Katie Ka Vang, a longtime Twin Cities playwright and Theater Mu collaborator, is returning to the Asian American theater company with a brand new, original musical as part of their 30th anniversary season. Running March 29 through April 16 at the Mixed Blood in Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, Again follows the lives of two cancer victims—one a survivor, and one inspired to create a documentary focused on the survivor’s story. Written after her own cancer remission, Vang teamed up with the Montreal and New York-based composer Melissa Li to create a musical experience that takes audiences on an up-close-and-personal ride through the nuances of a cancer experience. We spoke with the collaborators about their new production.
Katie, you’re based out of the Twin Cities and Melissa, you split your time between Montreal and New York. How did you two come together to create this project?
Katie Ka Vang: In general, the way that I try to write is focused around infusing personal things into all of my plays and stories. About a year out after remission, I was trying to write about my experience having cancer. I was having a hard time; I couldn’t do it. And then I saw a sort-of workshop of a musical, and it opened my eyes to the idea that maybe the project could be a musical instead of a play. I approached Theater Mu with the idea and once they were on board, Lily—the artistic director of Mu—set me up on these sort-of speed dating calls with potential composers that she knew of, and Melissa was one of them.
Melissa Li: Yeah, so she reached out to me and it was exciting because I’ve wanted to work with Katie for some time now. I did a show in Minneapolis at Mixed Blood in 2020 that was cut short because of the pandemic, and through that, I learned about Katie and I had friends in Minnesota who knew about Katie’s work. It was so exciting for me to join in on this project.
When we first met, I think her original idea for the show was pretty different. The original idea was the show being a two-hander about two people who were at two different stages of their cancer journey. I was really excited to work on this story and it’s been great to see how the work has changed and evolved over time. Through the course of our time working together, it’s really been an exciting and sort-of unpredictable, unexpected journey of storytelling.
How has the project evolved?
Li: It’s a totally different story now. Katie, why don’t you talk about that evolution?
Vang: Well, for one, the storyline is completely different from my original idea and it’s no longer a two-hander, it’s a cast of four. I think also, the new story has kind-of allowed us to list the nuances of a cancering experience and all that goes with it in these four characters.
Li: You know, starting with two people in the cast, I think Katie realized that wasn’t the story that she wanted to tell and that she wanted it to be more of a family drama. So, there was a third character that was added in, the sister character. And then it sort of extended and we started thinking ‘Oh, what about these ancillary characters?’’ You know, the relationship with the main character’s doctors, the relationship with her boss, and other types of characters. So, we extended it to four characters. I think what’s exciting about Again is the fact that once we started writing, we started having other ideas and seeing where pulling those threads would lead us. It’s really been fun.
Katie, you’ve talked about how adding music to this show made highlighting the nuances of a cancer experience easier. How exactly was music able to help with that?
Vang: It definitely brought a lot more levity to the piece. Especially when you’re talking about cancer, I think that the music piece really makes it easier to sit with the story and ride along on the journey. If I were writing a play, I’m sure it would have been very, very different. I tend to be a sort-of tortured writer, and this process wasn’t necessarily like that at all. It was actually a joyful experience.
I know that technically, Katie, you’re marked as the book and additional lyric writer and Melissa is the music and lyrical composer. But, throughout the process, did those labels ever converge and become more of a collaborative experience? Or did you both tend to stick to those specific roles?
Vang: I think that our process is still evolving. What do you think, Melissa?
Li: I would say the same thing. I’m a composer, I’m a lyricist, and I’ve done book on other projects. So, the way that we approached this project was actually very collaborative in the sense that it’s Katie’s story and she’s driving what story she wants to tell. I might have some dramaturgical thoughts, especially around the songs that are going in, and we’ll talk about ‘What does this need to be? Is this a song or is it just a scene? What’s the pacing like? Did we just come out of a song, so this needs to be a scene?’ We talk about that. Then I’ll go and present a draft of a song to Katie and we’ll tweak it together and make sure that it serves the story. So, yes, it’s very collaborative.
I want to twist the conversation a little more around what the heart of the show is about. Like you were just saying, Melissa, this is Katie’s story and she created it. As a cancer survivor yourself, Katie, would you say that Again is one of your more personal shows because you’ve gone through the same experience?
Vang: I would say that it’s definitely deeply personal, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily completely autobiographical. I think that when you go through a cancering process, there are a lot of relationships that get dropped, strained, and they kind of shift. So, I think there’s a lot of that throughout this story, and there’ve been a lot of different people that I’ve encountered through my cancer experience. So, you know, I think I might’ve borrowed a hair from my mom or maybe a tooth from my nurse, and so I think in that way, it is very personal.
In the press release for the show, Melissa, you described Again as “a musical about discovering what in life is worth keeping and what is worth letting go.” Could you dive a little deeper into what you meant by that and how it plays into the show?
Li: This story is based around a character who wants to hang onto some memories from the past and is having literal trouble remembering things. She has some demons that she needs to confront, and throughout the course of the story, she really learns that lesson of actually needing to be brave and be able to confront those demons.
This show is obviously going to be a deeply emotional experience for the folks who go to see it. Is there a specific emotion or message that you want audiences to experience by the end?
Vang: I want people to feel all of the emotions. I think it really is a roller coaster ride just like what a real cancer experience is, and so I hope that we almost recreate that same ride for audiences.
Li: Yeah, I agree with that. I really hope that Hmong audiences connect with it. I’m not part of the Hmong community, but Katie is, and I’ve witnessed the impact that this show and Katie has had on the Hmong community from a previous reading. What would bring me joy is if they feel all of the feels coming out of it and that they feel represented and that their stories are being told.
You know, Katie, this isn’t your first production with Theater Mu. You’ve been creating with them for years and have a pretty close relationship with the theater company at this point. What keeps you coming back and what do both of you find compelling about the Theater Mu?
Vang: Theater Mu is like an artistic home for me. They tell Asian American stories, and so, there’s a level of comfort there. To some degree, there’s a level of comfort in the fact that there are certain things I don’t have to explain because they understand. Also, they’ve always been a huge champion of giving resources out to Asian American playwrights and artists. And Lily, the new leadership there, has really been advocating for southeast Asian voices, so, how can I not be working with them?
Li: Katie, I think you said everything that I was going to. This is my first time working with Theater Mu, and they’ve just been so instrumental in the whole process and they’ve been so monumentally supportive, every single step of the way. And for me, it’s really the people. I really love working with the team there.
Tickets for Again are available online through Theater Mu’s website.