGED

"Election" in quotation marks

12-17

Rigged the ballot box

25-54

Avoid confrontation

AGED

"Didn't have the nerve to vote against"

12-17

Others did

AGED

New

25-54

What in the world

12-17

Order

AGED

Is happening?

25-54

"More than three million votes registered against"

ALL

And still they came to power

(ALL turn to face the Führer. 12-17 transforms as she breaks off from the others.)

12-17

To be a man. To fight. I never wanted to be a man. Don't get me wrong. But to be part of something. I know there's the Reich Labor Service for Female Youth. But they're not as important. Don't get me wrong. We're all important. I just want to contribute. Do my part. Play my role.

25-54

Instruments

12-17

of persecution

25-54

Extraordinary authority

AGED

To employ

25-54

Survey

12-17

Suspect

AGED

Seize

25-54

Detain

AGED

Intern

12-17

Confine

AGED

Preventive custody

12-17

Without legal recourse

25-54

Unlimited preventive detention

12-17

Without legal proceedings

(25-54 interrogates 12-17 and AGED.)

25-54

State

AGED

your name

12-17

March!

25-54

State

12-17

the truth

AGED

March!

25-54

State

AGED

sponsored tyranny

12-17

March!

25-54

State

12-17

of hypocrisy

(25-54 lifts her legs high, marching in place.)

AGED

March!

(12-17 raises her arm, "Heil Hitler," and joins the marching.)

12-17

Manipulation

AGED

So afraid

ALL

March!

(ALL march in place, arms raised.)

25-54

I wasn't Jewish...

12-17

"We were left in peace."

AGED

As long as we were very careful about what we said.

(ALL fall silent. Stillness.)

AGED (CONT'D)

Germany wasn't always like this.

(MUSIC. A sultry female voice sings. 25-54 transforms as she steps out.)

25-54

We would dress up. I don't mean dresses. Suit and tie always for me. We were all so young we had to sneak into the bars. We would save up all our wages for the week, beg or steal to get there. Saturday night was the night. Not to be missed. We would go and break hearts -- or have our hearts broken. All competing for the same girl. Always older. We wanted her to show us the ropes. She would strip me down --

(12-17 begins undressing.)

25-54 (CONT'D)

-- piece by piece. My own special education. And, I'm naked in ways I've never experienced before.

(AGED and 12-17 dance together closely.)

AGED

There were more gay bars in the Weimar Republic before the war than now -- still

12-17

Golden Ball "Bowling Club," Cloverleaf "Savings Club," the Violetta...

25-54

The most vibrant gay culture in the world in the 1920s

12-17

Poets

25-54

Actors

AGED

Singers

25-54

Artists

12-17

Stars --

AGED

Anita Berber

25-54

Susu Wannowsky

12-17

Zarah Leander

25-54

Celly de Reydt

AGED

Lene Ludwig

25-54

Erika Mann

12-17

Margo Lion

AGED

Claire Waldoff

25-54
(fantasizing)

Oh, Claire Waldoff!

12-17
(singing)

"A sweet and charming little creature;

25-54
(singing)

Her little bobbed head is her cutest feature.

AGED
(singing)

No one can even clarify

ALL
(singing)

If you're a lady or a guy!"

(ALL LAUGH.)

25-54
(remembering)

Claire Waldoff...

AGED

She even taught Marlene Dietrich.

25-54
(insinuating)

How much, I won't say -- if you know what I'm saying.

AGED

But, women's places began to shut down

12-17

...the Mali and Igel Club, the Eldorado, the Taverne, the Dorian Gray...

AGED

Lesbian places began to shut down

12-17

...Zauberflöte, the Geisha Bar, the Monocle...

AGED

There were secrets and hiding and raids.

12-17

...Verona Hall, the Jolly Joker, Monbijou Ladies' Club...

25-54

We were freer during the Weimar Republic

AGED
(disbelieving)

Freedom? There were more bars, more booze, more parties...

12-17

Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin

AGED

But what means bars? What about centers -- signs of civilization? Real means to express ourselves, not forget ourselves?

(12-17 puts on a prisoner uniform.)

25-54

We were freer than even today.

AGED

If you call censorship

12-17

Bernburg Nursing Home

AGED

Avoidance

25-54

Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp

AGED

Silence

12-17

Flossenbürg,

AGED

Acceptance --

25-54

Moringen

AGED

Allowing the discrimination --

12-17

Then it was freer.

25-54

More bars,

AGED

perhaps,

12-17

...Charlottenburg Rowing Club, Leibniz Den...

AGED

But freedom?

Outside the Camps

(SIRENS, a CRASH, BREAKING GLASS. A SEARCHLIGHT.)

25-54

Yes, they were my customers -- Jews.

(The LIGHT finds 25-54. She is handcuffed.)

25-54 (CONT'D)

Not only Jews. But also Jews. I have no preferences. But, I love my country. I believe in my country. So, you see, it's my obligation. What would you do? My allegiance is to my country. So, when they named names, I gave a nod. It was pre-emptive. Them or us. Them or me. I never named names. Just a nod. Here or there -- Only here or there. As the need may be. Never thinking they would come back -- for me.

AGED

"In National Socialism, the individual does not count as far as society is concerned."

25-54

They don't take lesbians too seriously. A woman "retains her usability in terms of population policy." Except for repeat offenders. I was helping them. Patriot, loyalist, party supporter. Me, a so-called repeat offender.

(12-17 interrogates 25-54 and AGED.)

12-17

Radical

25-54

punishable

12-17

Radical

AGED

criminal

12-17

Radical

AGED

sexual

12-17

Radical

AGED

"The police were moving to criminalize lesbian relations during the war."

12-17

Radical

25-54

interaction

12-17

Radical

25-54

content

12-17

Radical

AGED

conformity

25-54

I was sent to a camp. An all-male camp. See, this is my punishment for how I look, dress. They knew. They all knew. Why else would a woman be there? Lesbian equals man. I am among my own kind. So the thinking goes. They were not yet weak. And although lesbian equals man, I still looked woman enough to a camp full of dehumanized males. Or maybe they're just tired of each other by this point.

AGED

This is where they sent her.

25-54

I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, God, this is my punishment." And wondering if it could ever be punishment enough.

AGED

And the truth is, I was glad for it.

12-17

Children turned in their parents

25-54

Women left their lovers

12-17

Exile

25-54

Married men

AGED

Disappear from view

25-54

Sometimes gay men --

AGED

for pretense, protection

12-17

Marrying for camouflage

25-54

But you had to have children

AGED

Desirable births

12-17

Increase the rate

25-54

Of desirable births

12-17

Propagate the race

25-54

Otherwise it was a treason of sorts

AGED

"Subversion of the national defense"

12-17

Woman

25-54

Only woman

AGED

Tool

25-54

Vessel

12-17

For reproduction

25-54

Sport

(A wave of CHEERS.)

AGED

Truthfully, women didn't matter.

25-54

The Gestapo came in

(12-17 acts girlish and flirty.)

12-17

Hide and seek

AGED

We had talked about what we would do

12-17

She's in the barrel, the barrel, the barrel -- point, point, point -- wink, wink, wink...

25-54

My girlfriend and I

12-17

Check under the bed, the closet, the storage space...

25-54

They had lists

12-17
(singing)

One, two...

AGED

The owner of one of the bars was turning people in

12-17
(singing)

...buckle my shoe

25-54

Everyone turning people in

12-17
(singing)

Three, four...

AGED

We prepared ourselves for rape.

12-17
(singing)

...shut the door

AGED

I was a pretty girl

12-17
(singing)

We don't wanna fight no more.

AGED

Not so much now -- you can't tell.

25-54

But, the Nazis could be bought for a price.

12-17

I am not so naive.

25-54

Keep them entertained.

(12-17 begins tap dancing.)

12-17

But just naive enough.

25-54

As long as you keep them entertained.

12-17

They won't hurt me if I keep them entertained.

AGED

It's a war.

25-54

It's a crime.

AGED

"You're such a beautiful girl."

12-17

He says,

AGED

"It's such a waste."

25-54

Follow the rules.

(12-17 stops dancing.)

12-17

And he touched my cheek.

(AGED and 12-17 are back to back. They raise their arms in unison touching their own cheeks.)

AGED

And we're left

25-54

To find the heroes

12-17

the role models

25-54

the women who look like me

12-17

Jew

AGED

Dyke

25-54

Bore

AGED

Whore

12-17

Lesbian

AGED

Butch

25-54

Can't make up her mind

12-17

Bi

25-54

Freak

AGED

Self-loathing

12-17

Cheat

25-54

Can't find them anymore.

AGED

Lack of images

12-17

Invisibility

25-54

Lack of memories

AGED

The sphere subordinate to men

12-17

Lack of meaning

25-54

Girl

AGED

freak

25-54

foreigner

12-17

Without

AGED

girl

25-54

land

12-17

hope

25-54

Socially maladjusted

AGED

Anti-social

12-17

I prefer not to think of myself as "anti."

25-54

"Asocial"

AGED

-- when there is no offense to speak of

25-54

Behavior which may not in itself be criminal

AGED

Lack of conformity, perhaps.

12-17

Individuality -- being out of fashion.

25-54

This is what we were condemned for.

(AGED holds a protest sign.)

AGED

Not everyone was willing to conform. Skills. Political or otherwise. To keep my identity. Never surrender. My camaraderie. Companionship. Loyalty. Admit to nothing. I don't have to hold up a sign. To stage my protest. I have my own production quotas to meet. Do not dwell on demise. Live my life. Escaping. Help others escape. Even just momentarily. They can not invade me.

12-17

It was not illegal to be a lesbian

AGED

An "acquired vice"

25-54

Eradicate

AGED

Contagious degeneracy

25-54

Threatened

12-17

the nation

AGED

Terrorize

25-54

Social conformity

AGED

Non-criminalization of female homosexuality

25-54

My diagnosis

12-17

My disease

25-54

Legalities, trivialities

AGED

It does not affect reality.

25-54

Lesbians were not systematically rounded up

12-17

Eliminated

AGED

They just turned up missing

25-54

Left

12-17

dead

AGED

Left

25-54

shattered

12-17

Left

AGED

the resistance

25-54

We were disappeared

12-17

Banned

AGED

Arrested

12-17

Hid

25-54

Returned

AGED

Different

12-17

Or not at all.

25-54

What would you call us?

12-17

Enemy combatants

AGED

Such guilt

25-54

Over not being persecuted

12-17

Fleeing

25-54

Conforming

12-17

Not fighting enough

AGED

I was proud to be arrested

25-54

Showed we were opposed to the goings on

12-17

Active resistance

25-54

Trials

12-17

Afraid

AGED

Interrogation

25-54

Of ending up in jail

12-17

Again

25-54

Can't forgive myself

AGED

"We paid our rent, looked respectable, and behaved ourselves."

(12-17 takes the protest sign from AGED.)

12-17

People had to get on with their day to day

AGED

Help where they could

25-54

Others lived in exile

12-17

Run

25-54

Stay

12-17

Helped

AGED

Migrate

25-54

Favors

12-17

Freed me

AGED

Not all Germans were Nazis

25-54

Forged border passes

12-17

An opportune door left ajar

AGED

A stamp on an expired passport

12-17

Spare food ration cards

25-54

Small signs of resistance

AGED

To help you survive.

25-54

Outside Germany it was often no better

12-17

England --

AGED

"Arbitrary criteria"

25-54

For "justified internment"

12-17

France, Switzerland --

25-54

"Threatened with deportation"

AGED

"Protective custody" for the Jews. This is what they called it.

12-17

Lesbians could get by

25-54

Isolate yourself

12-17

Exercise caution

25-54

Not a threat

AGED

"Conduct yourself accordingly"

25-54

Some just stopped having relations during the war.

12-17

Not me --

Love & Sex

(ALL primp.)

AGED

A lover?

25-54

My lover?

12-17

There is no lover

25-54

Only starvation

12-17

for physical contact

25-54

until even the contact is as painful as the isolation...

AGED

You want to see me. Cower. Blood. Sweat. And fears. But, I come to you. No bended knee. Miss. Trials. Tribulations. Accusations. Remembrance of more than I care to offer. Prime of my...

12-17

Life.

25-54

Makes no promises.

(ALL weave in and out of one another. An odd mating ritual.)

AGED

Bended knee? Perhaps to court. Or be courted. Physical need. Slip down a thigh.

25-54

Lips.

AGED

That are not mine. It can wait. It's only physical. Need. It will come in time. Don't push. The envelope. Hold your horses. Refrain. From the unspeakable.

12-17

Immediate gratification

AGED

Social revolution.

25-54

Change your routine.

12-17

Deceit.

AGED

Question authority.

25-54

Pass without looking.

AGED

Demand your fill.

12-17

No longer recognize.

25-54

Try not to attract attention.

12-17
(still flirting)

Exercise restraint.

25-54

Don't tell me you're right

AGED

Spared

12-17

if prepared

25-54

to conform.

12-17

There are no rights.

AGED

The rich diversity of perversities

25-54

I am

12-17

Not me.

(The weaving slowly becomes a polonaise.)

AGED

Isolation behind walls

12-17

One, two, three...

25-54

It's amazing when you stop to think about it.

12-17

One, two, three...

AGED

She was thirty years older than me

12-17

One, two, three...

AGED

"When many spouses of so-called mixed marriages were abandoning one another

12-17

One, two, three...

25-54

Thirteen years younger

AGED

It seems even more a miracle that a woman would stand beside her Jewish lover"

12-17

One, two, three...

25-54

That wasn't unusual

AGED

Help her go underground

12-17

One, two, three...

25-54

But she did.

AGED

We would hold hands when we went for walks in the park. If someone should stop us, she'd say she was my mother -- the difference in our age was so great. But, no one asked questions. "Such affections were expected in the fairer sex."

25-54

"My girlfriend was very supportive. She had made herself blond."

AGED

She helped get me out from the Gestapo

12-17

"Everyone was turning blond overnight."

25-54

She was arrested for immoral behavior

12-17

Corrupting a minor

AGED

I don't know it was so typical.

25-54

Maybe we were just searching for solace.

12-17

Or opportunity.

AGED

She would have been my father's age.

12-17

Where we could find it.

AGED

"I dated one woman, she made me curl my hair, wear dresses she was so afraid.

12-17

Pants are not okay

25-54

But, I loved the boyish look. That was my type.

12-17

The police followed me home

AGED

They would measure my wrists -- accuse me of being a man in disguise."

25-54

Secrecy

AGED

Repression

12-17

"Hide your true nature"

25-54

Or end up in a concentration camp.

(The dancing stops.)

In the Camps

(ALL line up for roll call.)

25-54

Not all lesbians were heroes.

12-17

There was a lesbian room senior in our block at the camp.

AGED

What makes a lesbian most?

12-17

She would use her position to pressure prisoners into granting sexual favors.

25-54

Promise or profit? Practice or purpose? Passion or proximity?

AGED

We slept three in a bed.

12-17

A cuddle?

25-54

A touch?

AGED

The bravery to care?

25-54

Lesbian by degrees.

12-17

Situation

AGED

Semantics

12-17

Shameless

AGED

Hunger

25-54

Vitality

AGED

Lesbianism was not illegal outside the camps, but inside it was.

12-17

The guards were frequent offenders.

AGED

So how could they turn others in?

12-17

You couldn't help but oversee the lovemaking.

25-54

Unwilling voyeur.

12-17

"Jules." That's what we called the more masculine ones in a couple.

25-54

Profound, durable relationships.

AGED

Lending new meaning to the words, "Until death do us part."

(AGED hands 25-54 a withered bouquet.)

25-54

They had brothels in the camp.

12-17

Not just for SS.

AGED

The prettiest women went to the brothels for the SS.

25-54

But the prisoners had their own brothels.

AGED

They thought it would combat male homosexuality, improve the work of prisoners -- more weapons.

12-17

Incentive programs

AGED

With the promise of better food, private rooms, more comfortable conditions, and release after six months.

12-17

They asked for "volunteers."

AGED

Prostitutes. Mostly former prostitutes. But others too.

(25-54 timidly raises her hand.)

25-54

I had already been there four years.

(AGED reads from a report.)

AGED

"Their commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the weakness of their numbers."

12-17

Nazis especially liked lesbians to work the brothels.

AGED

Shape them up!

12-17

My period

AGED

Designation of readiness

25-54

of service.

(25-54 saunters over to an imaginary client.)

25-54 (CONT'D)

Eight men. In two hours. Every day. There was this one. He was a handsome young man. I'm sure he was. By the time I met him -- not so much. But, such charm. You don't get that from nowhere. "Please, call me --" Odd sort of courtship. I was part of his treatment. Re-education. Or eradication. He never touched me. Not once. Maybe when the SS were looking through the peephole. But that's it. Pink triangle. A kinsman of sorts. It was a relief to just talk. Not for nothing, I would have sworn up and down for him. But, one day, he was gone.

AGED

Strip

25-54

Tease

12-17

My mind

AGED

Put in your time.

25-54

I can convince myself to suck up my soul just long enough.

AGED

Lured

12-17

Forced

25-54

Promised

AGED

Half a year

12-17

Six months

25-54

Recommended time

AGED

To cure

12-17

or be cured

25-54

Just wishful thinking

12-17

Because there's nothing left to hold on to once you give up your dreams.

AGED

You will never know

25-54

You will never know

12-17

You will never know

25-54

What's become of me?

Post-War

(AGED steps out of formation.)

AGED

A-troc-i-ties. I had difficulty saying that word when I first came over -- four syllables. Atrocities. Special words for unspeakable deeds -- impossible choices. It loses its impact upon repeating. Age groups. There are different values on different places, stages, ages. Because your worth will change to them and just as soon to yourself. Once your utility has gone. Your perceived utility -- of a woman, girl -- not man lover -- no baby machine -- no use. We covet age, utility. Much has changed over time but not quite enough.

12-17

Split consciousness

25-54

Schizophrenic reaction

AGED

Pervasive

12-17

Atmosphere of fear

25-54

Modern pathology

AGED

Crisis in industrial class society

25-54

Monopolists

12-17

Capitalists

25-54

Developmental policy

(12-17 hits on an imaginary woman walking past.)

12-17

Hey baby --

AGED

Race-corroding

25-54

Race-debasing

AGED

Demand for criminalization

25-54

Ethnically threatening

AGED

Your sin against humanity

12-17
(flirtatious)

Or mine?

AGED

Blind

25-54

To issues of individual human culpability

12-17

Contributed

25-54

Outbreak

AGED

Rise

12-17

Threatening

25-54

Thriving

AGED

Totalitarianism

12-17

Anything to survive.

25-54

But this is all in my mind. Stories. So many stories that are not mine. Because there are so few tellers.

AGED

I am a storyteller of others' stories -- stories otherwise left behind.

12-17

It is left to me to do all the remembering.

AGED

Juxtaposition

12-17

impact

25-54

irony

12-17

Rationalization

25-54

My place in history

AGED

I would rather have been anonymous.

12-17

Exceptions

AGED

I am exceptional by virtue of my survival.

25-54

These stories are all exceptions.

12-17

All survivor stories

25-54

All survivor stories

AGED

All survivor stories

ALL

Are exceptions.

(BUILDING.)

AGED

I don't have words

12-17

For my anger

25-54

For my anger

AGED

For my anger

25-54

I don't have words

12-17

Hate

AGED

And anger fuel me

12-17

I don't have words

AGED

For my anger

12-17

For my anger

25-54

For my anger

AGED

I refuse to let

25-54

Hate

12-17

And anger fuel me

AGED

I don't have words

25-54

For my anger

AGED

For my anger

12-17

For my anger

25-54

I refuse to let

AGED

Hate

25-54

And anger fuel me

AGED

I don't have words

12-17

Hate

25-54

And anger fuel me

12-17

I refuse to let

25-54

Hate

AGED

And anger fuel me

12-17

I don't have words

25-54

For my anger

AGED

Hate

12-17

And anger fuel me

25-54

I refuse to let

AGED

Hate

25-54

I don't have words

12-17

And anger fuel me

AGED

I refuse to let

(Each turns as she speaks.)

25-54

Birth

12-17

Death

AGED

What happens in-between.

(ALL stand in a circle.)

THE END

Production History

Vessels was commissioned by the Ivy Theatre for The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in conjunction with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum exhibit "The Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945." The play was subsequently performed at the Renberg Theatre in Hollywood and as part of the Native Aliens Theatre Festival in New York.

Copyright Notice

This work is fully protected by copyright. No alterations, deletions or substitutions may be made in the work without the prior written consent of the playwright. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, videotape, film, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the playwright. It may not be performed either by professionals or amateurs without payment of royalty. All rights, including but not limited to the professional, motion picture, radio, television, videotape, foreign language, tabloid, recitation, lecturing, publication and reading are reserved.

Table of Contents:   Vessels

Kim Yaged

Kim Yaged is an award-winning playwright whose work has been performed throughout North America. Her chamber opera www.love was showcased by the New York City Opera and subsequently performed in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This production won four Best of 2001 Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Production, and was runner-up in two other categories. Kim was a recipient of the Kennedy Center's Meritorious Achievement Award for the Diego Rivera Theatre's production of her play America. She was also an ArtServe grant recipient. Kim has written children's books for Disney Publishing. Her short stories and poetry are included in anthologies published by Ballantine Books, Cleis Press, and Arsenal Pulp Press. (Photo credit: Sarah Grace Shierson Dumser)

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