Join New York Theatre Workshop and Poetic Theater Productions for a free community Open Mic Night.
The evening’s theme (in conversation with runboyrun & IN OLD AGE): UNEARTHING/MEMORIES AND LEGACIES. Poetry, spoken word, monologues, songs, and all languages welcome.
Featured artists include
Lynae DePriest AKA Thoughtress
Sean Devare
Shadrack Boakye (performing with MrMelee)
Vanessa Rappa
Participation is not contingent on attending runboyrun & IN OLD AGE or performing.
Performer Sign Up: https://forms.gle/L13xvwfwxodhLXj2A
We will not have a pianist, but we have a piano that performers can use. We also have a very basic sound system, two speakers, and a mic with a stand for the night.
About the featured artists:
Lynae DePriest aka Thoughtress (they/them) is a black, queer, non-binary poet/actor/comedian/storytelle
Lynae will also be hosting Unearthing Memories and Legacies Open Mic Night at NYTW.
Sean Devare is a NY-based multi-disciplinary performer, director, designer and musician. His work explores questions of cultural hybridization/assimilation in reinterpreting various Asian performance traditions. NY credits include: ‘First Violin’ (HERE Arts); ‘The People Speak’ (BAM); ‘#serials@theflea’ (The Flea); ”The Talmud’ (Target Margin); Artaud Artaud’ (Signature/Columbia Stages), ‘Juniper Tree’ (Puppet BloK at Dixon Place). MFA Sarah Lawrence; BFA RISD. www.seandevare.com
Shadrack Boakye was born in Liberia, Africa during a crippling civil war that took the lives of over 200,000 citizens in the early 1990s. Along with his mother, Shadrack was one of the few survivors to escape the war-stricken country. Through all the hardships he has had to endure once he entered the United States, among them not being able to read, he has since then, proudly overcome adversities that many immigrants who enter a new country face. His drive and passion for the arts have presented many opportunities for him to channel his creative passion. Scholastic recently published the book “Unstoppable The True Story of Shadrack Boakye” for System 44 students across the country. He is the president of “The Truth Urban Theater Group”, and his work as a playwright and performer has been recognized twice by the NAACP-ACT-SO with Gold Medals.
For this feature, Shadrack is joined by MrMelee, a poet, producer, and performer whose talents have taken him all over the nation and around the world. In addition to his work with Shadrack through The Truth Urban Theater Group, MrMelee was featured on television’s “The X Factor” as a member of Lyric 145.
Vanessa Rappa is a poet, playwright, actor, dancer, singer, song-writer, musician, choreographer, performer, artist. Her play in development “Scribbled Lines” has been presented by Poetic Theater Productions and Judson Arts Wednesdays. Some of her other original work has also been presented by Poetic Theater Productions as a part of Love, Redefined, Together in Resilience, Poetic Lyricism, and more. She graduated from RCNJ with a double Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Theater. A few favored performances include Gravity of Me Gone, medea & medea/for medea, A Bright Room Called Day, and The Taming of the Shrew. Choreography and collaborative work credit include Gen and Getting Away With It.