Theatre Arts Major

Psalmayene 24

Artist-in-Residence
Areas of Specialization - Acting, Directing, Playwriting, Hip Hop Theatre, Movement

Psalmayene 24 is an award-winning director, playwright, and actor. He is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Mosaic Theater and the Doris Duke Artist in Residence at Studio Theater. His directing credits include PASSOVER by Antoinette Nwandu at Studio Theatre, NATIVE SON by Nambi E. Kelley at Mosaic Theater Company, and WORD BECOMES FLESH by Marc Bamuthi Joseph (winner of five Helen Hayes Awards, including Outstanding Direction of a Play) at Theater Alliance. Psalm—as his colleagues call him—is currently the host of “Psalm’s Salon at Studio”. Produced by Studio Theatre, “Psalm’s Salon” is an online interview-based series that celebrates culture through a Black lens. With the premiere of CINDERELLA: THE REMIX at Imagination Stage, Psalm completed his critically acclaimed Hip-Hop Children’s Trilogy that explores the past, present, and future of hip-hop culture. Also having premiered at Imagination Stage, the other two plays of the trilogy are ZOMO THE RABBIT: A HIP-HOP CREATION MYTH and P.NOKIO: A HIP-HOP MUSICAL. Among other awards, the plays of the trilogy have earned two development grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Walt Disney Corporation grant, and two Helen Hayes Award nominations for Outstanding Production, Theatre for Young Audiences. His one man play, FREE JUJUBE BROWN!, is recognized as a seminal work in Hip-Hop Theater and is published in the anthology, Plays from the Boom-Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-Hop Generation (TCG). Psalm is a recipient of the Imagination Award (past recipients include Christopher Reeve, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Dennis Haysbert) and has received grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and the Boomerang Fund for Artists Inc. As an actor, Psalm has appeared on HBO’s critically acclaimed series The Wire and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association. He is a proud member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and The Dramatists Guild.