Marc Bamuthi Joseph | Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a 2017 TED Global Fellow, an inaugural recipient of the Guggenheim Social Practice initiative, and an honoree of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship. He is also the winner of the 2011 Herb Alpert Award in Theatre, and an inaugural recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. In pursuit of affirmations of black life in the public realm, he co-founded the Life is Living Festival for Youth Speaks, and created the installation “Black Joy in the Hour of Chaos” for Creative Time. Joseph’s opera libretto, We Shall Not Be Moved, was named one of 2017’s “Best Classical Music Performances” by The New York Times. His evening length work, /peh-LO-tah/, successfully toured across North America for three years, including at BAM’s Harvey Theater as a part of the 2017 Next Wave Festival. His piece, “The Just and the Blind” investigates the crisis of over-sentencing in the prison industrial complex, and premiered at a sold out performance at Carnegie Hall in March 2019. Bamuthi is currently at work on commissions for the Perelman Center, Yale University, and the Washington National Opera as well as a new collaboration with NYC Ballet Artistic Director Wendy Whelan. Formerly the Chief of Program and Pedagogy at YBCA in San Francisco, Bamuthi currently serves as the Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at The Kennedy Center.

J.J. Johnson | Actor, Playwright, Screenwriter

James J. Johnson (J. J.) is an actor who was last onstage as “Wynton” in 1 st Stage’s co-production of The Royale (with Olney Theatre). Other regional theatre credits include: Les Deux Noirs (Mosaic Theatre Company); Ruined (Arena Stage); Hero’s Welcome (1 st Stage); Stick Fly (UVA Department of Theatre); Our Suburb (Theater J); The Member of the Wedding (Ford’s Theatre); The Unmentionables (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); Kingdom, Wedding Dance, Buffalo Hair (African Continuum Theatre Co.); Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Project of Frederick); Stonewall Country, Macbeth (Theatre at Lime Kiln); Anna Lucasta (Rep Stage); Jungle Book (Adventure Theatre MTC); Zomo the Rabbit, P. Nokio, Lyle the Crocodile (Imagination Stage); Homer P. Figg (Kennedy Center). FILM: Too Saved, Nocturnal Agony and The Henchman’s War. EDUCATION: BFA, Virginia Commonwealth University. J. J. is also a founding member of Galvanize DC, a support network for Black DMV theatre artists.

Janet Standford | Founding Artistic Director, Imagination Stage

Janet Stanford is the Founding Artistic Director of Imagination Stage and the 2017 winner of the Harold Oaks Award for Innovation in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). Since 1993 Janet has heightened the profile of professional theatre at IStage by commissioning over 50 new works, and by employing union artists. Janet has brought many distinguished artists to the theatre including artist/activists Rebecca Rice and Anu Yadav and playwrights Charles Way, Karen Zacarias, Miriam Gonzales and Psalmayene 24. Under her leadership, the theatre has created educational plays about Biotechnology, introduced Theatre for the Very Young to audiences in the USA, co-produced and co-commissioned with other top TYA theatres both in the USA and abroad, and partnered with Health & Human Services organizations to bring theatre experiences to non-traditional audiences. Janet has traveled on grants from S. America, to Europe and Asia in search of inspiration for IStage programs. She has twice been nominated for Helen Hayes Awards for Best Director and has written several plays for children including The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe and Sleeping Beauty: Time Traveler.

Jennifer L. Nelson | Director, Actor, Playwright, Educator

Jennifer L. Nelson is the former Producing Artistic Director of the African Continuum Theatre, which she led for eleven years. She has worked in professional theatre for thirty-six years as an actress, administrator, educator, playwright, producer and director. She served two terms as President of the League of Washington Theatres and is currently a board member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national association of not-for-profit theatres. For African Continuum Ms. Nelson produced twenty-six plays, including several world premieres. In addition to extensive directing for African Continuum, she has directed at many theatres throughout the Washington DC area, including Ford’s, Round House, Woolly Mammoth, Everyman (Baltimore), Rep Stage, Theatre of the First Amendment, Source, Imagination Stage, Young Playwrights and Tsunami. Ms. Nelson has also directed at Manhattan Class Company in New York City, the Mark Taper Forum and LATC in Los Angeles, Penumbra in Minnesota, Oregon Shakespeare and the Fulton in Pennsylvania. She has also directed at University of Maryland at College Park, University of Maryland Baltimore County and University of South Carolina.