Kathy Change

Kathleen Chang (October 10, 1950 – October 22, 1996), known by her performance name Kathy Change, was an American political activist, writer, and performance artist. She was a familiar figure on the University of Pennsylvania campus, often dancing on the College Green brandishing homemade flags painted with various political messages and vocally advocating nonviolent social revolution. On October 22, 1996, she committed suicide by self-immolation on the spot where she had often performed in an effort to engage Penn students in the progressive causes she championed; the packages of writings she delivered to six Penn students, two local residents, as well as Penn's campus newspaper and other news organizations contextualized her carefully planned suicide as both protest and a vehicle for her message.

Change graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1967 in New York City and briefly attended Mills College and the Bronx campus of New York University. After she married Frank Chin in 1971, she returned to California. Her marriage lasted five years, and she attempted suicide again after it ended.

On October 22, 1996, at 11:20 am, Change doused herself with gasoline in front of Peace Symbol, a stainless steel sculpture (Robert Engman, 1967; installed 1983) west of the Van Pelt Library and set herself on fire. Flames shot ten feet in the air as she danced in front of approximately fifty onlookers. The flames restarted several times.

She was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with burns over 100% of her body. Change was pronounced dead at 11:48 am.

Percussionist/composer Kevin Norton wrote a suite for Kathy Change entitled Change Dance (Troubled Energy) in 2001 and was released late in 2001/early 2002 on the Barking Hoop label.

Industrial metal band Fear Factory wrote the song "Slave Labor" referring to her suicide; it was included in the 2004 album Archetype.

Drummer Tyshawn Sorey composed and performed "For Kathy Change," a quintet in her honor, in March 2011.

Soomi Kim wrote and performed in the biographical play "Chang(e)", directed by Suzi Takahashi, which premiered in 2013 and has had multiple performances since then, including New York City and Portland, Oregon.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes's 2016 play "Daphne's Dive," based in Philadelphia, features a character closely resembling Kathy Change. The play is dedicated "in memory: Kathy Chang(e)."

Shin-Fei Chen portrays Change in Andrew Repasky McElhinney’s 2019 film Casual Encounters: Philadelphia True Crime Confessions.