Get ready for Back to School as our panel of dance and theatre educators discuss equity in the classroom.

Darius V. Daughtry is a poet, playwright, director, and educator. He is the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Art Prevails Project, a performing and literary arts organization cultivating community and creating equitable access to the arts through performance, arts education, and community engagement. He is the author of a poetry collection, And the Walls Came Tumbling, an introspective poetic memoir and cultural critique full of vulnerable, introspective poems that explore the intersections of race, class and gender through a brutally unforgiving lens.⁠

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Carolyn M. Dunn, PhD., is an indigenous poet, playwright, musician, director and actor whose identity includes Cherokee, Muskogee Creek, Seminole and Choctaw Freedman descent on her father’s side, and Tunica-Choctaw-Biloxi and French Creole on her mother’s. She is a founding member of The Mankillers, an all-women drum from Northern California whose cd’s All Woman Northern Drum and Coming to Getcha were released on Without Rezervation Records. 

In addition to the award-winning Outfoxing Coyote, her books include Through the Eye of the Deer (with Carol Zitzer-Comfort) Aunt Lute Books, 1999), Hozho: Walking in Beauty (with {Paula Gunn Allen, McGraw Hill, 2002), Coyote Speaks (with Ari Berk, H.N. Abrams, 2008), Echolocation: Poems, Stories and Songs from Indian Country: L.A. (Fezziweg Press, 2013), The Stains of Burden and Dumb Luck (Mongrel Empire Press, 2017). Her plays The Frybread Queen, Ghost Dance, and Soledad have been developed and staged at Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles. Directing credits include The Red Road and Round Dance, both by Arigon Starr, 49 by Hanay Geoigamah, Sliver of a Full Moon by Mary Kathryn Nagle, as well as Nagle’s new play Sovereignty for Heller Theater Company at Tulsa Performing Arts Center. As an actor, she has appeared most recently Neechie itas, Missing Peace,  Perhaps the World Ends Here, and the world  premier of Distant Thunder. In February, 2019, Dr. Dunn completed a residency at the University of Michigan’s Global Theater and Ethnic Studies Program, commissioning her play Three Sisters, performed by the Anishnaabe Theatre Collective at Sugar Island. 

Dr. Dunn is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at California State University, Los Angeles, and is Artistic Director of Oklahoma indigenous Theatre Company in Oklahoma City.

Irishia Hubbard is a Lancaster, South Carolina native that began her dance training at the age of three. She has worked with renowned choreographers, including Donald McKayle, Sheron Wray, Tong Wang, Idan Cohen, and Greg Chapkis. Also notably, she has appeared on tv shows such as Paula Abdul’s Live to Dance. Her choreography has been shown at The Kennedy Center for the 2018 Turnaround Arts Talent Show, as well as Wallis Annenberg Center of the Performing Arts and California dance festivals, including the Blaktinx and Nebula Dance. Irishia graduated in 2016 from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Educational Sciences and B.F.A. in Dance Choreography. While completing her undergraduate studies she was awarded the first scholarship by modern dance legend Donald McKayle, for her choreography and dance performance. Irishia is currently represented by Go 2 Talent Agency. Her other roles include artistic director of The Hubbard Collective and professional stager for the Donald McKayle Legacy.
WEBSITE: http://www.irishiahubbard.com
INSTAGRAM- @irish_hubb and @thehubbardcollective
VENMO- @thehubbardcollective
PAYPAL- paypal.me/thehubbardcollective

Mauricio Pita is Arena Stage’s Community Programs Manager where he collaborates with the Director of Education in executing the artistic vision of Arena’s devised theater program Voices of Now (VON). Mauricio managed the online transition of VON from a theater festival to a series of feature films during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also serves as Creative Producer for the 2020-2021 Virtual Season of IN Series. Previously he was the Director of Education at GALA Hispanic Theater’s and has worked extensively as a director, educator, and performer in both in Washington, DC and New York City, NY. He was part of the artistic team for multiple devised theater productions at Columbia University and is a graduate of the Acting Program at Marymount Manhattan College and the Shakespeare Conservatory for Actors at Yale University.

Hui Cha Poos M. Ed. has worked in the industry as a dancer, choreographer, producer, instructor and director in London, Japan, Korea, British Columbia, Italy and most of the United States. Her experience with and love for musical theatre began in Oklahoma with the shows, A Chorus Line and Peter Pan for Lyric Theatre. As a performer, she has worked in Los Angeles and can be seen in the feature films “Batman & Robin” and “Happy Texas” and music videos for Monifa. She worked for Buena Vista and represented Disney as Minnie & Mickey Mouse for several shows. After moving home, she earned her Masters Degree in Education and has taught full time at the University of Central Oklahoma for 20 years and is responsible for creating and developing their growing Jazz Department, as well as being Coordinator of Oklahoma’s only accredited Dance Education program. She co-founded Oklahoma Dance Alliance, OKLA Dance Connection, Groove Street Productions and is the founder and director of RACE Dance Collective, the first professional Jazz/Contemporary/Hip Hop Dance Company in Oklahoma. She has choreographed for Lyric, Pollard, City Rep, Okc Ballet, Thunder Girls, Nike, Blu Cantrell, Tulsa Project Theatre, UCO, OCU, Summer Stock and many more. Her original choreographic works have been featured in dance concerts in LA (Commonality Dance concert), and New York (The Gibney), Seoul, Korea (Tune Dance) and she has had short films (Swirl, Homecoming Trilogy) featured in several festivals from SXSW to Hamburg, Germany. Recent film credits include Full Out 2 (Netflix)-choreographer and Finding Carlos-producer, choreographer. Students of Hui have gone on to succeed in every aspect of dance from television shows like So You Think You Can Dance to dancing for Beyonce, Kanye West, Broadway productions, film/commercial work, Norwegian and Celebrity Cruise, and Vegas shows as performers and choreographers. To support Hui and her work check out the GoFundMe for Race Dance Collective.

More to be announced!

This event is by donation. Suggested donation is $10.

If you cannot attend the conversation live, a recording will be sent approximately 24hrs after the event.