Theater as Resistance

Dexter J. Singleton is a multi-hyphenated theatre artist from Detroit, MI. He is the Founding Executive Artistic Director of Collective Consciousness Theatre (CCT), a social justice theatre in New Haven, CT and the Senior Artistic Associate/Director of New Play Development at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AR. Since 2007, Collective Consciousness Theatre has reached thousands of youth and adults with plays and workshops across the U.S. and Europe. They have produced the work of playwrights Dominique Morisseau, Robert O’Hara, Idris Goodwin, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Katori Hall and others. At TheatreSquared, he supports artistic programming and leads all new play development efforts which include playwright commissions and being the lead producer of the nationally recognized Arkansas New Play Festival that takes place every season and invites playwrights from around the country to develop new work. As a director, Dexter’s work has been seen at TheatreSquared, Primary Stages, UConn/Connecticut Repertory Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, University of Michigan, University of Arkansas, Long Wharf Theatre, Passage Theatre and others. Recent credits include A Raisin in the Sun, A Christmas Carol, Detroit ’67, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Blood at the Root, Kill Move Paradise, Skeleton Crew, The Royale, Black Book and Topdog/Underdog. Dexter is a member of the Artistic Ensemble at Long Wharf Theatre and teaches undergraduate Directing courses at Yale University. Awards: Broadway World Regional Best Director of a Streaming Production (Kill Move Paradise), Artistic Excellence Award from the State of Connecticut, and The Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival Distinguished Director of a Play (Black Book).

Simmons is an award-winning actor, producer, director, and playwright who has spent thirty years amplifying the voices of marginalized people and communities. He brings with him an extensive background working with ensembles, as an actor (Off-Broadway and regional theaters), teacher, director, playwright and producer. In 2012, he co-founded Civic Ensemble, a regional theatre in Ithaca, NY. He was a Producing Artist for Off-Broadway’s Epic Theatre Ensemble for four years, appearing in a dozen productions. He won the 1999 Audelco Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance opposite Leslie Uggams in The Old Settler at Primary Stages. He is a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and sits on the board of the Network of Ensemble Theaters.

Martyna Majok was born in Bytom, Poland and raised in Jersey and Chicago. She was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her Broadway debut play, Cost of Living, which was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens, and Ironbound, which have been produced across American and international stages, and the libretto for Gatsby: An American Myth, with music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett.

Other awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, Arthur Miller Foundation Legacy Award, The Obie Award for Playwriting, The Hull-Warriner Award, The Academy of Arts and Letters’ Benjamin Hadley Danks Award for Exceptional Playwriting, The Sun Valley Playwrights Residency Award, Off Broadway Alliance Best New Play Award, The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play, The Hermitage Greenfield Prize, as the first female recipient in drama, The Champions of Change Award from the NYC Mayor’s Office, The Francesca Primus Prize, two Jane Chambers Playwriting Awards, The Lanford Wilson Prize, The Lilly Award's Stacey Mindich Prize, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play from The Helen Hayes Awards, Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, ANPF Women's Invitational Prize, David Calicchio Prize, Global Age Project Prize, NYTW 2050 Fellowship, NNPN Smith Prize for Political Playwriting, and Merage Foundation Fellowship for The American Dream. Martyna studied at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, University of Chicago, and Jersey public schools. She was a 2012-2013 NNPN playwright-in-residence, the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center, and a 2018-2019 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Martyna is currently adapting Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” for the Broadway stage, and has developed TV projects for HBO and written feature films for Plan B/Pastel/MGM/Orion.