Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Writer & Director: Marc Bamuthi Joseph is one of America’s vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation. In 2007, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine after being named one of America’s Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. He is the artistic director of the 7-part HBO documentary “Russell Simmons presents: Brave New Voices” and an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s “greatest living artists”. He is the 2011 Alpert Award winner in Theater and in April 2012, he was one of 21 artists to be named to the inaugural class of Doris Duke Artists. He currently serves as Director of Performing Arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Read more about Marc Bamuthi Joseph.
Michael Turner
Michael Wayne Turner III, better known as MyKeyRoc, is a poet, musician, actor, model, and classically trained dancer. Originally from Houston, Texas, MyKeyRoc has
lived in New York and Los Angeles, and currently resides in the Bay Area. In
2009, he was a finalist in the Youth Speaks Bay Area Teen Poetry Slam and went on to represent the Bay Area at the Brave New Voices International Teen Poetry Slam Festival in Chicago, IL. His most recent works include a music and spoken word mixtape with phresh pham. With his poetry he has toured extensively to universities including USC, UCLA, Stanford, TSU, WKU, UK, MTSU; performance venues including San Francisco Opera House, The Chicago Theater, Art Institute of Chicago, Herbst Theater, Stanford University; and hundreds of coffee shops, museums and street corners across the country.
Khalil Anthony
Khalil Anthony is an Artist-Educator, working within a variety
of media. His work investigates relationships between the spirit and space, the black body, sexuality, society, and the urban experience. Weaving together these artistic intentions through dance and movement, writing, painting, education, and song, his work speaks to diverse audiences and communities. Originally from Chicago, Illinois and currently living in New York City, he has taught and performed in the UK, Amsterdam, Paris, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, and throughout the continental US. His work stems from a belief and commitment in the knowledge that all human beings, and especially young people, have a voice. After being published at the young age of 7, Anthony’s work has appeared in various literary magazines and educational journals. As an Emmy winning singer-songwriter, his critically acclaimed album, Urbanfolksun shine, has been featured in five films, with international radio play in Venezuela, Brazil, and the UK. In 2009, Anthony traveled to England, and began The Visible Man Project, which works to strengthen relationships between queer/gay artists of color from the US and the UK. His most recent project, Frederic Leon, is a novel based on events in his own life when, as a teacher, he was arrested for defending his students against police brutality. Currently, Anthony is completing his second studio album, Per Se. Khalil Anthony continues to bring life to his living by creating, being, and sharing the gift of art honestly, poignantly, and without regrets.
Dion Decibels
Dion Decibels is no stranger to music. With over nine years experience DJing, as well as working as a sound engineer, producer and teacher, he is a prominent force in the Bay area music scene. From opera houses to night clubs across the country, there’s no environment untouchable to this dynamic DJ. Dion Decibels seamlessly mixes soul, funk, hip hop, latin and house music into his own distinguishable, eclectic sound. Not only can you catch Dion rocking live sets, but you can also hear him spin on one of his many mixtapes, and on ThinkBeat Radio, a staple radio show in the Bay area on 94.1 FM KPFA and at alldayplay.fm.
Daveed Diggs
Daveed Diggs is an actor, educator, composer, rap and spoken word artist who graduated with a degree in Theater Arts from Brown University in 2004. He has many California and Western regional credits including Pacific Rep Theater’s Troilus and Cressida (Troilus) and A Comedy of Errors (Duke), The SF Playhouse Six Degrees of Separation (Paul) and Jesus Hopped the A Train (Angel). Diggs also teaches Rap and Spoken word classes at James Lick Middle School and at the Marsh Youth Theater and gives workshops throughout the Bay Area, New York City, and New Jersey. He has been a teacher in residence with the Arts Literacy Program in Providence, Rhode Island and a teaching artist for Youth Speaks. As a writer, Diggs has written several plays in verse including: Sweeter Than, a play based on the writings of Harlem Renaissance poet Jean Toomer, which was produced by Rites and Reasons theater in Rhode Island; and Big Shoes, a solo performance piece.
He is also a co-writer and performer in The Living Word Project’s The One Drop Rule directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph. In the New York area you can see Diggs perform as a new member of the improvisational theater/rap event Freestyle Love Supreme. Catch him in San Francisco with the music/super-hero squadron The Freeze.
Dahlak Brathwaite
Dahlak Brathwaite is a multi-faceted hip-hop artist who draws upon his abilities as a musician, actor, and poet to create a dynamic,
spellbinding performance. Since launching into the national spoken word scene by winning the Brave New Voices international Poetry Slam, he has performed
on the Tavis Smiley Radio show and the past two seasons of Russell Simmons’ presents Def Poetry Jam. This is the second time Brathwaite has worked with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, writing and performing in Scourge – a play that the Boston Globe hailed as “explosive.” As a member of the group iLL-Literacy, Dahlak has showcased his seamless blend of hip-hop, theater, and spoken word throughout the U.S. and overseas. Brathwaite is originally from Sacramento, California and is now based in Brooklyn, New York.
B. Yung
B. Yung has recently become a familiar face in the American Spoken word community. After performing in LA’s Def Poetry Allstar show by Stan Lathan
in 2006, he began a very successful career at his new-found craft. In 2008, B. Yung was featured in the Russell Simmons HBO documentary Brave New Voices,
ranking second in the Nation with NYC’s Youth SlamTeam at the Brave New Voices National Competition. He also won first place in the Robert Redford Speak Green Competition held at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C which earned him a chance to perform at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. In 2009, B. Yung joined the Legendary Us3 Band and traveled Europe on the Stop, Think, Run tour and his song Love of my life (produced by Geoff Wilkinson) premiered on MTV and VH1 Soul. In 2010 he ranked seventh in the Village Voice Rap Review and was featured in the Sprite Dunk Contest commercial and Reggie Bythwood’s One Night in Vegas documentary about Tupac Shakur and Mike Tyson (ESPN). He also created the LP Eye of the Prince; and per- formed in China, Russia, England and Japan.
