An Evening with ALOK

ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed poet, comedian, public speaker, and actor. They are the author of Femme in Public, Beyond the Gender Binary, and Your Wound/My Garden and the creator of #DeGenderFashion: an initiative to degender fashion and beauty industries. They have been honored as the inaugural LGBTQ Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, awarded a GLAAD Media Award, and selected as a 2023 “Advocate of the Year" by The Advocate Magazine.

They have toured in more than 40 countries, selling out their runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Kennedy Performing Arts Center and headlining Just for Laughs in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Their show has been described as "provocative and powerful" (CHORTLE) and a "jaw-dropping celestial event" (TO DO LIST LONDON). On-screen, they are the subject of the short documentary film ALOK, directed by Alex Hedison. executive produced by Jodie Foster and premiering at Sundance Film Festival in 2024 in competition, Complicated Order opposite Midori Francis, The Trans List, and (forthcoming) Absolute Dominion opposite Patton Oswalt.

On television, they can be seen in season 3 of the critically acclaimed HBO Max series SORT OF opposite Bilal Baig, Hulu’s Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne, ABC’s PRIDE: To Be Seen – A Soul of A Nation, Netflix’s Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, and HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness.

The event will have live ASL interpretation and access to gender neutral restrooms.

This event is hosted by the UMass Office of Equity and Inclusion and is free to attend. Advance registration is required.