Kat Evasco is queer immigrant from the Philippines, and is an award-winning writer, theatermaker, filmmaker, and cultural strategist committed to honoring and celebrating the experiences of immigrants, women and LGBTQ communities. Evasco was recently awarded the Gerbode Foundation Theater Awards (2022) and the Kenneth Rainin New & Experimental Works (NEW) Program Grant (2020) towards the premiere of her new play Be Like Water produced by Brava Theater in San Francisco. Building on the success of her autobiographical one-woman show Mommy Queerest co-written by John Caldon, Evasco supports artists to produce solo shows. Evasco’s solo theater projects include directing Prieto by Yosimar Reyes and Not My First Pandemic by Cesar Cadabes, which received Best One Man Show and All About Solo Critics Award at United Solo Festival 2021. Most recently, she co-directed Rag Head: An American Story by Sundeep Morrison, winner of Best Drama at the 2022 United Solo Festival.

Margaret Cho was born on December 5, 1968, in San Francisco, California. Her parents ran Paperback Traffic, a bookstore on Polk Street, and she frequently attended church. Cho pursued her passion for performance and successfully auditioned for the San Francisco School of the Arts, a public high school dedicated to the arts. She actively participated in the school’s improvisational comedy group. Following high school graduation, Cho enrolled in San Francisco State University to study drama but did not complete her degree. Following performances in a club near her parents’ bookstore, Cho embarked on a stand-up comedy journey, honing her material through years of club shows. Her career gained momentum with notable television appearances and successful gigs at universities across the country. In 1994, All-American Girl, a sitcom based on Cho’s life, aired. After the show’s cancellation, Cho suffered from drug and alcohol addiction, which she wrote about in her first one-woman show. Her show, I’m The One That I Want, won New York magazine’s Performance of the Year. Margaret Cho’s “E! Celebrity Profile” won the Gracie Allen Award in 2000 for its portrayal of women’s evolving roles. She received the Golden Gate Award from GLAAD for promoting equal rights. Lambda Legal honored her with the Lambda Liberty Award in 2001. Cho also received accolades from organizations like the National Organization for Women, American Civil Liberties Union, and AZN’s Asian Excellence Awards. San Francisco declared “Margaret Cho Day” in 2008. Throughout her career, she’s released eight comedy specials and two books, and has consistently appeared in TV and film, most recently in Fire Island and Hacks.