Part of its KST Global Stream Digital Commissions Program, Kelly Strayhorn Theater presents Love Letters by Anqwenique and D.S. Kinsel.

Love Letters is a performance art piece exploring the nuances and complexities of intimacy, longing and love through the literary works featured in the compilations Love – from Black Men to Black Women and Love – from Black Women to Black Men Poetry and Prose edited by Francis Johnson Barnes. Visual artist and cultural agitator Darrell Kinsel and vocalist Anqwenique Kinsel are newly married with a 2 year old daughter. The two have collaborated many times over the years bringing innovative multi-disciplinary performances, public art and immersive theater to audiences. Love Letters was first performed during Darrell’s residency at The Center for Human Achievement in Austin, TX in 2016. The duo is excited for this opportunity to further develop the work, diving deeper into this very intimate creative process as Black lovers and artists.

Pittsburgh native, Anqwenique is an extremely versatile vocalist and educator specializing in opera, classical music, jazz and soul. Anqwenique has performed lead operatic roles such as Magda Sorel in Carl Menotti’s The Consul and Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni . She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Voice Performance from Indiana University of PA. Anqwenique is the founder and director of Groove Aesthetic, a Pittsburgh based multidisciplinary artist collective experimenting with contemporary performance and collaborative processes . She has performed across the Pittsburgh Region including with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2018 celebrating the legacy of Black artists in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District. Anqwenique has been recognized with many awards and opportunities for her creative work. In 2017 she was named “Best Singer” by the Pittsburgh Magazine readers poll, listed among Who’s Next in Music by The Incline and 40 Under 40 by Pittsburg Magazine and PUMP. In collaboration with digital media artist Julie Mallis, Anqwenique was featured in the 2016 CSA Season by the New Hazlett theater in a performance titled: A Love Supreme . 2015 she was recognized as one of Whirl Magazine’s 13 under 30 , and in 2018 was nominated for the Carol R. Brown Award as an Emerging Artist. Anqwenique has been very active in the arts and education community as a teaching artist, consultant, program manager and advisor. Currently she serves as Director of programs for Arts Ed Collaborative. She is also the Studio Manager of BOOM Concepts working to provide affordable studio space and resources to artists and creative entrepreneurs.

D.S. Kinsel is an award winning creative entrepreneur and cultural agitator. He expresses his creativity through the mediums of painting, installation, curating, action-painting, non-traditional performance and #HASHTAGS. Kinsel’s work puts focus on themes of space keeping, urban tradition, hip-hop, informalism and Cultural Re-Appropriation. D.S. has served creative residencies at Most Wanted Fine Art, Artist Image Resource, The Homewood Residency Program, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh Public Schools Carnegie Mellon University Digital Arts Studio, AS220, the Pittsburgh Glass Center and the Sedona Summer Artist Colony. He also served as the curator of #ACTIVISTprint, a collaborative public art program of The Andy Warhol Museum and recently served as the Senior Producer at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. D.S. is the co-founder of BOOM Concepts, founded in 2014. BOOM Concepts is a creative hub dedicated to the advancement of black and brown artists representing marginalized communities. BOOM Concepts is located in Pittsburgh and is funded by The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation. BOOM serves as a space for field building, knowledge sharing, mentorship, and storytelling . In its fifth year, BOOM Concepts consistently challenging artists and communities to find new and innovative ways to write their own narratives. D.S has served as a board member of Pittsburgh Center for Creative REuse, and serves on the advisory board for theTransformative Arts Process. A former AmeriCorps Public Ally member, D.S. has also been recognized as an Awardee of the Pittsburgh Courier Fab 40, Pittsburgh Magazine PUMP 40 Under 40, Pgh Tech Council Creative of The Year, and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s “Top Ten People To Meet in 2016” and the Incline’s “Who’s Next” for 2018.

The Show Must Go On(line) is made possible thanks to generous support from the Benter Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation, the Opportunity Fund, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and an Anonymous Foundation.

Love Letters, Anqwenique and D.S. Kinsel Presented by KST