Itohan Edoloyi

 Itohan Edoloyi (Lead Curator & Lighting Designer) is a Brooklyn-born lighting designer that has worked and toured around Europe and North America. She has worked as a lighting designer and associate designer on multiple shows varying from experimental theater to events as well as tours, Off-Broadway and Broadway shows.  Itohan is also currently the resident Lighting Design Coordinator for The Shed's Open Call Series,  working with various artists and designers around NYC. Itohan Edoloyi was the 2018 recipient of the Gilbert V. Hemsley Lighting Internship and an MFA graduate from Brooklyn College.

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Rachael Blackwell

Rachael N. Blackwell (Lighting Designer & Curator) is a native of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with an emphasis on Technical Theatre from Alabama State University in Montgomery, AL in May 2016. She recieved her MFA in Lighting Design & Technology in May 2020 at CCM, University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH. She enjoys working on original and new works as well as opportunities that allow her to stay connected to her African American roots. She was the 2020 recipient of both the Gilbert Hemsley Lighting Internship. Rachael has worked with the Cincinnati Ballet, Yale Repertory Theatre, The Alley Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery Ballet, NSU Theater Company and The VA Arts Festival.

Alan C. Edwards

Alan C. Edwards (Lighting Designer) is a lighting designer who has had the pleasure of designing plays, musicals, and special events including: Off-broadway: Harry Clarke (The Vineyard) for which he received the Lucille Lortel Award, Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theatre) [Drama Desk nominee], Fires In The Mirror (Signature) [Lortel nominee], The First Noel (Apollo/CTH), American Moor (Red Bull) and Bluebird Memories feat. Common (Audible @ The Minetta Lane Theatre). His regional work includes: Lights Out: Nat King Cole (Geffen, People’s Light), Detroit Red (Arts Emerson), Twisted Melodies (Centerstage Baltimore, Apollo, Mosaic). Alan is a graduate of Ithaca College and the Yale School of Drama, where he also serves on the lighting faculty. 

Carl Hancock Rux

Carl Hancock Rux (Playwright/Poet) is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, actor, director, singer/ songwriter. He is the author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prize-winning “Pagan Operetta,” the novel, Asphalt, and the Obie Award winning play, Talk. Rux is also a recording artist with four CDs to his credit, as well as a frequent collaborator in the fields of dance, theater, film, and contemporary art . He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Award for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Prize, the Bessie Award, the Alpert Award in the Arts, a 2019 Global Change Maker award fellow, a Hayden Distinguished Fellow and Visiting Artist at Yale University and Associate Artistic Director of the Mabou Mines Theater Co. His archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution as well as the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts..

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Hope Boykin

Hope Boykin (Poet) Born in Durham, North Carolina, Hope was an original member of Complexions, received the “Bessie,” a New York dance and performance award as a member of Philadanco, most recently completed her 20th and final year with the Ailey American Dance Theater, and has choreographed many works to great acclaim. Hope serves as Artistic Lead for the Kennedy Center Dance Lab, Artist-In-Residence at USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, and continues to work as a writer: blending her words and cadence as a foundational element toward the building of her movement language. She firmly believes there are no limits.

Jamar Roberts

Jamar Roberts (Illustrations) is the resident choreographer of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Mr.Roberts graduated from the New World School of the Arts and trained at the Dance Empire of Miami, where he continues to teach, and as a fellowship student at The Ailey School. Mr. Roberts was a member of Ailey II and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Dance Magazine featured Jamar as one of “25 to Watch” in 2007 and on the cover in 2013. He performed at The White House in 2010, and as a guest star on So You think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars and The Ellen Degeneres Show.