About me
Playwright
I am a writing artist; a playwright. I was born and raised in America’s heartland. I stem from a large, loving, colorful and unapologetically flawed family that seasoned my imagination. From a very young age I listened and observed my aunts and uncles, friends, neighbors, cousins and play cousins express their emotions through passionately laced vernacular not found in the pages of Webster. Captivating audiences on front porches, street corners and beauty shops, they were complex souls spewing a mixture of fact, fiction and myth into intricately woven tales; both humorous and tragic. Some stories they shared openly, some were written in the rhythm of their walk or the despair in their eyes; hidden and deep. They are my tribe. I see them. I hear the heart and soul of them even in their silence. I see the extraordinary in their seemingly ordinary lives. Beautiful people with dignity and pride, who are under-served, disenfranchised and sparsely represented on stage and screen. I will change that.
I love dramas peppered with humor. I crave authentic storylines that celebrate the vast cultures and subcultures in America. I value their worth and want to ensure that those stories are normalized as American stories; not just Black stories or Latinx stories or Asian stories or LGBTQIA stories but American stories. After all, that is what they are.
Getting our piece of the pie is a metaphor used to market the American dream. But after everyone has taken their slice there will still be crumbs left. Many people discard those crumbs ; even though they come from the same pie. I savor the crumbs; the least of us and I write stories about them.
Actor
My gifts are rooted in theater. I earned my B.F.A. in acting (magna cum laude) from Howard University- College of Fine Arts. I studied Meisner Technique at Playhouse West in Los Angeles and was fortunate to receive private training from the great Trazana Beverley in New York. I have performed professionally Off-Broadway, in Regional theater and in films. Selected theater credits include: FKA Meridian, Isolation Inn (2021 Moving Arts virtual platform), 90011 South Central Speakeasy (2020 Antaeus Zip Code Plays on Spotify and Appletv), Eight Nights (Antaeus Theater), Insurrection: Holding History (Celebration Theater), Private Battle (Watts Village Theater/Cornerstone Theater), Tar Beach Incidentals (Westbeth Theater), Song of Sad Young Men (Producers Club Theater/ National Black Theater Festival), Really Rosie (Edison Theater) and A Raisin In The Sun (Ira Aldridge Theater). Film credits: Riot (Showtime), The Killer Next Door (Sundance), Three Man March and Faux Pas.