Artists & Projects Directory

• Africa Consortium
• Blink Your Eyes
• Gregory Maqoma
• Lars Jan
• Marc Bamuthi Joseph
• Nora Chipaumire
• Ralph Lemon
• Samita Sinha
• The America Project
• Voices of Strength

Marc Bamuthi Joseph/The Living Word Project

Michael John Garcés (Director) is the artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company, a community-engaged ensemble in Los Angeles where he most recently directed Café Vida by Lisa Loomer, created in residence with Homeboy Industries. He is very pleased to be continuing the collaboration with Bamuthi which began with the break/s. Other recent directing credits include, Oedipus El Rey by Luis Alfaro at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where he is a company member and the 10th anniversary production of N.E. 2nd Ave by Teo Castellanos at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Other theatres at which he has directed include A Contemporary Theatre, The Humana Festival, The Guthrie Theatre, The Children's Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Hartford Stage, Second Stage, INTAR, The Cherry Lane, The Atlantic Theater Company and Repertorio Español. For Cornerstone he also wrote Los Illegals, created in collaboration with communities of day laborers and domestic workers, and which was published in Theatre Magazine (Yale School of Drama/Duke University Press). Garcés is a recipient of the Princess Grace Statue, the Alan Schneider Director Award, and a TCG/New Generations Grant, and an alumnus of New Dramatists.

Theaster Gates (Set/Installation Designer & Performer) is a Chicago-based artist whose practice covers performance and installation, urban planning and design, and the traditional fine arts. His work in performance, installation art and public intervention offers a platform that opens up challenging issues by presenting them, not as acute encounters, but as invitations to engage hard information creatively. His exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Temple Exercises, built of wooden boards recycled from a factory in Chicago's post-industrial heart, encouraged people to see these discarded materials not only in the light of Modernist Art, but to reflect on cultural traditions that depend on scrap for survival. The installation housed performances by the Black Monks of Mississippi, a music ensemble which Gates founded.  Other performances, installations, and exhibits include Black Monks & the Gospel of Black, (Van Abbemusuem, Netherlands); Black Monks of Mississippi-If You See Jesus Tell Him Where I Am (Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago); Branded Alongside the Cabinet of Curiosities (Milwaukee Art Museum); Tea Shacks, Collard Greens & the Preservation of Soul (Center for Proliferation of Afro-Asian Artifacts, Chicago); Plate Convergence (Yamaguchi Institute, Chicago); Mississippi Houses (Inax Ceramic Museum, Japan); and The American Negro: Too good to be true (St. George Cathedral, South Africa). Gates received an interdisciplinary Master's in Urban Planning and Public Sculpture from Iowa State University in 2005. He is currently Director of Arts and Public Life and Artist in Residence at the University of Chicago.

David Szlasa (Media Designer) is a video artist, curator and producer. He is the recipient of the Gerbode Award, Future Aesthetics Artist Award, and Lighting Artists in Dance Award for innovative use of video in performance. In his solo work and projects in collaboration, Szlasa creates investigative art to deconstruct and reconstruct popular narrative. Collaborators include Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Joanna Haigood, Rennie Harris, Hope Mohr, Deb Margolin, Bill Shannon, Michael John Garcés, Sara Shelton Mann, and others. His work has been exhibited in theaters and galleries worldwide including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Walker Arts Center, MCA Chicago, the de Young Museum, The Humana Festival, Sydney Opera House, Oakland Art Gallery, Harare International Festival of the Arts, and TSeKh Moscow. www.davidszlasa.com

James Clotfelter (Lighting Designer) is committed to the creation of collaborative and socially conscious work for theatre and dance and has had the pleasure of collaborating with Mark Bamuthi Joseph since 2005. Clotfelter is an Artistic Associate with Pig Iron Theatre Company, the Resident Lighting Designer and Production Manager for Miller Rothlein (MIRO), and co-founder of the design laboratory, Mlab, which has realized numerous scenographic designs specifically tailored for efficient and sustainable touring. Recent collaborations include work with John Jasperse, Rennie Harris, Johannes Wieland, Sara Shelton Mann, Bill Shannon, David Szlasa, Thaddeus Phillips, Rainpan 43, eighth blackbird, and Pete M. Wyer. www.jcld.net

Stacey Printz (Choreograper) is artistic director of the Printz Dance Project (PDP). PDP has performed extensively in California and has toured all over the U.S., and internationally in Lithuania, Russia and Ireland. Printz has been commissioned to choreograph for many companies in California and has received awards from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the W&F Hewlett Foundation and Fort Mason Foundation and more. Printz received sociology and dance degrees from UC Irvine. In addition to teaching at LINES Dance Center, she has been on faculty at St. Mary's College and Sonoma State University. She has taught master classes and workshops across the United States, as well as internationally in Switzerland, Italy, Amsterdam, Belgium, Russia, Lithuania and Ireland. Highly interested in collaborative experiences, Printz had the pleasure of working with Marc Bamuthi Joseph on Scourge and the break/s. www.printzdance.org

Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi (Documentary Filmmaker) is a film director who has made his mark in the international documentary scene. A graduate of UC Berkeley, he received his MA degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Before graduation, he won the prestigious juried Student Filmmaker Award from the Pan-African Film Festival for his documentary Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano. In his second film HomeGrown: Hip Life in Ghana, he continued the theme of using music to provide insights to culture and socio/political issues. Currently Jacobs-Fantauzzi's travels have taken him to Medellin, Colombia to work on his latest project, Revolucion Sin Muertos (Revolution Without Death) following youth in Comuna 13, Medellin, who are using Hip Hop to grow a Peace Movement. While working on his films he also teaches video production at Castlemont High School in East Oakland and has spent the last three summers working with the youth of Belize. Recently Jacobs-Fantauzzi was awarded a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts, and he is currently curating his 4th Annual Fist Up Film Festival. His dedication to craft is deeply connected to his commitment to social justice. FistUp.Tv  

Bethanie Hines (Photographer) moves through the world with her whole heart. She loves deeply and those on the other side of her lens feel the reverence she holds for life. Hines is committed to a mindfulness practice which connects her to moments that could easily be missed. Vulnerability, emotion, intimacy, and connection to her subjects are evident. For Hines, less is more. Her work documents the perfection of who we are, reminding us of our wholeness, replacing stories with truth. www.bethaniehines.com

Mai-Lei Pecorari (Costume Designer) is an independent costume designer and wardrobe stylist based in San Francisco and New York. She began her career as a designer while attending college at the University of Florida, where she received a BA in Costume Design. From there, she designed shows with Jomandi Productions and worked with neighboring theaters such as Virginia's Mill Mountain Theater. These projects granted her the opportunity to work with a range of talented artists, such as choreographer Moustapha Bangoura of the Guinean Ballets, Chuck Davis, artistic director of DanceAfrica, and Marc Bamuthi Joseph on Scourge. Since her move to the west coast, she has gained valuable experience as a costumer on film and video sets. Currently, her focus is on commercial and advertising productions, with clients ranging from the Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Adidas, New Balance and Apple. Mai-Lei's love of good design and creative expression is her motivation for working hard to create beautiful art. She is happy to be on board for a second time with the Living Word Project for red, black & GREEN: a blues. www.mai-lei.com