Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer. He is a Complete Works poet alumni and facilitates workshops in creative writing where he explores reoccurring themes in his work—Identity, Displacement and Destiny—in accessible, enjoyable ways for participants of all ages and backgrounds. His awards include: Edinburgh Fringe First Award 2009, The Liberty Human Rights Award, The Live Canon International Poetry Prize, The Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition, Magma Poetry Competition, Winchester Poetry Prize, A Black British Theatre Award and The Hay Festival Medal for Poetry. He has been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Tate Modern, Louis Vuitton, BBC Radio & Television. His poetry books include Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars published by Flipped Eye, The Wire-Headed Heathen by Akashic Books, The Half-God of Rainfall by 4th Estate and The Actual by Penned in The Margins. His plays include Black T-shirt Collection, The 14th Tale, Barber Shop Chronicles and Three Sisters published by Oberon. He founded The Midnight Run, an arts-filled, night-time, urban walking experience; The Rhythm and Poetry Party (The R.A.P Party) which celebrates poetry & hip hop; and Poetry + Film / Hack (P+F/H) which celebrates Poetry & Film.

Taibi Magar is Co-Artistic Director of Philadelphia Theatre Company and an Egyptian-American director whose work is focused at the intersection of imagination and social justice. After all, if you can’t imagine it, you can’t fight for it. Because of this, her work is known for being visually and theatrically explosive, grounded in potent performances, and always fighting for the underdog.

She is a graduate of the Brown University MFA program. Most recently she directed Help (The Shed), Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Signature Theatre, Lortel-winning). Other NY credits include: Capsule by Whitney White and Peter Mark Kendall (Under the Radar Festival/The Public Theater, co-directed with Tyler Dobrowsky) Blue Ridge starring Marin Ireland and The Great Leap starring BD Wong (Atlantic Theater Company); Is God Is (Soho Rep, 2018 Obie Award;) Master (The Foundry, NYT Critics Pick); and Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova, NYT Critics Pick). She also premiered the new musicals Macbeth In Stride and l We Live In Cairo at A.R.T. Boston. Additionally, she is attached to developing the commercial theatrical adaptation of Wonder by Jill Furman (book by Bess Wohl, music and lyrics by A Great Big World). Regional: CTG, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Alley Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, and Seattle Repertory Theatre, among others. International: Hamburg Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne), and Soho Theatre (London). Other: She is the recipient of a Stephen Sondheim Fellowship, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Fellowship, Public Theater Shakespeare Fellowship, and TFANA Actors and Director Project Fellowship. Taibi is an alumni of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and a NYTW Usual Suspect.

She received an Obie Award in 2018 and the SDC Breakout Award in 2019. Taibi has directed and taught at many academic institutions, including University of the Arts, Juilliard, Fordham University, New York University and Brown University.

Broadway: The Play That Goes Wrong. Off-Broadway: Crumbs From The Table of Joy (Keen Theater), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Audible Theater), Native Son (The Acting Co.), If Pretty Hurts… (Playwrights Horizons). TV/Film: “Blue Bloods,” “Madam Secretary,” “Elementary” (CBS); “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC); “The Good Fight” (Paramount Plus); Mother/Android, The Upside.

Mister Fitzgerald hails from Baltimore, MD. NYTW: On Sugarland. Broadway: Ohio State Murders (James Earl Jones Theater). Off-Broadway: A Raisin In The Sun (Public Theater), Exception To The Rule (Roundabout). Film: The Last Deal, Boogie, 30 Weeks. TV: “Power,” “FBI,” “The Blacklist,” “Godfather of Harlem.” Awards: Best Duo Performance (DTLAFF). BFA, FSC.

Patrice Johnson Chevannes is an award-winning, Brooklyn-based actress, writer, filmmaker, educator, director and the executive producer of God-and-all-o-wee Productions and Ubigwitus Records. Broadway: Racing Demon and The Crucible directed by Sir Richard Eyre. Off Broadway/Regional: Othello (Desdemona opposite Sir Patrick Stewart); Pericles with Sir Trevor Nunn (TFANA); Tamburlaine with Sir Michael Boyd (TFANA); Endgame (Irish Rep); I’m Revolting, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven with Stephen Adly Guirgis and John Ortiz (Atlantic Theater Company); runboyrun/In Old Age with Awoye Timpo and Loretta Greco (NYTW). Patrice garnered a 2023 Lortel Award nomination for her role as Nell in Endgame, 2020 Drama Desk and Drama League nominations for runboyrun/In Old Age, and an Audelco nomination for her role in Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven. TV: “Chambers,” “POSE,” “SHRILL,” “EVIL,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The First Lady,” “The Good Fight.” Films written and directed by Patrice: Kings County, NY’s Dirty Laundry, Hill and Gully. Patrice is on the faculty of The New School, where she teaches acting in The School of Drama.

Theater credits include Coal Country (The Public), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate (Signature), Talk Radio (Broadway). He is the playwright/performer of Krapp, 39 (Drama Desk nomination) which played Soho Playhouse, Tristan Bates Theater/London, Axis Ballymun/Dublin, and Pleasance Theater/ Edinburgh. He wrote and performed (opposite Annette O’Toole) Hamlet in Bed (published by Dramatists Play Service) which premiered at Rattlestick Theater (directed by Lisa Peterson), with a UK premiere at Pleasance Theater, Edinburgh. Also: Opus (Primary Stages), Desire Under the Elms (Broadway), The Morini Strand (Primary Stages), Samuel D. Hunter’s The Few (Old Globe and Rattlestick), Dael Orlandersmith’s Horsedreams (Rattlestick), Poison (Origin), Sam Shepard’s Tooth of Crime (Signature), Edgar Oliver’s Hands In Wartime (La MaMa), Good People (Huntington), Starbuck in The Rainmaker (Arena Stage), John Proctor in The Crucible (Hartford Stage), Eric Bogosian’s Humpty Dumpty (McCarter), Jean Genet’s Splendid’s (Theatre National de Paris/La Colline). TV: recurring roles on “Shades of Blue” (NBC), “The Blacklist” (NBC), “Damages” (FX), and Adult Swim’s “The Heart She Holler.” Also, “Prodigal Son” (FOX), “Evil” (CBS), “The Good Wife” (CBS), “L&O: SVU” (NBC), “Hit & Run” (Netflix), “Elementary” (CBS), “Person of Interest” (CBS), and “Dexter: New Blood.” (Showtime). Film: Can You Ever Forgive Me, Man on A Wire, The Last Thing Mary Saw, One For the Money, many indies. He is the author of the full length plays Cincinnatus (O’Neill/ National Playwrights Conference finalist 2022), The Escape Artist, and The Twilight Shopper. He wrote and directed the indie feature film Escape Artists. Graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts/ Experimental Theatre Wing.

NYTW: On Sugarland. Broadway: Ohio State Murders, Electra, Having Our Say, So Long on Lonely Street. Off-Broadway: Cullud Wattah, Passage, Brownsville Song, Trojan Women, Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death. Selected Regional: Our Daughters, Like Pillars, Skeleton Crew. Film/TV: Detroit, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” The Preacher’s Wife, “The Wire,” “Law & Order.”

Theater: Merry Wives (The Public Theater); Yemanja (Kennedy Center); BDOTJ (Society Theatre); King John, Antony & Cleopatra, Hamlet (Stratford Festival). TV: “The Good Fight” (Paramount +), “Evil” (CBS), “Designated Survivor” (Netflix), “Golden City” (Marvel/Disney+). Upcoming: “Lady in The Lake” starring Natalie Portman (AppleTV+). SUNY Purchase (BFA) and NYU Grad Acting (MFA).

The Half-God of Rainfall is Alexandra’s NYTW debut. Broadway and New York credits include Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, Master Class (with Tyne Daly), the world-premiere of Arlington, Hello Again, Einstein’s Dreams, The Lucky Star. London and West End credits include Halina in the Original London Cast of the Tony-winning production of Indecent; Lilli Vanessi/Kate in Kiss Me, Kate for the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall; Julie Jordan in Carousel (Britain’s TMA Award for Best Performance in a Musical); Fiddler on the Roof; and The Woman in White. Regional Theatre credits include the world-premiere casts of Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Soprano and Murder on the Orient Express, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabaret, The Merchant of Venice, Camelot, My Fair Lady, Love Story. Her screen work includes “Elementary,” “The Mysteries of Laura;” all three “Law & Orders” and “1408.” She trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Alexandra is a Grammy-nominee for her portrayal of Maria in the symphonic recording of West Side Story with San Francisco Symphony. Her debut novel, After Anatevka, and memoir White Hot Grief Parade are both published by Pegasus Books and also available on Audible.com.