Liza Jessie Peterson / Performer & Playwright

Liza Jessie Peterson 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 play at Louisiana State Penitentiary (aka Angola). The documentary is streaming on Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime, and made the prestigious shortlist for an Academy Award.

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.  Liza was featured in Ava DuVernay’s Emmy award winning documentary, The 13^th, 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. She can be seen in the upcoming season of The Chi on Paramount Plus.

Liza wrote and starred in two experimental short films, MERLINA and Black Love Manifesto.

For more info on her projects, visit her website at www.lizajessiep.com

Talvin Wilks / Director

Talvin Wilks is a playwright, director and dramaturg. His plays include Tod, the boy, Tod, The Trial of Uncle S&M, Bread of Heaven, An American Triptych, Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing, and As I Remember It with Carmen de Lavallade. Directorial projects include the world premiere productions of UDU by Sekou Sundiata, The Love Space Demands by Ntozake Shange, the Obie Award/AUDELCO Award winning The Shaneequa Chronicles by Stephanie Berry, The Peculiar Patriot by Liza Jessie Peterson and co-writer/co-director for Ping Chong’s ongoing series of Undesirable Elements and Collidescope: Adventures in Pre- and Post-Racial America. Since 2014, some of his most acclaimed directorial work has been centered at Penumbra Theatre Company—The Ballad of Emmett Till and Benevolence by If a Bayeza, This Bitter Earth by Harrison David Rivers, The Owl Answers by Adrienne Kennedy and The White Card by Claudia Rankine. As a dramaturg, he has collaborated on numerous award-winning projects with nationally renowned companies such as Bebe Miller Company, Urban Bush Women, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, and the stage adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me at the Apollo Theatre. He is a 2020 recipient of the McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship.

Andrew Cissna / Scenic & Lighting Design

Andrew Cissna is a lighting designer based out of Washington, DC since 2006. Since starting professionally designing, Andrew has lit over 100 productions in both DC and regionally around the country, receiving 4 Helen Hayes Award nominations. In DC he has lit shows for Round House Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, Theatre J. Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Theatre Alliance, Forum Theatre, Catholic University, Imagination Stage, Catalyst Theatre Company, Adventure Theatre, Olney Theatre, and many others. Regionally, he has had the opportunity to work at Perseverance Theatre Company in Juneau, Alaska, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Playmakers Repertory Company. Andrew is also the Production Manager of Technology for the Spoleto Festival USA held in Charleston, SC every summer where he manages lighting, sound, and video for over 170 performances held over 17 days in 11 different performance venues. Andrew holds a BFA in Lighting Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Katherine Freer / Projection Design

Katherine Freer is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, organizer, and educator. Her artistic practice lives at the intersection of story, technology, and civic engagement. It is rooted in joy, curiosity, mutual learning, and the pursuit of justice for all living beings. She is a core collaborator in All My Relations Collective, Projection Design Instructor at University of the Arts (Philadelphia), and a Teaching Artist with Roundabout Education. She is a proud member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and United Scenic Artists Local 829. Learn more: katherinefreer.com

Luqman Brown / Sound Design

Broadway: Hot Wing King (Signature Theater); Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Rolled (Duke Theater); Hurt Village (Signature Theater). Off-Broadway: Three Musketeers (Classical Theater of Harlem); Peculiar Patriot (National Back Theatre); Adoration of an Old Woman (Inter Theater); Detroit 67 (Juilliard); ACE (Lyle Courtney Production); El Coqui Spectacular and the Bottle of Doom (La Vega Production); White People (Fordham University Theater); Cock Fight (Fordham University Theater); 12 Angry Men (Billie Holiday Theater); Br’er Rabbit the Opera: A Funky Meditation on Gentrification and How to Survive (BRIC); Seed (National Black Theatre). Regional: LegacyLand (KC Rep); America V2.1 The Sad Demise and Eventual Extinction of the American Negro (Barrington Stage); What You Are (The Old Globe); The Corpse Washer, How to Defend Yourself, We’ve Come to Believe (Original Music); Everybody Black (Humana Fest 2019); Skeleton Crew (TheaterSquared); Chad Deity (Also Rep); Sense & Sensibility (Cape Fear Theater); The Parchment Hour (Guthrie Theater); An Orestes (Rutgers Theater). Other credits: Winner of the 2017 & 2018 AUDELCO Awards for Sound Design. As a professional musician, Mr Brown has performed in numbrous bands as well as produced many others. You can check out more at luqmanbrown.nyc. 

Latoya Murray-Berry / Costume Design

Latoya Murray-Berry has evolved from a personal designer during her college years, recognized at an early age a Boston native, now Designer, 764 Costumer and Fashion Stylist, with a. Degree in Psychology. Driven by her zeal for fashion, Latoya’s styling journey within the music industry as she apprenticed under some of the industry’s most influential stylists. During her 12+ year career, curating signature looks and style collaborations with the world’s most esteemed celebrities. Ms. Berry is an avid believer of community service, her passion for charitable giving has remained unchanged. Undaunted and unstoppable, Latoya continues to build her legacy.

National Black Theatre / Co-Presenter

Founded in 1968 by visionary artist Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, National Black Theatre (NBT) is a Tony Award-winning, Emmy-nominated institution and the nation’s first revenue-generating Black arts complex. The longest-running Black theatre in New York City, NBT has been recognized by the National Museum of African American History and Culture for its cultural impact. Under the leadership of CEO Sade Lythcott and Executive Artistic Director Jonathan McCrory, NBT produces transformational theatre that uplifts authentic stories of Black life, while serving as a hub for innovation, education, and social change. Learn more at www.nationalblacktheatre.org, Facebook (@NationalBlackTheatre) and Instagram (@NatBlackTheatre).