NPR award-winning storyteller Don Reed (Writer/Performer/Director) was a 2018 nominee for the Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Outstanding Solo Production, as well as the 2016 TBA winner and the 2017 TBA nominee for the same award.

The playwright/performer/director is also a SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominee and NAACP triple nominee for Best Actor and Best Playwright. His past works at The Marsh include East 14th, The Kipling Hotel, Can You Dig It?, That Don Reed Show, and Going Out. Reed can be seen in the Amazon Prime series Bartlett, where Reed plays the boss in a struggling ad agency alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton creator and star). He has worked in various roles in front of and behind the camera for
Warner Bros, Disney+, Marvel, Pixar, The CW, Sony, Lionsgate, and more. Reed has also
performed, written, and directed for film, television, and theater. As a producer, Don has coproduced noted director/writer Robert Townsend's (Hollywood Shuffle, The 5 Heartbeats, Eddie Murphy's Raw, The Last OG) one-man show Living the Shuffle for The Marsh. 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/don.reed.7796
IG: https://www.instagram.com/donreedwow

Season 5 Episode 7: Don Reed

Meet San Francisco resident, Fred Pitts. His solo show “Aren’t You…?” recounts his hilarious journey to visit all 21 California Mission churches, where he discovers that being Black makes him an instant celebrity – the question is which one? 

Pitts has been performing in the Bay Area for over 20 years. He has worked with numerous regional theatres, including Shotgun Players, Altarena Playhouse, The Pear Theatre, Palo Alto Players, African-American Shakespeare Company, Custom Made Theatre Company, Contra Costa Civic Theatre, and EXIT Theatre, among others. Pitts also has numerous film and commercial credits. After being an Emergency Medicine physician for 20 years, he now works in drug safety.
Aren’t You…? is playing at The Marsh Berkeley February 10 – March 2, 2024.
Ticket Link: https://themarsh.org/shows_and_events/marshstream/fred-pitts-arent-you/
Facebook: Fred Pitts
Instagram: @frdpttsjnr

Season 6 Episode 3: Fred Pitts

Jewelle Gomez (Playwright, Cabo Verdean/Ioway/Wampanoag, pronouns: she/her) is a novelist, poet, and playwright. She is the author of seven books including the double Lambda Literary Award-winning, Black lesbian vampire novel, The Gilda Stories. Waiting for Giovanni, her play about James Baldwin, and Leaving the Blues, about Alberta Hunter, were commissioned and premiered at NCTC. She has written for numerous publications including The Village Voice, MS Magazine, The Advocate, San Francisco Chronicle, and Black Scholar.

Unpacking in P’town Tickets:
https://nctcsf.org/event/unpacking-in-ptown/
IG: @vampyrevamp

Season 6 Episode 4: Jewelle Gomez

Qing Qi is a notable Bay Area Rap Star and acclaimed performer. She makes grassroots anthems like “IDWIW” & “Big D” that permeate. Visual Artist, director, promoter, actor, Founder of femme rap community Putang Clan and events team #PuTangParty, Qing Qi is a Bay Area staple like beans and rice! Using her life experiences as inspiration, she speaks candidly about taboo topics with witty lyrics, catchy hooks, and authentic Hyphy energy over hard hitting beats. A Return to Black Wall Street Fellow, SFAC Cultural Ambassador, and advocate of cooperative economics, she is working to earn her descendants a lifetime of rest.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@qingqimusic1186
IG: @allhailtheqing

Terrence Paschal is an originally self taught dancer from Stockton California. His first influences were street dance forms that originated in Oakland, Turfing and Popping. He was also inspired by Brooklyn street dance forms such as Bruk up and Flexn. It was through exposure to these forms and fascination with Micheal Jackson that led him to explore Ballet and modern dance forms. Later on he worked with Embodiment Project where he was exposed to house dance and new methods of narrative based story telling; through movement and spoken word. Today he utilizes various different street dance modalities to find freedom in expression and through teaching he aims to help others find their own unique voice as well.

IG: @toonworld1990

HART Showcase
March 23, 2024
5pm & 8pm
The Ruth Williams Memorial Theater, Bayview Opera House, SF
Ticket Link: pushdance.org/hart
FREE Admission

Season 6 Episode 5: Qing Qi + Terrence Paschal

Nadine Rambeau is the Executive Director of EPACENTER (@epacenterarts), a creative youth development organization that works with East Palo Alto youth to amplify their talents and impact their world through art and design. EPACENTER is a LEED certified, 21,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art arts and cultural center featuring classrooms, a gallery, cafe, recording studio, dance studio, theater, and outdoor amphitheater. The name (pronounced “epicenter”) refers to the rich cultural energy of its home, the City of East Palo Alto (EPA). Along with an engaged community of residents, local leaders and dedicated staff, Nadine oversees the development of vibrant programming including digital, visual, and performing arts classes for youth, artist residencies, public art projects, cultural events, and educational and community partnerships.

Nadine has spent the past 25 years activating creativity as a catalyst for empowerment, economic equity, and social change in multiple communities across the United States. Prior to EPACENTER, she served as the managing director of the community arts and education division at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. Before arriving in California, she played key roles in establishing accessible arts education programs for vulnerable youth at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago Chernin’s Center for the Arts.

W: https://epacenter.org
IG: @epacenterarts
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/epacenter-arts

Season 6 Episode 6: Nadine Rambeau

Ashlie Kego is a Nigerian-American self-taught artist based out of Pleasanton, CA. 
She is known for her vivid, eye-catching Afro Cubism Art.
She discovered her new talent of painting during covid, November 2020. With being locked up and nothing to do she decided to pick up a paintbrush and paint on a shirt. With the amount of positive feedback she received and the demand for people wanting their own painted shirts, she decided to start painting large canvases as statement pieces. What inspired her style of art, was her love for her Nigerian roots, African masks, bright colors and prints and patterns

W: https://ashliekegoart.com
IG: @Akegoart

Season 6 Mini Episode #1: Ashlie Kego

Monique and Angela, owners of The Pour Up wine company, started their wine company during the pandemic and have continued blossoming ever since. They have five different wine varietals that they sell online and at pop ups around the Bay Area. Their journey continues to an upcoming wine bar set to open in 2024.

W: https://linktr.ee/thepourupwine
IG: @thepourupwine
IG: @thepourupwinebar

Season 6 Mini Episode #2 Angela Edwards + Monique Griffin

Oakland Black Music Week Artist!
Tiffany Austin is a vocalist, composer, educator, impresario and philanthropist, whose life's work is the liberation and inspiration of people of African descent. She has released two critically acclaimed jazz/soul albums, holds a Berkeley Law JD and is cofounder of The Diaspora Sessions (an immersive Black Art experience series), and the newly launched Wyldflowr Arts space in Oakland.

W: Tiffanyaustin.com
IG: @tiffanyaustinmusic
W: Wyldflowrarts.com
IG: @wyldflowrarts

Season 6 Mini Episode #3 Tiffany Austin

Nora Free is a Bay Area based artist (saxophone and flute) from a multiracial background. She's a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and did her PhD in Composition at the University of Pittsburgh. Free is returning to music after a long illness and the work she's now doing with Tiffany Austin at Wyldflowr is essential to her growth as an artist and her approach to working with the Oakland community which has embraced her.

W: Norafree.net
IG: @norafree.music
W: Wyldflowrarts.com
IG: @wyldflowrarts

Season 6 Mini Episode #4 Nora Free

*Explicit Content*
Nazelah Jamison (she / her) is a Bay Area-based performance poet, author, actor, vocalist and emcee. Her first book of poetry, Evolutionary Heart, was released on Nomadic Press in 2016, and reprinted and re-released on Black Lawrence Press in Fall 2023. Her work can also be found in The Racket Journal: Issue Fifteen (2020), Culture Counts Magazine (2021), La Raiz Magazine (2022),  Better Ancestors, Sparkle + Blink 115 (Quiet Lightning 2022) and others. In her spare time, Nazelah enjoys writing horror screenplays and saving the day. She hosts Thee Virtual Open Mic every 1st & 3rd Friday on zoom.

W: Nazelah.wixsite.com/nazelah
IG:  @supernaz_your_superfriend

Season 6 Mini Episode #5 Nazelah Jamison

PHER, the Oakland native and global singing phenomenon formerly known as Chris Turner, is a rare artist fully versed in both the jazz tradition and classic soul, and equally comfortable in either universe.

As a Soul, R&B and Jazz artist, PHER is taking center stage with his upcoming album “Songs by PHER” complete and ready to be marketed to the world soon. For now, we are releasing singles from the album with the latest single releases, “Spice” and “Tomorrow Is Too Late” featuring Jesse Boykins III already making waves.

He gained invaluable experience in the Bay Area scene before decamping to New York, studying at the New School, and working with a staggering list of major jazz, soul, R&B and Hip Hop artists. Pher joined the faculty of his alma mater in 2013, the New School University Jazz program teaching voice, ranging from beginner singers to college students to pop artists that include Sean Kingston, 070Shake, and WolfTyla.
Pher’s 2013 debut LOVElife is a Challenge was a wildly successful mixtape documenting the evolution of his life as a man and as a father. He made a standout appearance on Snarky Puppy’s 2016 release Family Dinner Volume Two, performing his smash single, “Liquid Love.” PHER’s latest single, “Murky,” is close to surpassing 2 million streams on Spotify. It is an audio representation of a light at the end of the tunnel. It embodies the faith that it takes to continue on the journey of unconditional love.

Pher is honored to be a part of 3 Grammy awards as a vocalist, 2 awards on Esperanza  Spalding’s “Radio Music Society” album and 1 Grammy award for Jon Batiste’s “Hollywood Africans.” He has also toured and recorded internationally with his own group, as well as with music industry legends like Usher, The Roots, Robert Glasper, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, Bootsy Collins, Sam Smith, Disclosure, Mike Posner, Bilal, Harvey Mason Sr., Eddie Palmeri, Eric Harland, Kris Bowers, Sean Kingston, Chrisette Michelle, Consequence, Lupe Fiasco and many more.

W: Linktr.ee/pher510
IG: @PHER510

Season 6 Mini Episode #6 PHER

The Black Landscape is a series of conversations that spotlight Black people doing significant work in the SF Bay Area communities in various industries including the arts, local government, local authors, the Peralta College system, labor unions, retail and costuming design, tech, and more!

Website: https://theblacklandscape.buzzsprout.com
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/The-Black-Landscape-100794011958631
Instagram: Instagram.com/theblacklandscape

The Black Landscape

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