RIAA Honoree Morgan Bassichis

Morgan Bassichis is a writer and performer who has been described as “fiercely hilarious” by The New Yorker and “I think an actor but hasn’t been in anything” by their father. Morgan’s one-person show, Can I Be Frank?–about the groundbreaking queer comedian Frank Maya who died of AIDS-related complications in 1995–won two 2026 Obie Awards. They have performed in museums, gay bars, parks, and many precious New York institutions that have supported artists and writers for generations, including Danspace Project, the Kitchen, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and the Poetry Project.

Their trilogy of shows exploring the Jewish anti-Zionist tradition began with Klezmer for Beginners (with Ethan Philbrick) at Abrons Art Center in 2019, followed by Don’t Rain on My Bat Mitzvah (with Ira Khonen Temple) at Creative Time in 2022, and concluded with A Crowded Field at Abrons Art Center in 2023. Morgan co-edited the young adult anthology Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah (Wendy’s Subway, 2023) with Jay Saper and Rachel Valinsky. They also edited and wrote the introduction to the 2019 Nightboat Books reprint of the 1977 cult classic, The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions, written by Larry Mitchell and illustrated by Ned Asta, which they also adapted to performance at the New Museum in 2017.

An exhibition of Morgan’s work, More Little Ditties, was co-presented in 2023 by the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University and the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. Morgan has been a proud member of Jewish Voice for Peace-NYC since 2014. Their forthcoming book, To Do ASAP, will be out in spring 2027 from Haymarket.