Mouth to Mouth Open Mic: Sikh Night
Pushkar Sharma & Cihan Kaan
Mouth to Mouth Open Mic: Sikh Night

Long overdue is our salute to Sikh Americans’ contributions to stand-up comedy and spoken word. Jen Kwok and Ed Lin host a night of levity and healing on the inauspicious 9/11. Polish off your jokes and rhymes to join the open mic roll call and showcase your talents.

Harnessing socially-conscious poetry, diasporic politics, and high-energy comedy, one half of performance duo BROWNSTAR, NORTHSTAR a.k.a. Pushkar Sharma, attempts to unite South Asia (America) with his brand of off-beat, nerdcore spoken word. Penning such classics as an ode to the squat toilet and a play on the burden of being Kal Penn, NORTHSTAR will bring you to tears—the good kind. BROWNSTAR has been described by spoken-word pioneer and founder of the Boston Progress Arts Collective, Giles Li, as “carrying on the legacy of the great storytellers across generations.” NORTHSTAR will perform “10 Little Coolies,” featured in the Asian American Literary Review’s September 11 commemorative issue, and other poems.

Author and director, Cihan Kaan, will be joining the fray. He’ll add his own flavor (of the Halal Pork variety) into the mix, reading from his collection of short stories to commemorate Sikh Americans lost in the crossfire of the US’s struggle with hate and Islamophobia.

Nicholas Powers and Sruthi Sadhujan have just been added to the bill! Nicholas will read from his memoir The Internal Flood. Part-autobiography, part-journalism, Nicholas begins his story from 9/11 and zigzags to New Orleans, Darfur, Haiti, Occupy Wall Street, and the End of History.

Mouth to Mouth is AAWW’s monthly open mic, hosted by performer Jen Kwok and novelist Ed Lin, bringing together literary writers, stand-up comedians and you.

*This event is co-sponsored by SAWCC

Pushkar Sharma is a performance poet and playwright that has performed his works across the US and India.  His poems have been published in The Asian American Literary Review and DesiLit Magazine.  His theatrical works, including his play Midnite’s Vultures, have been produced by Chicago’s Rasaka Theatre. Pushkar produces UNIFICATION, a joint demonstration for peace in South Asia and at Home, annually in New York City.  UNIFICATION 2012 featured the talents of Hari Kondabolu, Arooj Aftab, D’Lo, Deen, Parijat Desai, and Sham-e-Ali Nayeem and fund raised for South Asian Americans Leading Together. Pushkar is one half of the performance-poetry duo, BROWNSTAR. The duo premiered their stage show FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF WHITE at the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival.  He is currently pursuing his Masters in Public Administration in Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University.

Cihan Kaan is a Texas-born, Brooklyn-raised writer and filmmaker. His first work of video art premiered as part of an ensemble show at MoMA at the age of 17. By 21, Kaan had directed several music videos in rotation on MTV. His short films She’s Got an Atomic Bomb and Shuffle Mode have won multiple awards. His book, Halal Pork and Other Stories, can be described as a collection of urban Sufi myths from the streets of New York City.

 

 

 

Mouth to Mouth Open Mic: Sikh Night

Pushkar Sharma & Cihan Kaan
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
7:30 PM
$0.00
The Asian American Writers’ Workshop
110-112 West 27th Street
New York New York 10001
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