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D'Lo (b.1978, New York) is a Tamil Sri Lankan-American, political theater performer, writer, prolific community activist performing[1] [2]in America, Canada, UK, Germany, Sri Lanka and India. He is also an actor and producer, known for short films The Legend of My Heart Shaped Anus(2008), Lock Her Room(2003), and Recession Lemons(2010). [3]D'Lo has created various writing and public speaking workshops for many LGBT/immigrant/arts-centered organizations[4]; he has collaborated with various community organizations, and has been involved within the LGBT and South Asian groups such as Arpana Dance Company. SAART (South. Asian Artist Collective), SATAM, Satrang, and TeAda Productions. [5][6]

D'Lo's work has been published in various anthologies and academic journals: Desi Rap: Hip Hop and South Asia America and Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic.[7] His work challenges socio-political, economic, racial and cultural structures.[8] On stage, he tells personal stories that touch many people's lives.[9] His writing workshop "Coming Out, Coming Home" engages the community to share stories, intended to spark inspiration and creativity, to encourage acceptance of one's self and create a sense of belonging and understanding.[5] The workshop creates a second home for the LGBT community who seek help that addresses their feelings.

Early Life

D'Lo was born in Flushing Queens New York City. He moved with his immigrant parents and older sister to Lancaster, California, when he was two years old.[2] He discovered hip-hop at a young age and idolized the work of Nas, Rakim, Queen Latifa, MC Trouble and MC Smooth. " I was 11 years old when I first saw Yo! MTV Raps. I was mesmerized by people trying to empower and uplift their communities through song." [8] D'Lo started writing poetry and expressing himself. Later he wrote R&B, rap and hiphop music; it was all about political expression, racial issues and more.[10]When D'Lo was 17, he started doing theater and writing his own work, which shaped his artistic ability.[11]

Education

D'Lo studied Ethnomusicology at UCLA. He also graduated from SAE Institute's New York School of Audio Engineering.[5] During the years in college, He was doing the UCLA Poetry Read and performing mostly hip-hop and spoken word.[2] A few months before graduation, D'Lo finally had to come out to his family. The process of coming out evolved over time- when the language and rhetoric of his community, which honored more complex notions of identity, caught on in popular culture. After graduation, he moved back to New York hoping to produce hip-hop and world music. [8]

Career

Writing hip-hop and spoken word was the early motivation for D'Lo to start doing work on the stage. He tackled on large issues like war, AIDS, Sri Lanka and police brutality. After graduating from college, he moved to New York. Around 2002, He started working with theater artist Susana Cook in New York. The work talked about very important queer politic; it changed D'Lo's writing into a more personal perspective. His writing started getting personal and he writes more about queer and trans issues. Around 2003, he traveled back to L.A. In 2006 and 2007, D'Lo begins to showcase his work in many places in the industry and allow his work to be more accessible.[2]

D'Lo loves to make people laugh and think at the same time.[7] He dissects gender norms, sexuality and the stereotypes of marginalized populations in his show. Questions like " How the hell do we want to grow up as queer people, to survive, with respect to community politics? and " What is my responsibility as someone on a transition journey? as a thinking queer person with respect to sexism and misogyny in the world?" [8]D'Lo discusses the struggle with his religion, his family and his transgendered identity within the various shows, such as: Ramble-Ations; A One D'Lo Show, D'FaQTo Life, D'FunQT, and Minor D'Tales. [5] In Ramble-Ations, He performed in five different characters, including Amma Shock, to articulate the challenge of new immigrants expressing their traditions and culture in America. [8]D'Lo performed his mother as Amma, and presents the struggle of accepting D'Lo as a transgender queer. At the end of the clip, Amma realized that she should accept D'Lo's transgender identity because she loves him and he is her son. [5]In Minor D'Tales, the show considers queer love and the artist's personal and complicated relationship with Sri Lanka as a trans masculine person. D'Fun QT portrays his experience as being transgender in a strict immigrant family. [5]

His work challenges the audience to think outside the usual constraints of gender and sexuality. Although he looks like a man, he speaks in a high falsetto. He did not want to lose the opportunity to play both genders.[12] D'Lo is able to switch between different characters from male to female, to transgender to old to young types of characters.[9] He said:" For me my queerness, is my social justice politic. I would rather be visible in a world that uses me to be visible than be invisible because I fit in."[12]

D'Lo's theater work has been presented across the nation and globe. A One D'Lo Show directed by Adelina Anthony received the National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Award Grant and the Durfee Foundation grant. His innovative and cutting edge pieces have had runs in myriad prestigious theaters, including the New World Theater( Amherst), Pangea World Theater( Minneapolis), The Flea Theater as part of the National Asian American Theater Festival (New York), Painted Bride ( Philadelphia), Highways Performance Space ( Los Angeles), and Ashe Cultural Center (New Orleans).[7]

Asia Pacific Performance Exchange invited D'Lo to participate in an international three week intensive residency in Bali that focused on American and Asian artists though UCLA's Center for Intercultural Performance. He used comedy and spoken word to tour universities and colleges. The audiences were blown by his outstanding comical and nuanced understanding at the complexity of life and identity in contemporary America.[7]

D'Lo's artistic performing journey has brought him to the next level; he is taking roles in features, shorts and several television series: Looking (HBO), Transparent (Amazon), Sense 8 (Netflix).[8]

Filmography

Actor

Title Role Year Notes
Bruising for Besos Rani (and Little Brother) 2016 Post-production
Sense 8 Disney 2015 TV Series
Alto Super Spinner Dinesh 2015
Absolutely Jason Stuart Episode Dated 4 February 2015 2015 TV Series
Eastsiders Tony 2015 TV Series
Transparent MC Mama's Boi 2014 TV Series
Looking Taj 2014 TV Series
Lit Jesse 2014 Short
The Legend of My Heart Shaped Anus Vera Myers 2008 Short
Lock Her Room J.C. 2003 Short

Producer

Title Year Notes
Bruising for Besos 2016 associate producer, post production
Recession lemons 2010 Video documentary short (co-director)

Director

Title Year Notes
Recession lemons 2010 Video documentary short

Writer

Title Year Notes
Recession Lemons 2010 Video documentary short

Composer

Title Year Notes
Dada Ji 2005 Short

Editor

Title Year Notes
Recession Lemons 2010 Short

Self

Title Year Notes
This Is Me 2015 TV Mini-Series documentary
Performing Girl 2013 Documentary short
Recession Lemons 2010 D'Lo[3]


References

  1. ^ "D'Lo Da Shape Shifter". Gaysi. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  2. ^ a b c d admin. "D'Lo: 'I'm the Hardest Thing About My Craft'". Colorlines. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  3. ^ a b "D'Lo". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  4. ^ "Queer Arts in Los Angeles". almalopez.net. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Nguyen Nguyen Situasian: Asian American Comedians, D'Lo is a transgender/queer Tamil Sri Lankan..." nguyenguyensituasian-blog.tumblr.com. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  6. ^ "Desi Men - D'Lo D'Lo is a transgender, American-Tamil-Sri..." desimalemodels.com. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  7. ^ a b c d "OUTmedia : Spoken Word : D'lo". outmedia.org. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Enjeti, Anjali (2015-05-26). "D'Lo: 'I came out three times – as gay, as having a girlfriend and as trans'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  9. ^ a b "Queering the Queer Voice - Kindle Magazine". Kindle Magazine. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  10. ^ "Everybody has the potential to be queer". IBNLive. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  11. ^ "D'Lo turns gender issues into A fun show". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  12. ^ a b "D'Lo: Laughing it Off". In conversation with... Retrieved 2016-04-05.
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