SLAM THEATRE 1.0
Presented as part of INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival
ABOUT THE SHOW
Slam Theatre 1.0 is an exciting fusion of sketch comedy, spoken word poetry, and live DJ music. This hilarious new show highlights the human need to love and be loved; and explores sex, dating, and romance in the City.
Slam Theatre 1.0 debuted on February 25, 2011 as part of INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival at the historic Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C. It had a successful 2 week run at the Festival including 4 sold out shows.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
PLAYWRIGHT: Malcolm Pelles
Malcolm is a playwright and filmmaker. His plays have been produced or read in Washington, DC at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Rorschach Theatre, Warehouse Theater, and Theater J; and in New York City at such places as the HERE Arts Center, Manhattan Theatre Source, and Atlantic Theatre. He earned a MFA degree from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
DIRECTOR: KenYatta Rogers
KenYatta Rogers is thrilled to work with the New Galaxy Theatre Group for the first time. His directing credits include: From U St. to the Cotton Club (The INSeries); Inheriting Cleo (Source Theatre Festival); Spunk (Tribute Productions); I Have Before Me A Remarkable Document Given To Me By A Young Lady From Rwanda, Chain (African Continuum Theatre); Untold Truths (Touchstone Theatre); Hamlet (Howard University); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Mr. Marmalade; Heaven; ANTHEMS: Culture Clash in the District; As Bees In Honey Drown; Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Montgomery College); The Colored Museum (Pitt Theatre and Point Park Conservatory); Late Bus to Mecca (Pitt Theatre); and The 13th Summer of William and Pilar (a shared production between African Continuum Theatre, Gala Hispanic Theatre, and Young Playwrights’ Theatre).
KenYatta received his BA in English from Clark Atlanta University and his MFA in Acting from the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, he is a faculty member in the Department of Speech, Dance, and Theatre at Montgomery College – Rockville. To Kasai, his heart, to Mecca, his soul, to Michelle, his all.
CAST:
Felipe Cabezas
Felipe is pleased to be playing with the New Galaxy Theatre Group for the first time. Other local credits include The Alchemist (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Reasons To Be Pretty (Studio Theatre); Women Beware Women (Constellation Theatre Company); Beyond the Horizon (American CenturyTheater); Hamlet (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); Bad Hamlet (Adequate Players); and Deep Belly Beautiful (theHegeria).
Rafael Cuesta
Rafael is excited and grateful to be a part of this production. Although a military brat, he grew up mostly in the DC area. Recent credits include feature roles in The Wiz (St. Mark's Players) as and as Speed in Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Special thanks to my dear friend Pam Ward, a vocalist's vocalist and fabulous entertainer, for introducing me to the New Galaxy team. Thanks to my Mom, to Grace, and my Daughter for their support and inspiration. Thanks to the New Galaxy Production Team for their professionalism and for allowing me to be a part of this project. Last but most importantly, thanks be to God for another chance to perform and do what I love.
Leigh Anna Fry
Leigh Anna is thrilled to work with New Galaxy Theatre Group and the cast of Slam Theater 1.0. She most recently appeared in The War of the Worlds (Scena Theatre); as Isabella in The Imaginary Autopsee (Capital Fringe Festival); and as the Secretary in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (The American Century Theater).
Leigh Anna loves the opportunity to work on new plays and recently appeared as Ann in Doubting Thomas and Everything Lives in a Cloud (First Draft); and in three readings at the Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage festival as: Hen in Jack and the Bean Stalk (First Draft); Sallie in All the Sins of My Past Life (ABG Playwrights); and Hilinda in Vampire Lesbians of Scotland (ClassiqueNouveau).
Offstage Leigh Anna can be found rapping and vamping online in the Brambleton Town Center "Be Here" campaign music videos: Hip Hop Dentist and 80’s Glam Rock Salon (MRB Films). She has appeared on MSNBC as Linda Kasabian in Will You Kill For Me? Charles Manson and His Followers and as Emily Harris and the voice of Patty Hearst in Witness: The Kidnapping Of Patty Hearst; and on Discovery ID in the Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? and Nightmare Next Door series. In April, she will return to The American Century Theater to play Linda Shaw in Stage Door.
Soneyet Muhammad
This is Soneyet’s second performance with the New Galaxy Theatre Group and she is happy to be back among such talented people. Some of her past performances include: Lions of Industry: Mothers of Invention (Discovery Theater); Live! Girls! Organize (New Galaxy Theatre Group); No, Batsheba (Rorschach Theatre); The Good Neighbor (Young Playwrights’ Theatre); A Bird of One Thousand Colors (Young Playwrights Theatre); 1001 Days (Classique Nouveau); The Miracle Worker (Synapse Theatre); A Few Good Men (Zemfira Stage); and MacBro (Source Theater).
Soneyet received her actor training at Studio Theatre, NYFA, Theatre Lab, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Professor Emeritus Vera Katz. For more on Soneyet please visit www.soneyetm.com. MUAH!
Ron Brown pka (DJ) RBI
Ron is an artist and entrepreneur working in arts & entertainment. Former endeavors include forays into marketing & promotions, indie record label partnership, event promotions, video show production, and journalism. His present activities focus on DJing/ turntablism, radio programming & production, stage performance, and music production. Prominent responsibilities include the co-production/ DJing of 89.3 FM WPFW's ILL Street Grooves. Additionally, he works as both DJ & project developer for pioneering hip hop-theatre act Hueman Prophets, regional record label Inner Loop Records, & emerging act Gods'illa; Finally, non-profit Words, Beats, & Life Inc. employs his services as coordinator of its hip-hop music program.
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Alison Beyrle (Stage Manager)
Alison graduated with distinction from Kenyon College in May 2009 with a B.A. in drama. At Kenyon she worked on more than ten productions, often as the production stage manager, and spent a semester abroad in Nantes, France. She recently completed an arts management internship at the Kennedy Center, where she worked in multiple offices assisting with the preparation and coordination of several major events, including the 2010 American College Theater Festival. She has worked for several area arts organizations in both administrative and backstage capacities, including Adventure Theater, Synetic Theater and the Source Theater Festival. She also spent one summer working as an on-set production assistant for NuImage Studios, an American film company based in Sofia, Bulgaria. She currently works as the Development Assistant for Young Playwrights' Theater, the only professional theatre in Washington, DC dedicated entirely to arts education. Alison enjoys getting involved with the local DC theatre scene whenever possible, and most recently served as the stage manager for Wildwood Park, the inaugural production of Mixed Minds Theatre Company. Alison is very excited for the opportunity to work with the New Galaxy Theatre Group and to be a part of Slam Theatre 1.0.
Patrick Lord (Set Design)
Patrick recently received his BFA in Scenic Design from Emerson College in Boston, and is excited to be back in the DC/Metro area to continue designing. Some of his recent scenic design work includes the Boston premiere of Incorruptible (Emerson Stage), Peter Pan (Open Road Theatre), and One Night With Fanny Brice (American Century Theater). He has also served as assistant scenic designer on Sunset Boulevard (Signature Theatre), and the upcoming Moscows of Nantucket (Theatre J).
Marianne Meadows (Lighting Design)
More info on Marianne coming soon.
Tewodross Melchishua (Video Projection Design/VJ)
Tewodross (tee-oh-droze Melkesh-oo-ah) received his BA in Art/Photographic Media from Morgan State University, and an MFA in Imaging & Digital Arts from UMBC. He has produced work in video/film, animation, traditional and digital art; music videos and video installation. Tewodross has worked as a VJ/Designer for Slam 1.0 Theatre, Galactic Ritual: A Hip-Hop Theatre Experience, Paige In Full: A B Girl's Visual Mixtape, and Where My Girls At? as part of the DC Hip-Hop Theatre Festival. He has also shown his work/installations as an exhibiting artist/filmmaker and video artist in the DC area through such venues as the FLIK International Film Festival (Art Whino, National Harbor), Gaia DC, Art-o-Matic, the Congressional Black Caucus/Hip-Hop Room (Washington, DC), Rooftop Films (Brooklyn, NY) and others nationally and internationally.
Recently, he was a featured artist and curator for the Flashpoint Gallery exhibition, "M3: MCs, Mics and Metaphors." He is the creative director for Visual Jazz Media Group, and serves as an Associate Professor in visual communication at Bowie State University, where he teaches animation, motion graphics, visual culture/hip-hop studies and digital cinematography and more. Later this summer 2011, he will work with other artists, actors and musicians part of the Source Theatre Festival's Artistic Blind Dates and another hopeful launch of M3. For more visit www.soulsuite.com.
Chris Scott (Art Design)
Chris is a freelance illustrator working out of the Washington, DC metro area. From a young age, Chris knew that a career in art was the only acceptable future for him. He began honing his craft early, copying any comic book he could get his hands on and conducting rigorous animation research (that is, watching a lot of cartoons). Chris attended The Art Institute of Washington where he completed the Media Arts and Animation program with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Aside from freelancing, he is currently a contract illustrator for Kaiser Studio Productions in Huntington, VA and is working on completing web-comic, to premiere later this year. To see more of Chris Scott's artwork, please visit chrisjamesscott.blogspot.com.