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Rey Tang really loves Chicago—so much so that the New Jersey native eschewed the traditional route of moving to New York City in favor of attending Northwestern and decided to stick around.
“Northwestern had the perfect program that let me pursue a bunch of interests,” Tang related via Zoom. Good thing, because the 25-year-old creative wears a whole lot of hats: writer, photographer, stand-up comedian, actress, and filmmaker. Her short film Emergence, about a transgender college freshman struggling to embrace and define her identity, has already screened at the Music Box Theatre. (Full disclosure: this was for my own film fest, the 2024 Film Girl Film Festival.)
Deciding to stay in Chicago was a no-brainer. Like anyone trying to make a living in the arts sans a nepo baby title, money was and is a constant consideration. “I think it’s far better to be broke here than in New York or LA,” she said with a chuckle. “But I also was very fascinated by the comedy scene here. I was very much drawn to these creatives who just have this spirit of creation and love of play.”
Given that intrinsic love of playfulness and her general aura of sparkling humor, it’s no surprise that stand-up and its inherent performativity is Tang’s favorite creative hat to wear. Her weekly open mike night at Pizzeria Serio prioritizes LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and femme comics, and it has proven to be such a success that it’s been mentioned in the New York Times.
Such notice lent a greater legitimacy to the endeavor, and the fact that traditionally marginalized performers have priority goes a long way in preemptively weeding out the toxicity of a scene that can be notoriously and viciously racist, sexist, and homophobic. Like many who find themselves on the outside, creating her own community was an act of survival for Tang; there’s a certain weariness to being the only trans woman in the room, especially the only trans person of color.
Credit: courtesy Rey Tang
“Building the mike [night] was trying to find a way to circumvent that, because I don’t want to keep going to mikes that don’t have my interest or don’t have people who look like me,” she said. Inspiration from others helped too, such as nonbinary performer Tuxford Turner, with whom she costarred in the 2023 local film BAM! and who has since moved to LA. Lots of other mikes geared toward something outside the cisgender heteronormative narrative have also sprung up since Tang started hers.
Some doors have indeed been pried open, but even that can have its drawbacks. Yes, society deigns to do the bare minimum by acknowledging one’s existence and rights (after years of activism and general pushback, that is), but it can also reduce them to a few aspects of their identity. As the election has proven, opportunities may not always remain, and acknowledgment can lead to attacks.
“I don’t want to be reduced to my labels of, like, I am trans, I am Asian, I am a woman, etc.,” Tang explained. Such realities are not something she manages per se—more so, Tang has come to the realization that she has every right to be in the room and seize opportunities while they’re there. “It’s a rare moment that our ancestors have fought very, very hard for,” she said. “And we need to honor that, and we need to honor ourselves and [be] able to take up space.”
Her short films testify to that, with many of them coming directly from her own experiences. Much like Tori, the lead of Emergence, Tang was a trans athlete in college who struggled to come out to her teammates. But many women can relate to how a vulnerable 18-year-old on her own for the first time can grapple with coming to terms with her body and opening herself up to love.
Credit: courtesy Rey Tang
Her upcoming film, Love in Process, is something of a pivot, following Gracie, a queer photographer who discovers old photos that reveal a hidden history of two women in love, just as Gracie is grappling with her own identity and her feelings for another girl. For Tang, it’s a way to honor the legacy of those who fought for the opportunities she has now.
“It’s very much this idea of—we’ve always been here and we will stay,” Tang elaborated.
Of course, having family who embody the concept of change can make all the difference. Tang’s parents were able to, in a sense, transition when she did at 19, after they were initially unsupportive. “My parents have taught me the capacity to grow as people, and that everyone is able to empathize and learn and continue to evolve,” Tang said.
“When I became that vision,” she continued, “they were able to see, ‘Oh, OK, Rey is taking care of herself. She’s trying her best. She’s going to survive as a person—she’s going to thrive, maybe, hopefully, fingers crossed.’”
Comedy is also a key part of her perspective, a way to avoid defining her life for the well-meaning and not so well-meaning, to essentially exist without having to explain that she deserves to. “Why I love comedy so much as well is that comedy and making somebody laugh is the quickest way to garner that kind of empathy and understanding,” Tang stated.
Tang has come to the realization that she has every right to be in the room and seize opportunities while they’re there.
For many marginalized people, simply existing and working in art means that there’s an additional burden to assume: that of representing a community far more vast than the individual. Under those circumstances, the process of making any kind of art can be paralyzing to an artist before they’ve even begun to create. It’s certainly something Tang has had to grapple with.
“This idea of representing a community, I think that crippled me for a while as a creative; that was very hard. As a stand-up comedian especially, you are taking shots every night. You are taking shots in the dark and you don’t know what’s gonna land. And sometimes, you don’t always say the right thing,” Tang admitted. “I think it’s too much of a task to think about representing a whole community. And so I always think of it as [if] I’m trying to give a gift to somebody.”
Tang sees her work as a gift to an audience and young trans girls alike, but it seems to benefit her as much as it benefits others. Improv is all about chasing the fun and finding joy, after all, and it helps her to continue to define herself on her own terms, rather than by the very real anger she feels at the violence being inflicted on her and her community.
She also has no plans to depart Chicago anytime soon, which is great news for the film scene, comedy community, and other creative spaces. “I’ve had plans to move, but I don’t know when that’ll be,” Tang said. “Chicago keeps giving me reasons to stay.”
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