My First Big Break - Segment 6 - Kate Rigg
Originally from Canada and Australia artist and activist Kate Siahaan-Rigg has been an advocate for the Asian American community since graduation from the Juilliard Drama Division in 2000, where she won the Interarts Award for producing innovative interdisciplinary, intercultural work.
She is a fixture of the New York Theater scene, appearing in world premieres at The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theater Club, La Mama ETC, and New York Theater workshop. As a writer she has been a playwright in residence at Manhattan Theater Club, The O’Neill Center, Center Theater Group Los Angeles and many others. Regionally she has starred in world premieres at Actors Theater of Louisville, Woolly Mammoth, Long Wharf Theater, A.C.T. and more. Her award winning solo shows: “Birth of a nASIAN”, “Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda Dragon Good Time Fun Fun Show” and “Zombie Asian Moms” have toured internationally, been invited to the Smithsonian Institute, The Comedy Central Theater, The HBO Time Warner Workspace, PSNBC, Harvard University, and countless AAPI festivals, conferences and multicultural student unions around North America.
She has been profiled twice on PBS for these solo works which all deal with the perception of Asians in America, the deconstruction of stereotypes and deeper exploration of identity within the AAPI diaspora.
Her TV work includes guest stars and recurring on Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Criminal Intent, New Amsterdam, Tales of the City, The Path, The Punisher, Fox’s Family Guy and as an on-air comedy correspondent for The Dr Phil Show for 3 seasons. As a stand-up comic she has been featured on Showtime, PBS, Comedy Central and a talking head on VH1. She was an Executive Producer and co-creator of Dance Your Ass Off on Oxygen, the E! television pilot Tour Dates and the early viral on demand show Gonzo Girlz. She created and executive produced the comedy-based kids adventure show Cache Craze for Disney XD and wrote and starred in the independent movie versions of her shows Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda Dragon Good Time Fun Fun Show (directed by Carrie Preston) and Zombie Asian Moms currently in post-production.
Kate's badass Amerasian rap-comedy-rock duo Slanty Eyed Mama has been invited to the Smithsonian Institute twice and headlined music festivals, modern art festivals and Asian Heritage Month Celebrations around the world.
As an activist Kate is a frequent speaker at colleges on race and representation, has held workshops in prisons, high schools, arts festivals and AAPI cultural centers. She is an associate artist with the New York based Asian American Arts Alliance, the Asian Women’s Giving Circle, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Foundation and the Coalition of Asian American Pacific Americans who host the largest Asian Heritage Festival in the nation. She was also on the Global Advisory board for Time’s Up and in 2020 created the SAG AFTRA “Know Your Rights” document with SAG officer Michelle Hurd to explain rules and rights pertaining to sexual harassment on Union sets to principal and background performers. Kate has written, hosted and produced online events for the NYCLU (2020 voting rights special), the Dolores Huerta Foundation (91st birthday celebration and fundraiser), The Meteor 21 feminist visions for the 21st century and more. She has also hosted events for Heritage of Pride and the LGBTQ+ pride rally in Bryant park. She is working as a Creative Director for the Over The Rhine International Film Festival which is the nation's only diversity film festival led by people in the disability community.
Kate has won awards from the Australia Council, The Canada Council, The Urban Arts Initiative, The Toronto Arts Council, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The PatsyLu Foundation, The Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, The Asian Women's Giving Circle, The Juilliard School, The Gluck Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The NEA for her work as a writer/performer as well as one from The State of New York for her activism.
She is also the creator of several comedy based unscripted television shows: Dance Your Ass Off for NBC Universal (and as an international format), Cache Craze for YTV/ Disney XD, Tour Dates pilot for E! and NBC Universial, and Gonzo Girlz one of the first viral internet shows which was on the Sprint Versally Network, RIPE TV and Time Warner Adelphia doing monster numbers at the dawn of the internet. .We sat down with Kate to ask her questions about milestones in her comedy career. If you want to know what she has to say, keep watching!