Krik? Krak!: A Night of Stories, Live Music, Poetry & Burlesque!
410 15th St. Oakland
January 8th, 2026
13 Orphans, the upstairs room of Baba’s H0use, was packed tight, with guests sitting shoulder to shoulder in good spirits: we were there for a night of spoken word, poetry, burlesque, and music that delved into the art of storytelling. The event and fundraiser, led by writer and performer Ketsia Duval, unfolded as a bouquet of talent presented in bite sized performances in support of Duval’s upcoming show, Fated Emergence, which will take place in San Francisco later this month.
Duval, who is of Haitian descent, introduced the audience to the act of krik krak, the art of telling tales, riddles, and poetry. When they yelled “Krik?”, the audience was instructed to yell “Krak!” to indicate our readiness to hear the next story. “As a Queer and Haitian storyteller, my existence is rooted in defiance and crafted in mischief. Guided by the belief that a good story carries all the ingredients we need to build the world around us, this showcase is a call out to community in crafting tales of resilience as we thrive through art.”
Their eyes shone bright in the dim lights of the room as they recounted a story from the 2010 earthquake in Haiti that took the lives of nearly 220,000 people. Encased in yards of red and blue fabric, they moved in and around the rhythm of the narrative. The deeply personal tale began in anger and ended in grief and wonder. Duval’s steadfast telling captivated the audience, their words serving as a light guiding us through the tempest of emotions.
Arthur Kao’s (whose bio for the show simply read, “This guy is a guy, he has words,”) poem about the moon proved especially enchanting. Though each other individual act was a work of art unto itself, his spoken piece stood out. It spanned several languages, involved magic tricks, and at one point featured a flower balanced delicately on Kao’s chin. You might expect the shifts in language to obscure the story, but instead they deepened the emotional beat of the piece. The poem carried us to the moon, through his anxieties, and into the meaning of the ring finger across different cultures. All the while, Kao juggled and balanced objects, and at one point plucked a golden moon from the ceiling in a clever sleight of hand.
DJ Ranna provided auditory assistance to each act with the skilled precision of a true artist and elevated the quality of the performances.
The night brought together an intriguing group of artists whose kindness and care for one another lifted the entire room and created a safe container for risk taking and craft. The tales were whimsical, with a tinge of darkness, as all good personal mythologies tend to be. It will be a pleasure to see where these emerging performers go from here.
Duval’s show, Fated Emergence, is part of the 9th annual Playground Solo Performance Festival at the Potrero Stage.
