12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Diana Oh, Fierce Voice for Queer Liberation in Theater, Dies at 38
Diana Oh, a glitter-dusted experimental artist-activist whose theater works intertwined political provocation with profound compassion in rituals of communion with audiences, died on June 17 at their home in Brooklyn. Mx. Oh, who used the pronouns they and them, was 38.
The death was confirmed by Mx. Oh's brother Han Bin Oh, who said the cause was suicide.
A playwright, actor, singer-songwriter and musician, Mx. Oh created art that didn't fit neatly into categories. Mx. Oh was best known for the outraged yet disarmingly gentle Off Broadway show '{my lingerie play},' a music-filled protest against male sexual violence; it was performed in a series of 10 installations around New York City.
A concert-like play — with Mx. Oh singing at its center — '{my lingerie play}' percolated with an angry awareness of the ways restrictive gender norms and society's policing of sexual desire can leave whole groups vulnerable. It was an emphatic and loving assertion of the right to be oneself without worrying about abuse.
'I was born a woman, to immigrant parents,' Mx. Oh said in the show. 'That's when my body became political. That's when I became an artist.'
Mx. Oh's Infinite Love Party, which the Bushwick Starr theater in Brooklyn produced in 2019, was not a show but rather a structured celebration with a sleepover option. It was a handmade experience, including music and aerial silks, designed to welcome queer people, people of color and their allies.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
