Hype Man: a break beat play

A.R.T.: Debut. Idris Goodwin is a multiple award-winning playwright, breakbeat poet, director, educator, and organizer. Idris is Director of The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, the first Black man to hold the position in its 100-year history. Prior to this, Goodwin served two seasons as Producing Artistic Director at StageOne Family Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky. Idris is the author of over 50 original plays ranging from his Hip Hop-inspired breakbeat series to historical dramas to works for young audiences. Works like And In This Corner Cassius Clay, How We Got On, Hype Man: a break beat play, and the groundbreaking Free Play: Open Source Scripts for an Antiracist Tomorrow, are widely produced across the country. Several of his plays are published and licensed through Playscripts Inc. Other works like the poetry books Can I Kick It?, Human Highlight: Ode To Dominique Wilkins, and the play This Is Modern Art are available from Haymarket Books. Goodwin has appeared on HBO Def Poetry, Sesame Street, NPR, BBC Radio, and the Discovery Channel. Idris is a 2021 United States Artist Fellow, recognized as a culture bearer who celebrates community values and cultivates histories with care.

A.R.T.: We’re Gonna Die, Company One. Shawn LaCount (he/him/his) is a co-founder of Company One Theatre, where he has served as Co-Executive Director and Artistic Director since 1998. Under Shawn’s co-leadership, Company One Theatre has grown into a nationally recognized theatre at the intersection of art and social change, having served over 15,000 students, 100,000 audience members, and presenting over 80 productions in 21 years. Director: Hype Man (world premiere, Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Production), Really, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them; The Flick (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Production); Splendor (world premiere), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Production), The Aliens (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Production); GRIMM (world premiere); The Overwhelming; After the Quake; Assassins; Mr. Marmalade. Education: MA Ed., Theatre Education, Clark University; MFA, Directing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Teaching: Emerson College, Boston Arts Academy, Huntington Theatre Company, Tufts University, Stage One, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

A.R.T.: Debut. Film: Knockaround Kids (first narrative feature, available on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple, and other platforms), Roxbury International Film Festival (Emerging Filmmaker Award), Urbanworld Film Festival (New York); Street Soldiers, Roxbury International Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival (Cannes, France), World Film Festival (Montreal), BronzeLens Film Festival (Atlanta). Theater: Street Walker (Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Kennedy Center ACTF). Awards: National Tri-Annual Play Competition for Professional Writers, Brother Thomas Fellowship Award. John teaches film production and theater at Boston Arts Academy.

A.R.T.: Debut. Film: Knockaround Kids (first narrative feature, available on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple, and other platforms), Roxbury International Film Festival (Emerging Filmmaker Award), Urbanworld Film Festival (New York); Street Soldiers, Roxbury International Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival (Cannes, France), World Film Festival (Montreal), BronzeLens Film Festival (Atlanta). Theater: Street Walker (Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Kennedy Center ACTF). Awards: National Tri-Annual Play Competition for Professional Writers, Brother Thomas Fellowship Award. John teaches film production and theater at Boston Arts Academy.

A.R.T.: Debut. Film: Knockaround Kids (first narrative feature, available on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple, and other platforms), Roxbury International Film Festival (Emerging Filmmaker Award), Urbanworld Film Festival (New York); Street Soldiers, Roxbury International Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival (Cannes, France), World Film Festival (Montreal), BronzeLens Film Festival (Atlanta). Theater: Street Walker (Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Kennedy Center ACTF). Awards: National Tri-Annual Play Competition for Professional Writers, Brother Thomas Fellowship Award. John teaches film production and theater at Boston Arts Academy.

A.R.T.: We’re Gonna Die, Company One. Shawn LaCount (he/him/his) is a co-founder of Company One Theatre, where he has served as Co-Executive Director and Artistic Director since 1998. Under Shawn’s co-leadership, Company One Theatre has grown into a nationally recognized theatre at the intersection of art and social change, having served over 15,000 students, 100,000 audience members, and presenting over 80 productions in 21 years. Director: Hype Man (world premiere, Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Production), Really, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them; The Flick (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Production); Splendor (world premiere), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Production), The Aliens (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Production); GRIMM (world premiere); The Overwhelming; After the Quake; Assassins; Mr. Marmalade. Education: MA Ed., Theatre Education, Clark University; MFA, Directing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Teaching: Emerson College, Boston Arts Academy, Huntington Theatre Company, Tufts University, Stage One, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

A.R.T.: Debut. Off-Broadway: Stew, Page 73; How to Load A Musket, The White Chip, 59E59; Behind The Sheet, EST. Regional: Hi, Are You Single?, Woolly Mammoth; Gloria, A.C.T.; Feeding Beatrice, St. Louis Rep; Native Son, Playmakers Rep; House of Joy, Cal Shakes; A Human Being, Of A Sort, Williamstown; The Royale, Capital Rep, Merrimack Rep; Shakespeare In Love, Capital Rep. Resident Designer, National Playwrights Conference 2018-2020, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Member, USA 829, Wingspace Theatrical Design.

A.R.T.: Debut. Regional: Hype Man (Eliot Norton Award), Company One; Hype Man, Mixed Blood Theatre; For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Praxis Stage. Education: BS, Chemistry, Simmons College; MS, Chemistry, University of Oregon; Fashion Design Certificate, Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

A.R.T.: Assistant Lighting Designer: Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Nice Fish; In the Body of the World. Lighting Design Fellow: Waitress. Regional: Noir Hamlet, Centastage; Dancing at Lughnasa (NIETF Award nomination), Hammond Community Theater. Educational: A Big Mess, A.R.T. Institute; Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (KCACTF National Finalist), Emerson Stage. Concert: iTMRW. OBERON House Lighting Programmer/Designer. Education: BFA Theater Design and Technology, Emerson College.

A.R.T.: Greater Good, Company One. Regional: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Hub Theatre; Hype Man (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Production, Small Theater), Company One; Heartland, Straight White Men,Two Jews Walked Into a War (IRNE Nomination, Sound Design, Small Theater), New Rep; The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre; Heritage Hill Naturals, Fresh Ink Theatre. Educational: Much Ado About Nothing, Tufts University.

A.R.T.: Debut. Barrington Edwards, an artist and community activist from Boston, attended the Massachusetts College of Art and earned a BFA in Communication Design and a MSAE in Art Education. Barrington taught art at the Boston Arts Academy for nineteen years. He is an award-winning teacher and artist, a publisher of comics and graphic media, and he works as a freelance artist. He currently teaches Art Education at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Barrington consistently works to develop his practice as a maker, social interventionist, and teacher.

A.R.T.: Debut. Regional: Watertown Historical Moving Plays: The Charles W. Lenox Experience, New Rep; Pass Over, SpeakEasy Stage; Dream Boston, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Huntington Theatre Company; This Place Displaced, Artists’ Theater of Boston; Hype Man, Peerless, The T Party, An Octoroon, Dry Land, How We Got On, Company One; Akeelah and the Bee, Wheelock Family Theatre. Web Series: The Halls, Beyond Measure Productions. Music: Music Director: Company One, Front Porch Arts Collective; Dancelujah (Writer/Lyricist/Vocalist), Zumix (Songwriting and Performance Manage). Luminary Artist, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Education: Hamilton College, Boston Arts Academy.

A.R.T.: Hype Man; Cirque of the Dead, Boston Circus Guild/OBERON. Regional/Fringe: Hype Man (Elliot Norton Award), REVOLT. She Said. Revolt Again., The T Party, Company One Theatre; Parade (Elliot Norton Award), Moonbox Productions. Educational: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare Now!. International: Amour!, Royal Academy of Music. Opera: La clemenza di Tito (Director), Promenade Opera Project. Film: Dialogues of the Carmelites (First Assistant Director), New England Conservatory. Education: BA (Honors), Stage Management, Rose Bruford College.

Jessie Baxter (she/her/hers) is a Boston-based dramaturg and Creative Producer at Company One Theatre. Company One: Hype Man, Vietgone, Dry Land, Brahman/i, The Flick, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. She is also the Literary Director and Co-Founder of Fresh Ink Theatre and has had fellowships at The Playwrights Center and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Education: BA, Theatre Studies, Emerson College.

Stephanie Hakulin is an ASL Consultant for American Repertory Theater and is currently working as a Deaf Interpreter staff at the Learning Center for the Deaf. She has worked as an interpreter for Boston Outdoor events and theaters. I am looking forward to the show with my amazing ASL team!

Shonnese Grant comes to performance interpreting by way of a life-long love for dance as well as a profound love for the beauty and complexity of American Sign Language. Raised in Palo Alto, California, she returned to her North Carolina roots for her college education and received a Bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies and Political Science from Duke University. She then went on to receive a Master’s degree in Deaf Education from Boston University and made Boston her home. In addition to being an educator and mother of three, Shonnese has interpreted for such venues as Boston University Theatre, Central Square Theater, Broadway in Boston, Huntington Theatre Company, Wheelock Family Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Moonbox Productions, Colonial Theatre, Arts Emerson and Boston Landmarks Orchestra. She is thrilled to be working with A.R.T again for such an important production.

Michael is an ASL interpreter and performer based in Southern California. He was recently seen at A.R.T. interpreting WARHOLCAPOTE. Other interpreting credits include: A.R.T.: The Glass Menagerie, Bedlam’s Sense & Sensibility, 1984; As You Like It, King Lear, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. He has also tactile-interpreted (for a Deaf-Blind audience member) Kafka’s The Trial: “An Extraordinary Rendition” at Pilgrim Theatre. Michael is honored to be a part of this incredible production.

Brent is a dual-certified ASL interpreter, native ASL user, and the CEO of Equal Access Resources Inc. For over twenty years, he has served as an interpreter, educator, mentor, and artist at various venues including New Repertory Theatre, Boston Opera House, and Emerson Colonial Theatre. Recent credits include Richard III, The Play That Goes Wrong, and The Lion King. He is humbled to be working with a great team of talented professionals to provide access on this show.

Bridge Multimedia is a social enterprise dedicated to advancing all facets of universal access. Bridge provides accessible media services, ADA compliance, and workforce solutions designed to make the twenty-first century media landscape equally inclusive for all people. Bridge is committed to broadening the accessibility of theater and the arts. Recent projects include virtual events featuring a neuro-diverse theater troupe and the audio description of sign language interpretation for jazz performances.

Jan Stankus has been providing description for blind and visually impaired audience members for A.R.T. shows for a number of years, including Jagged Little Pill, Waitress, and Moby-Dick. For twenty years at WGBH, she described TV shows including “Arthur” and “Masterpiece Theatre,” as well as feature films, art exhibits, theme parks, national parks, museums, walking tours, online courses, and cruise ships. She serves on the ACVREP national committee establishing standards for Describer certification.

Paris Alston has been providing description and narration for blind and visually impaired audience members for A.R.T. shows since 2018, when she worked on The Black Clown. She is a multimedia journalist in Boston, and currently works as a producer for WBUR’s Radio Boston, and host of WBUR’s “Consider This” podcast.

Paris Alston has been providing description and narration for blind and visually impaired audience members for A.R.T. shows since 2018, when she worked on The Black Clown. She is a multimedia journalist in Boston, and currently works as a producer for WBUR’s Radio Boston, and host of WBUR’s “Consider This” podcast.

A.R.T.: Projections Design: HEAR WORD!; HEAR WORD! International Tour 2016, Harvard Dance Center; Pulitzer Prize 100: Centennial. Additional Media: Pippin, The Lily’s Revenge. OBERON: Searching for Signal, ToUch Performance Art. Off-Broadway: H4, Resonance Ensemble; Same River, Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble. Regional: Hold These Truths, By The Way Meet Vera Stark, Into the Woods, Red Hot Patriot, City of Angels, Lyric Stage Company; An Octoroon, Company One. Educational Productions: Proclamation 4 and 5, A.R.T. Education & Community Programs; Working, Terra Nova, Wellesley College; The Man Who, Harvard College Theater, Dance & Media; Our Town (upcoming), A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training. Johnathan teaches in Harvard College’s Theater, Dance & Media concentration.