Speaker Bios

Gene Downing (he/him) is a Washington, D.C. native and a returning citizen who served 21 years in prison after being arrested at the age 19. After his release, due to the Second Look Amendment Act, he was selected as the 2022 Congressman John Lewis Fellow. Gene is currently the Gelana Yorktown Fellow at the Council for Court Excellence, where he leads an initiative called the Second Chance Hiring Alliance. He is also a Community Outreach Specialist for Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop.Gene also serves as a Poet Ambassador and as the Co-Chair of Thrive Under 25, a transformative coalition in the District that uses advocacy, legislation, and public education to end the racist, damaging, and punitive responses of DC’s adult criminal legal system toward people who came into contact with the system when they were under age 25. Gene is also a very talented spoken word artist and actor, and he uses his talent  to raise awareness to the social injustices that plagues our country and to connect to the youth. Gene is also a public/motivational speaker, and since his release, he has spoken at national conferences, colleges such as Howard, Georgetown, American University and Yale. Gene is passionate about giving back to his community, advocating for criminal justice reform and changing the narrative for what being formerly incarcerated looks like.

Wallace “Shubaka” Kirby (he/him) is the co-founder of Hustlaz 2 Harvesters, a social entrepreneurial venture designed to address the essentially needed workforce development needs of the typically marginalized, stigmatized and economically denied returning citizens from incarceration segments of society, through eco-green career pathways out of poverty enterprises.

Shubaka has spent well over half of his adult life in some form of incarceration, yet has managed to develop and establish several reentry focused non-profits, e.g. Hustlaz2Harvesters (H2H), and My Seniors Keepers Foundation, Inc.. He is a recognized social activist and advocate surrounding reentry and returning citizens from incarceration issues.  

Shubaka also is a Certified Master Gardener and Composter, as well as a Carpenter/Woodworker apprentice. He is a reentry focused motivational speaker and trauma informed care group facilitator. His journey from the traumatizing impact of the three (3) P’s: Poverty, Projects, and Prisons has served to awaken in him an evolved sense of self and serving others.

Lori Pitts (she/her) is a multifaceted artist and advocate based in DC, with expertise as a facilitator, Theatre of the Oppressed Joker, teaching artist, actor, director, and improvisor. Passionate about creating platforms for voices that often go unheard, she is the Producing Artistic Director of Ally Theatre Company, and the founder of Voices Unbarred, Ally’s programming arm that envisions a justice system radically reimagined by people directly impacted by that system. The organization uses theatre as a tool for changing policy and social attitudes, growing and healing community, and centering the voices of people both currently and formerly incarcerated. Pitts was the Artist in Residence at James Madison University in 2023, and is the co-author of a chapter in Into Abolitionist Theatre: A Guidebook for Liberatory Theatre Making. She has completed Georgetown University’s Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate program, was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Culture Caucus with The Kennedy Center, a graduate of the 202Creates Fellowship, a graduate of the Movement Matters Community Organizing & Popular Education Institute, and a five-time recipient of the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program grant through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her work within the community. She has most recently been seen on stage with Second City, Rorschach Theatre, and Washington Improv Theatre (Teams: Hellcat, You’re Invited, Earth Wind & Tired, Imagine Wagons).

Devin D. Smith (he/him) is the founder and CEO of Ship and Anchor LLC, and is a business consultant and strategist passionate about inclusion and working with other entrepreneurs and leaders to bring innovative ideas to life. Devin began his career in academia, which remains one of his chief passions. However, after a twist of fate landed him in prison, Devin found himself unearthing latent gifts in business and entrepreneurship. Upon returning from prison and completing a Bachelors in Sociology, and a minor in Nonprofit Studies and Social Entrepreneurship from North Carolina State University, Devin migrated to Washington, D.C., where he was eager to apply this knowledge to serve communities in need. Overcoming adversity, trauma and prison incarceration, Devin has learned to leverage both tragic and triumphant life experiences as his superpowers. In addition to writing, he uses his mantra "what's your anchor," as a guide for achieving personal and professional actualization no matter where you are in life.

Bryanda Minix (she/her) is a multidisciplinary theater artist and educator, connector, cultivator of hope, and fierce advocate towards removing barriers to opportunity. Originally from Houston, Texas, she has been working as an actor, director, playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist in the DMV since 2016 after graduating from The Theatre Lab's Honors Acting Conservatory. She has over 10 years of experience in education, both in academic and arts instruction.
Bryanda has performed on various stages in the DMV and Houston, TX. Most recently, she performed and collaborated with Indigo Diaspora Dance Company (Houston, TX) as one of their dancers and storytellers, performing West African, Caribbean Folk, and Zulu dances, songs, and stories. She was part of FRESHH Inc Theatre’s acting ensemble, The Vanguard, as well as their playwriting collective, Sister Cipher. As a playwright Bryanda’s work has been developed and presented at Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage Festival, FRESHH Inc Theatre’s Next to Kin Festival, and Houston’s Midtown Arts Center.
Her experience in community advocacy and as a teaching artist, director, actor, storyteller, and playwright converge in her work with The Theatre Lab’s Life Stories program. There she partners with community organizations to help participants devise original dramatic works based on their life experiences.

Bryanda’s most recent directing credits include: The Spitfire Grill (Nazareth University); Rock, Paper, Scissors (The Welders/ Soul Shine Theater Garden); Medea (Bowie State University); The Arab-Israeli Cookbook (The Theatre Lab); Nat Turner in Jerusalem (NextStop Theatre); Having Our Say (Creative Cauldron); Turning Pain Into a Purpose: Say My Son’s Name (collaboration with Life Stories and Making a Difference and the Strong Azz Moms); Theater Resources Unlimited (New York), and for Honor Roll! in association with the African American Policy Forum’s #SayHerName campaign; and assistant directing Once on This Island (Constellation Theatre Company).
 

Lauren Davis hails from Baltimore and is a local actor and director. She is a member of Chesapeake Shakespeare’s  acting company and a member of their Black Classical Acting Ensemble (BCAE). Directing credits include Romeo and Juliet Matinee, Macbeth and To Be a Solider (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); and Book of Grace (Rapid Lemon Productions). She also assistant directed FELA (Olney Theatre). Acting credits include As You Like It, Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); Acoustic Rooster, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Kennedy Center); Corduroy, Shrek the Musical, Scarecrow and His Servant (Children's Theatre Company); Oliver! (Theater Latté Da); Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Pillsbury House Theatre/Guthrie Theater). Currently, she is acting in Frontieres Sans Frontieres at Spooky Action Theatre in DC. She holds an M.F.A. from the Catholic University of America and a theater degree from Frostburg State. She would like to thank God and her family for their love and support!

Matré Grant is a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland in Theatre and Performance Studies. She researches how race is performed in Broadway musicals from 1990 to present with particular focus on shows that have been influenced by Black diasporic music and culture. A student of classical voice for fourteen years, Matré continues to sing and occasionally music direct operas and musicals. In her "spare" time, she writes young adult fiction and poetry. Her most recent theatre/performance credits include: In Series: Las Místicas de México (Assistant Director); Alceste (Assistant Director and Dramaturgy); University of Maryland: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Assistant Director); Little Women (Associate Music Director); Monumental Theatre Company: Spring Awakening (Marketing Manager). Matré holds an M.A. in Musicology from Princeton University and a B.A. in Music from the University of Pennsylvania.

Educator. Hip hop lover. DMV representative. Ama Law is a West-African dancer at heart who explores movement intersectionality. Underneath the pedagogical passion, Ama is a lifelong learner. This MFA graduate is continuously teaching and learning through organizations and institutions like Bates Dance Festival; Dance Place; and UMD-College Park, where Ama is currently artist-in-residence in dance. 
Mother. Dreamer. Achiever. Ama enjoys spending time with family and making art projects with Nyla and Nia. Ama often teaches and collaborates with life-partner Chris Law as Project ChArma, a project-based dance theater company dedicated to using art as activism.
www.projectcharma.com

Sybil R. Williams is a playwright and dramaturge who currently teaches in both the Theatre/Musical Theatre Program and the Critical Race and Gender Studies Collaborative where she serves as Program Director for African American and African Diaspora Studies.
Her work has been professionally produced by Chicago’s ETA Creative Arts Theatre; New York’s National Black Theater; Pittsburgh’s Kuntu Theatre; University of Pennsylvania; CALARTS; and Harlem’s Rebel Theatre. Her play DREAM OF OPHELIA was nominated for a JEFF Award. A LIBERATING PRAYER: A LOVESONG FOR MUMIA has been published in AUGUST WILSON AND THE BLACK AESTHETIC. As a dramaturge, she has worked at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, The Lark Theatre in New York City, and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
Her first musical FROM U STREET TO THE COTTON CLUB was produced by the In-Series January 2019. An additional play, GLORIA AND RWANDA was produced by FRESHH Theatre as part of their new works development series in July 2019. Her play STORMY WEATHER, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s TEMPEST recently premiered at the Atlas Theatre in October 2019. She completed an adaptation of Mozart’s MAGIC FLUTE titled BLACK FLUTE with the IN-SERIES which premiered in Spring 2021. She also co-authored an adaptation of ALCESTIS which premiered at the IN-SERIES in Fall of 2023.
 
Her latest work ETHIOPIA will be the final production in IN Series 2024-2025 season dedicated to celebrating the social justice role theater and the arts play in America. Written as the first living newspaper as part of the 1930’s Federal Theater Project, ETHIOPIA was censored by the US government and never received a public performance. This new production will mark its important world premiere in an adaptation that includes new music composed by DC jazz pianist and composer Janelle Gill, based on the music of Emahoy Tsege, the Ethiopian composer whose DC based foundation is dedicated to providing musical instruments and artistic experiences to youth in Addas Ababa and Washington, DC. The work is part of a larger project funded by the American University Anti-Racist Policy Center’s inaugural Jacqueline Cirillo and Richard Meisenberg Grant.

DMV Kiki Nights  is an organization who documents The Ballroom Scene In The DMV Area, consistently providing a Safe Space free from discrimination and violence.