Psalmayene 24

Psalmayene 24

Psalmayene 24 is an award-winning playwright, director, and actor. In April 2019, LES DEUX NOIRS, his play reimagining a legendary 1953 confrontation between famed writers Richard Wright and James Baldwin in a Paris café, received its world premiere production at Mosaic Theater Company. His play, THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS PROJECT—inspired by Frederick Douglass’ 1845 trip to Ireland and co-written with Irish...
Psalmayene 24 is an award-winning playwright, director, and actor. In April 2019, LES DEUX NOIRS, his play reimagining a legendary 1953 confrontation between famed writers Richard Wright and James Baldwin in a Paris café, received its world premiere production at Mosaic Theater Company. His play, THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS PROJECT—inspired by Frederick Douglass’ 1845 trip to Ireland and co-written with Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan—was the first play to be produced on a pier at The Yards Marina in Washington, DC and was the recipient of six 2019 Helen Hayes Award nominations. Psalm has received commissions from the African Continuum Theater Company, Arena Stage, Imagination Stage, The Kennedy Center, Theater Alliance, Solas Nua, and Mosaic Theater Company. His one man play, FREE JUJUBE BROWN!, is recognized as a seminal work in Hip-Hop Theatre and is published in the anthology, Plays from the Boom-Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-Hop Generation (TCG).

His directing credits include NATIVE SON by Nambi E. Kelley at Mosaic Theater Company, WORD BECOMES FLESH (recipient of five 2017 Helen Hayes Awards, including Outstanding Direction of a Play) by Marc Bamuthi Joseph at Theater Alliance; his play, THE FRESHEST SNOW WHYTE, at Imagination Stage; and THE SHIPMENT by Young Jean Lee at Forum Theater.

With the premiere of CINDERELLA: THE REMIX at Imagination Stage, Psalm (as his colleagues call him) 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 $25,000 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.

Psalm directed The Welders' world premiere production of NOT ENUF LIFETIMES by Caleen Sinnette Jennings and the Mead Theatre Lab production of READ: WHITE AND BLUE by The Hueman Prophets. He has also directed theater ensembles in India, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of Arena Stage's Voices of Now program. He was the assistant director of The Living Stage Theatre Company.

Psalm is the recipient of the Imagination Award from Imagination Stage (past recipients include Christopher Reeve, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Dennis Haysbert). He has also 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, been nominated for a Helen Hayes Award (1999, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical), and is a member of Actor’s Equity Association. He had the pleasure of playing Fortune in Arena Stage's Helen Hayes award-winning production of RUINED. He is currently featured in Destination DC’s film segment highlighting theatre in Washington, DC.

Psalm is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.




Plays

  • Les Deux Noirs by Psalmayene 24
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: biography, comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: African American, Literature and Writing + 3 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, experimental, period, political
    Keyword: African American, Literature and Writing, France, biography, hip hop
    Set in the legendary Parisian café Les Deux Magots in 1953, LES DEUX NOIRS reimagines the meeting between Native Son author Richard Wright and essayist/activist James Baldwin. It explores the tension between Baldwin's searing critiques of Native Son and Wright's unbridled indignation in response—a confrontation between two mighty African-American artists, with echoes of a present-day rap battle.
  • The Blackest Battle by Psalmayene 24
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: comedy, drama + 6 more
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    Keyword: African American, black love + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, experimental, holiday, movement/physical, musical, romantic comedy, tragedy
    Keyword: African American, black love, cycles of violence, causes of violence, hip hop
    The future: check. Reparations: check. A mysterious drug: check. It's the Fourth of July in the fictional city of Chief County, New York—a place where so-called Black on Black violence rains down like a fiery storm. In this unique hip-hop musical, Bliss and Dream, members of warring rap factions, fall in love and wrestle with making sense of their turbulent lives.