DENNIS A. ALLEN II (short play commission, director, A Freeky Introduction) is a multi-hyphenate in the world of theatre. As a playwright, his play The Mud is Thicker in Mississippi won the 35th annual Off Off Broadway Samuel French Festival. He is the recipient of Atlantic Theater Company’s inaugural Launch Commission, Clubbed Thumb’s Early-Career Writer’s Group, and National Black Theatre’s “I Am Soul” Playwright Residency. Allen is an associate producer for The New Black Fest and serves as the National Playwriting Program Chair for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival region 1. He is an adjunct professor at LaGuardia Community College, Montclair State University, The New School and is the Co-Program Director for the MFA Playwriting program at Brooklyn College. Dennis received his MFA from Brooklyn College’s Playwriting program.

Cristina Angeles (Director) is an Afrolatina director, writer, and theater maker whose mission is to create empathy and conversation by directing new plays, musicals, and socially conscious adaptations of classics that place people of color at the forefront. Her work challenges the preconceived notions of what the American Theater can be, while confronting the intersections between our public, private, and political selves. Today, Cristina is the Founding Artistic Director of Checkmark Productions, an NYC based company dedicated to artists of color and the telling of their stories, and an Associate Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre Company. Previously, she has been awarded the Drama League’s New York Directing Fellowship, the Roundabout Directing Fellowship, and worked as an Associate Director on and off Broadway. Cristina was named one of the Broadway Women’s Fund’s “Women to Watch” of 2022, and her recent directing credits include Hilary Bettis’s Queen of Basel at Theaterworks Hartford, Sondheim and Lapine’s Into the Woods at Pace University, and overseeing the national tour of Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play directed by Kenny Leon. Up next, Cristina will be directing the New York premiere of Vichet Chum’s High School Play at Fordham University, and Thorton Wilder’s Our Town at University of Rochester. More at cristinaangeles.com

DIANE EXAVIER (playwright, Good Blood) is a writer, theatermaker and educator working at the intersection of performance and poetry. Her work has been presented with The New Group, BRIC Arts, The Bushwick Starr, Bowery Poetry Club, Dixon Place, and more. Diane concerns herself with what she recognizes as the 4 L’s: love, loss, legacy, and land. Her play Bernarda’s Daughters premiered Off-Broadway in 2023, co-produced by The New Group and National Black Theatre. Her poetry collection, The Math of Saint Felix was recently published by The 3rd Thing Press. A 2021 Jerome Foundation Finalist, Diane lives and works in Brooklyn. She is currently working on a Sloan Foundation new play commission in partnership with Manhattan Theatre Club.

Keelay Gipson is an Afro Surrealist writer/director and professor whose plays include demons. (The Bushwick Starr) The Red and the Black (O’Neill Finalist), #NEWSLAVES (Princess Grace Finalist), imagine sisyphus happy (P73 Summer Residency @ Yale), Mary/Stuart, a dramatic queering of friederich schiller’s classic play (BAM Next Wave Festival), The Lost Or, How to Just B (Kernodle New Play Award). AWARDS: NYSAF Founders’ Award, Barrington Stage Spark Grant. FELLOWSHIPS: Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble, Van Lier Fellowship at New Dramatists, Lambda Literary New Voices, Playwrights Realm, Dramatist Guild Foundation.

RESIDENCIES: MacDowell, City of New York Public Artist in Residence (PAIR), The Hermitage Artist Retreat. Their work has been developed/supported by Roundabout, The Old Globe, Artist Repertory Theater, Bushwick Starr, New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova, National Black Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights’ Theater, Classical Theater of Harlem, and New York Theatre Workshop.

AMINA HENRY (short play commission) is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Recent productions include: The Animals, Ducklings, Hunter John and Jane, and The Johnsons, all at JACK (Brooklyn, NY), P.S. produced by Ars Nova (New York, NY), Little Rapes at Long Island University (The New Group), Nothing, Nothing produced by HERO Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), The Great Novel produced by New Light Theater, Happily Ever at Brooklyn College, Bully produced by Interrobang Theater (Baltimore, MD), Clubbed Thumbs 2019 Winterworks, and SUNY Purchase, among other venues, An American Family Takes a Lover, produced by The Cell: a 21st Century Salon and presented by Theatre for the New City (New York, NY), Water and Rent Party produced by Drama of Works (Brooklyn, NY), Cindy and Sleeping Beauty produced by Project Y Theatre. Her work has been produced, developed, and/or presented by: The New Group, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, The Flea, Page 73, Project Y Theatre, National Black Theater, Little Theater at Dixon Place, The Brooklyn Generator, The Brick, Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the 2013 Black Swan Lab Series (Ashland, OR), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX), The Brick, HERE Arts Center, The Cell: a 21st Century Salon, and HERO Theatre. Her work has been featured on The Kilroys List. She has been a member of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group, Page 73’s Interstate 73, and the 2017-2018 Ars Nova writers group. She was a 2017-2018 recipient of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Space Residency and is a 2018 recipient of a space residency at Dixon Place. She is a 2020 recipient of the Sarah Verdone Writing Award and is an affiliate artist of New Georges. She is a member of the Women’s Project 2022-2024 Lab.

DAAIMAH MUBASHIR (They/She) (co-curator, playwright, Lifting Weight) is a playwright and theatre-maker living and working in New York. Their work has been commissioned and developed by Fire This Time Festival, Going To The River, WP Theater, PlayCo, Clubbed Thumb, and Soho Rep. Daaimah was recently awarded a Helen Mirrell Playwriting Award, and residencies from The BAU Institute in Camargo, MacDowell, and Catwalk Institute. They are currently Assistant Professor of Theater and Performance at Bard College.

RAELLE MYRICK-HODGES (co-director, short plays). Raelle’s primary goal by working in live performance is to rebuild community and fight sexism- along the way she has directed some plays. This spring she directed the world in the premier of, Media/Medea by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright James Ijames in Philadelphia. This world premiere featured two college campuses – one private (Bryn Mawr) and one public (Philadelphia Community College) to work together around privilege, status and artistic development. She is the founder of Azuka Theater in Philadelphia. Over the past 12 years, she has directed nationally including but not limited to: The Magic Theater, Public Theater, National Black Theater, Indiana Repertory, Atlanta Shakespeare Company, among others. She is a self-taught theater artist on the spectrum with no arts degree, yet, Raelle is also a Master Teacher/Adjunct Professor with Actor’s Studio, PACE University, Brown University, and recently finished a Master Teacher residency with Cornell University. Her work during the pandemic included all non-binary Coriolanus adapted by Sean San Jose for UNCSA, as well as working on her 2023 work-in-progress reflecting on an adult father-daughter relationship, He Has the Prettiest Handwriting, that sold out at The Public Theater in New York. Raelle is currently the Performing Arts Curator for the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit. She will be directing in the upcoming season at Magic Theater and will (if the strike ends) filming her first narrative film.

NSANGOU NJIKAM (co-curator, playwright, actor, A Freeky Introduction) is an actor, playwright and Hip Hop Theatre artist originally from Baltimore, MD. His writing credits include Syncing Ink, Re:Definition, When We Left parts 1 & 2, I.D., 21 STRINGS and he is one of seven writers of Hands Up: Seven Plays; Seven Testimonials. Acting credits include Syncing Ink (Alley Theatre/Flea Theater), Re:Definition (LaMama), Henry V (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Deep Azure (Congo Square Theatre) NSangou’s play Re:Definition (Hip Hop Theatre Festival reading) was developed and directed by Chadwick Boseman. NSangou has also written for and collaborated with Grammy Award winner Common, specifically on his Audible.com project “BlueBird Memories”, the 2020 NBA All Star Game and the Audible interview series Mindpower Mixtape. Freaky Dee, Baby, premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2021. His Hip Hop Theatre play, I.D. (commission by Penn State University) premiered at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. NSangou is a member of the 2015 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater as well as a member of UNIVERSES, a theatre company fusing jazz, blues, hip hop, Spoken Word and Spanish boleros. He received his BFA in Acting from Howard University. After tracing his African ancestry, he received his name from the Bamum King in Cameroon. He is represented by A3 Agency. He currently resides in New York City.

GOLDIE E. PATRICK (short play commission) is a playwright/TV writer and director based in New York City originally from Detroit and a proud alumna of Howard University (BFA) and Columbia University (MFA-playwriting). She is the inaugural Black Creation Playwright in residence at The New Federal Theatre, a Generative Theater Black Seed resident at 651Arts, and a former APAP Emerging Artist cohort member. She recently directed and had one of her plays included in the 13th Annual Fire This Time Festival. She is currently a TV staff writer and proud member of the WGA East. Goldie is currently the Director of Grants and Programming at the Dramatist Guild Foundation. Her works include Fish Fry (New Federal Theatre), “#LakeishaJefferson” (Fire This Time Festival), Breath of Life (Ensemble Studio Theater One Act Marathon/Columbia University), HERstory Love Forever Hip Hop (Kennedy Center), and Name Calling (Theater Alliance).

a.k. payne (she/they) (playwright, BurnBabyBurn: an american dream) is a playwright, artist-theorist, and theater maker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her plays love on and engage Black lives and languages beyond the confines of linear time to find/remember stories that might create conditions for our collective liberation(s). They hold a B.A. in English and African-American Studies from Yale College and an MFA in Playwriting under Tarell Alvin McCraney from fka Yale School of Drama. Their work has been a finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She is a recipient of the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award, the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights and Atlantic Theater Company’s Judith Champion Launch Commission. Their work has been developed with the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The New Harmony Project, Great Plains Theater Conference, and Manhattan Theater Club’s “Groundworks Lab.” They are a proud graduate of Pittsburgh Public Schools; grandchild of the Great Migration; descendant of a music teacher and a carpenter, who both march every year with their unions in Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade; a queer & non-binary abolitionist affected in community by the ‘New Jim Crow;” and of a great lineage of Black women storytellers and living-room archivists; all of which deeply informs, uplifts and amplifies their work as a playwright, community organizer and spacemaker.

LIZA JESSIE PETERSON (short play commission) is an artivist; an actress, playwright, poet, author and youth advocate who has worked steadfast with incarcerated populations for more than two decades. Her critically acclaimed one woman show, The Peculiar Patriot, was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, Elliot Norton and a recipient of a Lilly Award. The play is also available on Audible. Liza performed The Peculiar Patriot in 35 prisons across the country and a documentary, Angola Do You Hear Us; Voices from a Plantation Prison, features her historic performance of The Peculiar Patriot at Louisiana State Penitentiary (aka Angola) which is streaming on Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime, and was shortlist for an Academy Award. She has developed a TV pilot based on her ensemble play, SistahGurls and the Squirrel. Liza is author of a memoir, ALL DAY; A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island (Hachette publishing) and was commissioned by The Old Globe Theater to adapt the book into a stage play, and has developed a TV series based on the book. Liza was featured in Ava DuVernay’s Emmy award winning documentary, The 13th, and was a consultant on Bill Moyers documentary Rikers (PBS). Also known for her exceptional poetic skills, Liza began her poetry career at the Nuyorican Poets Café and appeared on two episodes of HBO’s Def Poetry. Liza appeared in Showtime’s mini-series, “Everything’s Gonna Be All White,” by Sacha Jenkins. She can be seen in A Luv Tale (BETplus), Love the Hard Way (co-starring with Pam Grier and Adrien Brody), Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, and K. Shalini’s A Drop of Life. Liza wrote and starred in two short films, MERLINA and Black Love Manifesto. For more info on her projects, visit her website at www.lizajessiep.com

COLETTE ROBERT (director, Lifting Weight) directed the world premieres of Stew by Zora Howard, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize now being produced around the country, at Page 73, and New York Times Critic’s Pick Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson at Ensemble Studio Theatre, where she is a member. Regional credits include City Theatre Company, Penumbra Theatre, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Colette is an alumnus of The New Georges Jam (co-leader), The Drama League’s Beatrice Terry Residency, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and The Public Theater’s Van Lier Directing Fellowship. The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel, generated in New Georges’ Audrey Residency and Mabou Mines Resident Artist programs, is her first play. She is the 2023 SDCF Denham Fellow.

DERRICK SANDERS (co-director, short plays) is an award-winning director and filmmaker that has recently directed the World Premiere of Penny Candy at Dallas Theatre Center and Twisted Melodies at Baltimore Center Stage, Apollo Theater (NYC) and Mosaic Theatre (Wash., D.C.). Along with The Island and African Company present Richard III at American Players Theatre. He has also directed the Washington, D.C. and West Coast premiers of Will Power’s Fetch/Clay Make/Man at Round House Theatre and Marin Theatre Company. He has directed August Wilson’s Fences at Marin Theatre, The Mountaintop at Virginia Stage Company, Clybourne Park, and Beneatha’s Place in repertory for “The Raisin Cycle” at Baltimore Center Stage. Sanders credits include August Wilson’s King Hedley II at Signature Theatre and for “August Wilson’s 20th Century” at the Kennedy Center, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at Baltimore Center Stage, August Wilson’s Fences and Radio Golf at Virginia Stage, August Wilson’s Jitney and Stick Fly at True Colors Theatre in Atlanta; Sanctified at Lincoln Theater; Gee’s Bend at Cincinnati Playhouse; Topdog/Underdog at American Theatre Company in Chicago; the world premiere of Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money, Bud not Buddy and Jackie and Me at Chicago Children’s Theatre; and the world premiere of Five Fingers of Funk at Minneapolis Children’s Theatre. Sanders was the assistant director of August Wilson’s world premiere productions of Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean. As the Founding Artistic Director of Congo Square Theatre, he directed numerous productions and has received multiple awards and accolades for his work. He was named the Chicago Tribune’s Theatre Chicagoan of the Year in 2005. He is the Founder of Chicago’s August Wilson Monologue Competition, which is featured in the film Giving Voice on Netflix. Mr. Sanders short film Perfect Day, which he wrote and directed, has been screened in more than 20 film festivals around the world and has garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards. He received his BFA from Howard University and MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. Sanders is the Associate Director of Drama at the Juilliard School and is the Director of the National August Wilson New Voices Competition.

AWOYE TIMPO (co-curator, director, BURNBABYBURN: an american dream) is a Brooklyn-based Director and Producer. Her New York credits include Elyria by Deepa Purohit (Atlantic Theater), Wedding Band by Alice Childress (Theatre for a New Audience), In Old Age by Mfoniso Udofia (New York Theatre Workshop), The Loophole by Jay Adana and Zeniba Britt (Public Theater), Carnaval by Nikkole Salter (National Black Theatre), Good Grief by Ngozi Anyanwu (Vineyard Theatre and Audible) and The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu (Atlantic Theater Company). Regionally she has directed The Bluest Eye (Huntington), Pipeline (Studio Theatre), Paradise Blue (Long Wharf), Everybody Black (Actors Theatre of Louisville), School Girls (Berkeley Rep), Jazz (Marin Theatre Company). Other projects include concert performances for independent artists and for the NBA, Ndebele Funeral (59E59, Edinburgh, South African Tour), “Black Picture Show” (Artists Space/Metrograph), and Bluebird Memories (Audible). Awoye is a Creative Arts Consultant for the African American Policy Forum and a Founding Member of CLASSIX.

DR. SYBIL R. WILLIAMS (moderator, Rhythm, Rhyme and Reason panel) is a playwright and dramaturge who currently teaches in both the Theatre/Musical Theatre Program and the Critical Race and Gender Studies Collaborative where she serves as Program Director for African American and African Diaspora Studies. Her play From U. Street to the Cotton Club was produced by the In-Series January 2019. An additional play, Gloria and Rwanda was produced by FRESHH Theatre as part of their new works development series in July 2019. Her play Stormy Weather, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest, recently premiered at the Atlas Theatre in October 2019. She completed an adaptation of Mozart’s Magic Flute titled Black Flute with the IN-SERIES which premiered in Spring 2021. She also co-authored an adaptation of Alcestis which will premiere at the IN-SERIES in Fall of 2023. She is currently working as a dramaturge on two New York city premieres, the Off-Broadway production of hip-hop musical Syncing Ink in New York City in Fall 2023 and The Winter Circus written by Joe Calarco and Ben Clark which is still in development. Professor Sybil R. Williams is the first recipient of the American University’s Antiracist Research & Policy Center’s Jacqueline Cirillo Meisenberg and Richard Meisenberg Faculty Fellowship to create a premiere performance work on the women of Rastafari.

(Hilton Als, Brock, The Black Student, Leroy). NYC credits include The Hot Wing King (Signature Theatre), Sugar in Our Wounds (MTC), Travisville (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Romeo & Juliet (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem), brownsville song (Lincoln Center/LCT3), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Atlantic Theater), the box: a black comedy (Foundry Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CTH), Freed (59E59 & Penguin Rep), Six Rounds of Vengeance, Alice in Slasherland (Vampire Cowboys), Soul Samurai (Ma-Yi Theater & Vampire Cowboys). TV/Film – #SAGAFTRAstrong, #SAGAFTRAstrike. www.SheldonBest.com.

(Bear/Freedom, Ol’ Witch and Her Children at Market) is an actor and teaching artist from the Bronx. He most recently was an understudy for Primary Trust at the Roundabout. Other credits: Broadway National tour of Oklahoma!, Lunch Bunch (Play Co/Clubbed Thumb), A Bright New Boise (Signature Theater), What To Send Up When It Goes Down (BAM/Playwrights Horizon), PORTO (WP Theater/Bushwick Starr), Today is my Birthday (P73), Do You Feel Anger (Vineyard). TV/Film: “Seasoned,” “The Path,” “Inventing Anna,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” “Late Late Show with James Corden” and Driven which premiered at Tribeca. Ugo has also appeared in commercials for Spectrum mobile and Apple Pay. @ugolessinsta.

Chief Ayanda Clarke is an artist, musician, teacher, public speaker, and creative consultant. Over the decades, the Brooklyn native has emerged as a thought leader and inspiring voice for his generation. He is also a Babalawo and Egungun priest in the Yoruba tradition. Chief Ayanda frequently mentors artists and lends his authentic insights on creative content development as well as consults organizations that wish to bridge the gap between spirit and artistry. A GRAMMY® Award-winning musician, Chief Ayanda has performed or shared the stage with many greats ranging from Randy Weston to Doug E. Fresh. He founded THE FADARA GROUP to house his performances, public programs, and community initiatives. A motivational and dynamic leader, the Dalton School and Wesleyan University graduate is regularly commissioned to speak, perform, or curate programs at venues ranging from the Apollo Theater to Yale University.

(Myrna) is a director, educator, and actor. Broadway: To Kill A Mockingbird, Travesties, The Mountaintop, Radio Golf, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson, Mule Bone. Film: (upcoming) Rob Peace, Game Nite, Miss Virginia, The Immortal Jellyfish, Frankie and Alice, Brooklyn’s Finest, Our Song, Brown Sugar, Music of the Heart. TV: “Terror Lake Drive,” “Bull,” “Jessica Jones,” “Blue Bloods,” “Madam Secretary,” “Law and Order”. Off-Broadway: Wedding Band, The Woman’s Party, Native Son, Breakfast with Mugabe. Solo play The Master’s Tools at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Next feature film: Weapon For Peace director. Proud mom & wife. Love you. @irozapp

(Nell Painter, Cello, Woman, Ms. Coincoin, Jaana, TV Static, Ella Fitzgerald). Theatre Credits: Mary, Intro To (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Mother u/s, Patience (Second Stage), Prometheus, Prometheus Bound (The Tank), Mother, Problem with Magic is… (JAG Festival), Mrs. Draper, State of the Union (Metropolitan Playhouse), Ann, whatdoesfreemean (Nora’s Playhouse), Evelyn, Breaking in the Boss (NJ Repertory  Theatre), Oralia, Daughters of the Mock (Negro Ensemble Company).

Ricardy Fabre (David/Sam) is honored to be a part of MixFest. Theatre Credits include; Wine in the Wilderness (Two River Theatre), New Golden Age (Primary Stages), Stick fly (Rep. Theatre of St. Louis), The Christians (Chautauqua Theatre Company), A Raisin in the Sun (Seattle Rep), Our Town (Portland Center Stage), Christmas Carol (Trinity Rep), Lessons in Survival (Vineyard Theatre), I and You (The People’s Light), The Convert (Central Square Theatre); Education: Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting.

(Pumpkin, Pumpkin and Juju’s First Birthday) is known for her series regular role of ‘Dinah’ on Amazon’s Emmy award winning series, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” A veteran of the NY theatre scene, Fuller is an Obie Performance Award winner for Soho Rep’s Is God Is (2018) by playwright Aleshea Harris, starred in MCC’s BLKS, and The Public’s Measure For Measure. She starred in AppleTV+’s anthology series “Little America.” She is repped by Lasher Group and Artists & Representatives.

(Joyner) (he/X) is an actor and writer from Cleveland, Ohio. X has been seen in productions at Long Wharf Theatre, University Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Karamu House, Convergence-Continuum, and the New York Theatre Workshop. X’s play Van Sonata has been developed at Cleveland Public Theatre and the Yale Cabaret. MFA: Yale School of Drama

(William) also known as “Holiday” is honored to be making his way back to Atlantic, his old stomping grounds for the work with a close collaborator and friend a.k. Payne. Holiday most recently performed in a movement and poetry piece Listening with Drake Park under the direction & cultivation of Aletha Pace who is in residence at The Met. He made his first professional regional debut in The Amen Corner by James Baldwin in 2022. Other regional credits include  The Sign in Sidney Brustein in the beginning of 2023. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama/DGSD class of 2021-2022. There he has trained in Acting where he recently received his Master’s. Holiday has been seen in productions of; Choir Boy by Tarrell Alvin McCraney, Manning by Benjamin Benne (Julio), Dutch King by Kristen Imani Spencer (Ismael), Ain’t no dead thing (Charles) by a.k. Payne, Mr. Burns by Anne Washburn (Homer, Marge), Measure for Measure (Claudio), Locust (Amos) by Chris Gabo, Lenny’s Fast Food Kids Gang (Walter) by Angie B. Jones under the conglomerate of his professors, cohort and school-mates. Holiday is also a recent graduate of the Atlantic “Full Time” Conservatory with a certificate in acting wherein he has been seen in the production Last Days of Judas Iscariot (El Fayoumy) by Stephen Adly Guirgus. Upon graduation, he was a part of This girl laughs, this girl cries, this girl does nothing (Fleeing Villager/City Man 1) by Finnegan Kruckmeyer. Holiday is from New Jersey born and raised and also a graduate of Brookdale Community College wherein he received his Associates Degree in acting/humanities.

(Ms. Johnson, òmì ò lotá or ‘No Enemy) has created and recreated a wide range of characters across the country and abroad. Most recently she performed in the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of Malvolio as The Nurse. Some of her other favorite roles includes Ruthie Mimms in The World Premiere of Kyle Bass’s Tender Rain at Syracuse Stage. Some of her other favorite roles include Lena Younger in Raisin In The Sun at The Sharon Playhouse in Sharon, Ct., Rose in The Last Romance at The New Theatre & Restaurant in Kansas City, MO. Dotty in Colman Domingo’s Dot at the Vineyard Theatre in New York City which garnered her the Lead Actress AUDELCO Award. The Candy Lady in Katori Hall’s Hoodoo Love at the Cherry Lane Theatre which won her the Best Supporting Actress AUDELCO Award. Mrs. Antrobus in The Skin Of Our Teeth at The Delaware Theatre Co. in Wilmington in which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the Philadelphia Critics Award, M. The Mandela Saga by Laurence Holder portraying Winnie Mandela winning her The Lead Actress AUDELCO Award, and Sojourner Truth & Zora Neale Hurston in The Pen & The Podium at The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Some of her TV and Film roles include the upcoming film Rob Peace, Armageddon Time, “Modern Love,” “Bull,” “Sneaky Pete,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Nurse Jackie,” “The Leftovers,” “Law & Order: SVU,” and “American Gangster.”

(Tress, Pennsy, The Famed Oncologist, Russ) is an actor and dancer from Brooklyn. Over the last 15 years she’s been honored to work with 600 Highwaymen, Jess Barbagallo & Emily Davis, William Burke, Julia May Jonas, Corinne Donly, LILLETH, Meghan Finn, McFeeley Sam Goodman, Sarah Hughes, Juliana F. May, Daaimah Mubashshir, New Saloon and Mac Wellman, among others. Kaminsky was featured in the MGMT music video for “When you Die.” Film credits include: A Different Man (A24), The Sweet East (premiering at Cannes 2023), The Adults (Tribeca 2023), The Plagiarists (Berlinale, New Directors New Films 2019). She graduated from Bard College with a BA in Environmental Studies.

(Stage Directions) is an Actress, Storyteller, and Poet from Harlem, NY.  She is thrilled to be a part of the (Writ)ual Mix Readings.Brittany-Laurelle was most recently seen in Wedding Band (TFANA) and The Bluest Eye (The Huntington). Deep gratitude to LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts and Adelphi University for open spaces to fine tune the art of storytelling. Thank you to all who honor the Art! Instagram: @whoisbrittanylaurelle

(Rasheed Smith, First Comes Love…). Audelco Award nominee, Elisha Lawson, has been making a name for himself in the television world. He has worked on major shows such as “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO), “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Shades of Blue” (NBC), “The Get Down” (Netflix), “NCIS: New Orleans” (CBS) and much more. While excelling in film and television, Elisha remained deeply connected to his roots in theater. His theatrical performances include: A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theater), Syncing Ink (The Flea), To Kill a Mockingbird (Queens Theater in the Garden), A Raisin In the Sun (Indiana Repertory Theater), (A) Loft Modulation (A.R.T New York Theaters), and much more. Elisha continues to grow and elevate in his craft with each project he takes on.

(Yani, òmì ò lotá or ‘No Enemy) hails from the city of hustle, Detroit, MI and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. She thanks Mother/Father God for her gifts, talents, and purpose. Credits include: “Harlem” (Amazon), “The Equalizer” (CBS), “Random Acts of Flyness” (HBO), Exception To The Rule (Roundabout Underground), From The Mississippi Delta (Westport Country Playhouse), Penny Candy (Dallas Theater Center), UPCOMING: “Diarra from Detroit” (BET+). “Spread Love. Give No Quarter.”

Carl Hendrick Louis (Yves) Broadway: 1984, The Cherry Orchard (Roundabout Theatre Company), Off-Broadway: The Fears (Signature Theatre) The Emperor Jones (Irish Repertory Theatre), The Tempest (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Little Children Dream of God (Roundabout Theatre Company), The King’s Whore (Walkerspace), In Fields Where They Lay (Hudson Guild Theatre), Marat/Sade (Classical Theatre of Harlem). Regional: August Wilson’s Radio Golf (Two River Theatre), Mlima’s Tale (Westport Country Playhouse), Sunset Baby (Kitchen Theatre Company). Film: Fan Girl, Unknown Soldier. Television: “Random Acts of Flyness”, “Manifest”, “Mindhunter”. Education: New York University’s Graduate Acting Program and Fordham University’s Theatre Program.

(Maker, Rasheedah, Afrodille). AKA @TheHalfPint Legend is a New York City based Actor-visit, Comic, and Musician. She’s a 2023 Drama Desk Nominee for Outstanding Lead Performance as Amani in AMANI written by a.k. payne & directed by Josiah Davis. Some of her favorite credits include: What to Send Up When It Goes Down written by Aleshea Harris & directed by Whitney White, God is A Comedian, a self-written and self-produced comedic short film, award winning series and short film For the Boys by Ellis Dawson & Mekhai Lee, Keep This Far Apart by Tyler English-Beckwith, and 2021 Drama League nominated G.O.A.T by Ngozi Anyanwu. If you want to keep in touch, check out Denisemichellemanning.com for more!

(Naima Shabazz, First Comes Love…). Broadway: The Piano Lesson. Off Broadway: Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Keen Co), Confederates (Signature Theatre/US), Round Table (59E59), The Talk, Showtime Blues, The Extinctionist (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Manhood, Untamed (National Black Theatre), The Beautiful Beautiful Sea Next Door (Ars Nova). Regional credits include: Black Moon Lilith (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Doubt (Westport Playhouse – CT Critics Circle Award), Everybody Black (Humana Festival), Familiar (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co), Television: “Dear Edward” (AppleTV), “Z: The Beginning of Everything” (Amazon), Training: Northwestern University, Steppenwolf Theatre, LAByrinth, Esper. Sharina is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Julian Elijah Martinez (Max) Broadway: Network. Off-Broadway: This Land Was Made  (Vineyard Theatre); Sanctuary City (New York Theater Workshop); Anatomy of A Suicide (Atlantic Theater Company) Mud (Boundless Theater Company); Alligator (New Georges). Regional: King Lear (Shakespeare Theater Company); Father Comes Home From The Wars Part 1, 2, 3 (co-production Yale Rep and A.C.T); and 9 Circles (Forum Theatre, Helen Hayes nomination).  TV: “Wu-tang: An American Saga”; “Law and Order: SVU”; “That Damn Michael Che Show”; “Prodigal Son”; and “Elementary”. Other: Company member of The Acting Company, and Board member of Developing Artist. Training: MFA Yale School Of Drama. julianelijahmartinez.com

(Juju, Pumpkin and Juju’s First Birthday) is a multi-hyphenate actress and hair/wig designer. She holds an MFA in Acting from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. As an actor, she has originated roles in world-premiere plays. Off-Broadway: Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays, at the Public Theatre, Dominique Morrisseau’s Skeleton Crew, at Atlantic Theater, Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar, at Playwrights Horizons, Lynn Nottage’s NY revival of Fabulation; or The Re-education of Undine, at the Signature Theater, and others. Her TV credits include “Powerbook III Raising Kanan,” where she recurs this season, “Snowfall,” “The Last O.G.,” “Chicago Med,” “New Amsterdam,” “The Blacklist,” “The Night Of,” “Vampires Vs. The Bronx,” and more, as well as national commercials for Kraft, Dunkin Donuts, Farmers Insurance, and the NFL. As a designer, she has 2 shows currently on Broadway including Once Upon a One More Time and the upcoming Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She is the recipient of the Obie Award, Henry Hewes Award, Black Women on Broadway, The Antonio Award as well as a Drama Desk nominee.

(Ol’ Witch, Ol’ Witch and Her Children at Market) is an Obie Award-winning actor and company member of Elevator Repair Service. Broadway: The Piano Lesson. Off-Broadway: Primary Trust (Roundabout), Help (The Shed), Toni Stone (Roundabout), Fairview, Lear (Soho Rep), Signature Plays—Funnyhouse of a Negro (Signature Theatre), IOWA, Antlia Pneumatica (Playwrights Horizons), On the Levee (LCT3). With ERS: The Sound & the Fury, Fondly, Collette Richland (NYTW), Measure for Measure (The Public), Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf (Abrons Art Center), GATZ (Perth Festival). Regional: A Streetcar Named Desire (Yale Rep). TV: “The Blacklist,” “New Amsterdam” (NBC), “Evil,” “The Good Fight” (Paramount Plus). Film: Black Card (HBO, Showtime), Fugitive Dreams (FantasiaFest, Cinequest).

(Lorraine, call & response). Broadway: Ohio State Murders, Electra, Having Our Say, So Long on Lonely Street. Off-Broadway: The Half-God of Rainfall, On Sugarland, Cullud Wattah, Passage, Brownsville Song, Trojan Women, Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death. Regional: Our Daughters, Like Pillars, Skeleton Crew, Raisin in the Sun, Richard lll, The Tempest, Gem of the Ocean. Film/TV: “Detroit,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “The Good Wife,” “The Preacher’s Wife,” “The Wire,” “Human Stain,” “Law & Order.”

(Stage Directions, Pumpkin and Juju’s First Birthday). Pamela’s favorite film and TV credits include Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” HBO’s “The Night Of,” and the short Mateo’s Room alongside Anthony Laciura of “Boardwalk Empire.” Pamela has just completed the TV pilot, “Teaching While Black.” Pamela recently signed with STW Talent.

(Fred Moten, Child, Chioma, Man in Suit, Shelle, 419 African Bones) is an award winning actor living and working in New York City. John-Andrew received a Tony Nomination, a Lucille Lortel Award, and an Obie Award for his work in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical A Strange Loop (Broadway and Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons). He also was an Outer Critics Circle Honoree for his performance in the Off-Broadway premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky. John-Andrew spent many years working at La Mama with George Ferencz as a member of The Experimentals working on readings, workshops and productions of around 50 new plays. He also did several plays with The Classical Theater of Harlem, including the Obie Award winning The Blacks – A Clown Show, Caligula with Andrè De Sheilds and the New York Times Critics Pick hit show MALVOLIO. John-Andrew holds a BA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University and an MFA in Acting from U.C. San Diego. He is a member of The Actors Center.

NSangou Njikam is an actor, playwright and Hip Hop Theatre artist originally from Baltimore, MD.  His writing credits include Syncing Ink, Re:Definition, When We Left parts 1 & 2, I.D., 21 STRINGS and he is one of seven writers of Hands Up: Seven Plays; Seven Testimonials.  Acting credits include Syncing Ink (Alley Theatre/Flea Theater), Re:Definition (LaMama), Henry V (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Deep Azure (Congo Square Theatre)  NSangou’s play Re:Definition(Hip Hop Theatre Festival reading) was developed and directed by Chadwick Boseman. NSangou has also written for and collaborated with Grammy Award winner Common, specifically on his Audible.com project “BlueBird Memories”, the 2020 NBA All Star Game and the Audible interview series Mindpower Mixtape. Freaky Dee, Baby, premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2021. His Hip Hop Theatre play, I.D. (commission by Penn State University) premiered at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa.  NSangou is a member of the 2015 Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater as well as a member of UNIVERSES, a theatre company fusing jazz, blues, hip hop, Spoken Word and Spanish boleros.  He received his BFA in Acting from Howard University.  After tracing his African ancestry, he received his name from the Bamum King in Cameroon.  He is represented by A3 Agency.  He currently resides in New York City.

Margaret Odette (Josephine) Off-Broadway: Shakespeare in the Park’s Much Ado About Nothing (Public Theater), Black Mother Lost Daughter (National Black Theatre) The Convent (Rattlestick Theater), Sehnsucht (Jack), Figaro (The Pearl Theatre), She Kills Monsters (Flea Theater).  Regional: Revenge Song (The Geffen Playhouse), Paradise Blue (Long Wharf Theatre), Skeleton Crew (Chester Theatre Company), A Raisin in The Sun (Clarence Brown Theatre), The Taming of The Shrew and In The Next Room (Chautauqua Theatre Company). Television: “Sex/Life” (Netflix), “Step Up” (Starz), “Blindspot” (NBC), “How To Make Love To A Black Woman” (Showtime), “Instinct” (CBS), “Elementary” (CBS). Film: The Independent, Boogie, Sleeping with Other People. Education: BA Brown University, MFA NYU Tisch. Margaret sits on the board of the 52nd Street Project.

(Sky) is a multi-faceted Nigerian-American theater maker who recently graduated from David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Her acting credits include Charly Evon Simpson’s it’s not a Trip it’s a Journey at the Chautauqua Theater Conservatory; for the honey you gotta say when at the New York Theater Workshop; Valor at the Guthrie; Rent Free, The Cherry Orchard, Swimmers, Love I Awethu Further, and Love Labors Lost at the School of Drama; Is God Is and BurnBabyBurn at the Yale Cabaret; Twelfth Night with the Shakesperience Theater Company. She is a graduated acting fellow of Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Mentorship Program. She was the 2022 John Gore Princess Grace award winner. She served as the Associate Artistic Director of the 2021-22 Yale Cabaret where, in addition to performing, she has directed projects and a number of plays she has written have been produced like #4, In Between Bitches, and Ikenga in Wahalaland. Abigail’s play, Jewel, was one of the 2021 Red Bull Theater’s Short New Play Festival winners, and her slam poems have been viewed worldwide.

(Head, call & response) is a Bahamian-born marathoner, meditator, and humanist. He’s collaborated on stage projects with The New Group, The Vineyard, Joe’s Pub, Lincoln Center, The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, P73, The Playwright’s Realm, Atlantic Theater Co, Roundabout, Ars Nova, Miami New Drama, Barrington Stage, Williamstown Theater Festival, Two River Theater, MTC, Second Stage, MCC, The American Shakespeare Center, Yale, NYU, Juilliard, and more. Upcoming screen projects include: Apple TV+’s “Bad Monkey” and A24’s Problemista.

(Sky II) was born and raised in Washington, D.C. She attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts. There she learned the sacred and moral obligations of storytelling. She then took her studies to SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory where she grew an even deeper sense of community. Alicia was most recently seen at the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Convention collaborating on a.k. payne’s Love I Awethu Further, the Drama Desk nominated play Cullud Wattah at The Public where she was also nominated for an Antonyo Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and can be seen as Najja in the second season of “Random Acts Of Flyness” on HBO Max, as well as the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning film A Thousand And One. She thanks her friends, family, ancestors, and GOD for their endless love and support.

(Char) is a New York based, multi-hyphenated artist, originally from Pasadena, California. She recently made her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman as Letta/Jazz Singer. She has been seen in the Williamstown production of Lempicka, The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit production of Measure For Measure, the Multi-Media instillation experience Definition, and The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III. TV credits include “Madam Secretary”, “Prodigal Son”, “Blue Bloods” and is currently recurring on “GodFather of Harlem” as Dr. Betty Shabazz. Movie credits include Figments (short), Under a Silver Moon (short), Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, and Clock. BA: Pepperdine University; MA: NYU/Tisch Grad Acting.

(Mo, òmì ò lotá or ‘No Enemy) was recently in the Acting Company’s National Tour of Romeo &Juliet/Three Musketeers. Some credits include MCC Theater’s Soft “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” First Match, commercials for MasterCard USA, Xfinity, and Pop Tarts and In The Southern Breeze at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Raeburn thanks his mother, grandmother and family for their support. Black lives always will matter. His music is streaming on all platforms under TravRae. Training: SUNY Purchase BFA Acting and LaGuardia Arts High School (Drama). Instagram @travierae.

Malika Samuel (Chelsea/Granmoun) is an interdisciplinary storyteller and teaching artist, presently faculty at her alma mater NYU Tisch. Additionally, she applies her creative experiences and professional skills towards developing curricular interventions across the medical/healthcare education/practice continuum. Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (OBC), The Music Man NY Theater: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Double Feature Plays), Bernarda’s Daughters (TNG/TNBT and TNG/Audible Theater), Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Keen), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP) TV: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “EVIL”, “Orange Is the New Black”, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, “Chicago P.D.”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “The Good Wife”, “Person of Interest”, “The Big C Hosting: Nick Studio 10”, “2013 Kids’ Choice Awards Pre- Show”, “Kidz Bop Kidz Star USA” Film: Holiday Rush, Submission, Central Park, Hello Apartment, Kilimanjaro Directing: in lucem: a devised piece (Tisch Drama Stages), The Wolves, Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes, The House of Bernarda Alba (NYU MSNR), Bloom Bloom Pow ( A.R.T/NY Theaters, movement direction) XOXO to family, friends, Paradigm and A3!

(DJ) is a Turntablist and producer from Queens, NYC. He has well over 25 years of touring and dj experience worldwide.

AWOYE TIMPO (co-curator, director, BURNBABYBURN: an american dream) is a Brooklyn-based Director and Producer. Her New York credits include Elyria by Deepa Purohit (Atlantic Theater), Wedding Band by Alice Childress (Theatre for a New Audience), In Old Age by Mfoniso Udofia (New York Theatre Workshop), The Loophole by Jay Adana and Zeniba Britt (Public Theater), Carnaval by Nikkole Salter (National Black Theatre), Good Grief by Ngozi Anyanwu (Vineyard Theatre and Audible) and The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu (Atlantic Theater Company). Regionally she has directed The Bluest Eye (Huntington), Pipeline (Studio Theatre), Paradise Blue (Long Wharf), Everybody Black (Actors Theatre of Louisville), School Girls (Berkeley Rep), Jazz (Marin Theatre Company). Other projects include concert performances for independent artists and for the NBA, Ndebele Funeral (59E59, Edinburgh, South African Tour), “Black Picture Show” (Artists Space/Metrograph), and Bluebird Memories (Audible). Awoye is a Creative Arts Consultant for the African American Policy Forum and a Founding Member of CLASSIX.

Dr. Sybil R. Williams (moderator, Rhythm, Rhyme and Reason panel) is a playwright and dramaturge who currently teaches in both the Theatre/Musical Theatre Program and the Critical Race and Gender Studies Collaborative where she serves as Program Director for African American and African Disapora Studies.  Her play From U. Street to the Cotton Club produced by the In-Series January 2019. An additional play, Gloria and Rwanda was produced by FRESHH Theatre as part of their new works development series in July 2019. Her play Stormy Weather, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest recently premiered at the Atlas Theatre in October 2019. She completed an adaptation of Mozart’s Magic Flute titled Black Flute with the IN-SERIES which premiered in Spring 2021.  She also co-authored an adaptation of Alcestis which will premiere at the IN-SERIES in Fall of 2023. She is currently working as a dramaturge on two New York City premieres, the off-Broadway production of hip-hop musical Syncing Ink in New York City in Fall 2023 and The Winter Circus written by Joe Calarco and Ben Clark which is still in development. Professor Sybil R. Williams is the first recipient of the American University’s Antiracist Research & Policy Center’s Jacqueline Cirillo Meisenberg and Richard Meisenberg Faculty Fellowship to create a premiere performance work on the women of Rastafari. 

(Jehane, Ol’ Witch and Her Children at Market) is an actor, writer, voiceover artist, and occasional funny lady currently living in New York. Recent theatre credits include The Rembrandt at Theaterworks Hartford, Candida at Theatre Row NYC, the critically acclaimed production of StickFly at St. Louis Repertory Theatre, and NYT Critic’s Pick, Behind the Sheet at Ensemble Studio Theatre. As a voiceover artist, Amber has lent her voice to national commercial campaigns, video games, motion pictures, animation, audiobooks, and currently hosts the #1 black romance podcast in the world, Wondery’s True Love, now in its 6th season. She received her BFA from Boston University’s School of Theatre. www.amberreauchean.com || @lovehernaturally

(Heart, call & response) made her Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s for which she received a Tony and a Drama Desk Nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play. This year, Young received her second Tony and Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play in the Pulitzer Prize winner  Cost of Living. Her other accolades include: an Obie Award, an Audelco Award and a Drama Desk nomination for her portrayal of Viola in Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Twelfth Night, the inaugural Florence Mills Rising Star Award from Black Women on Broadway and a Theatre World Award. Her other stage credits include All The Natalie Portmans, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, The New Englanders, The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d, Syncing Ink, and Pretty Hunger. You can now see her in the Amazon series “I’m a Virgo,” created by Boots Riley. Previous TV credits include: HBO Max’s “The Staircase,” Amazon’s feature “Chemical Hearts,” HBO’s  “Random Acts of Flyness,” and Netflix’s “The Punisher.”