J​ennifer is a French actor who has trained in Boston & New York. Before coming to the​ stage, she had a background in commercial modeling and Film/TV. Her most recent​ credit The Suppliant Women (Apollinaire Theatre Company), highlights themes of​ human rights which aligns to the current play, Truth A Bio-Fictional Choreopoem.​ Jennifer is proud to be a part of this project, which dives deep to the depths of love, pain​ &​ truth.​

Pearl is thrilled to join the cast of TRUTH. After a four-year hiatus, she feels back at home on the stage. She did professional theater in her hometown of Indianapolis, IN, pre pre-pandemic. Before then, she graduated from Indiana University and spent four years as a vocalist in the U.S. Army Bands. Her past roles include Mary Magdeline in Jesus Christ Superstar, Ronnette in Little Shop of Horrors, Dorothy in The Wiz, and most recently the GM in T the Musical and Chorus Leaderin the Suppliant Women.  Pearl is so grateful to have found a space to creatively express the deep ancestral work that gives a voice to those who were never given a chance to express themselves. Trauma exists in the body; but only in releasing it through our unique expression can we free ourselves and live in our Truth.

Cherease is an actor, playwright, and director. She is originally from Houston, TX and received her bachelor’s degree in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Theater Arts from Johns Hopkins University. She continued her studies at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, where she began her theater devising journey as a Miranda Family Fellow. Her recent acting credits include Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women (Apollinaire Theatre Company), Breathe Rite (Short Film), Mud Row (Dubar Baldwin Hughes Theater), and The African Mean Girls Play; School Girls (Dubar Baldwin Hughes Theater). See more of her work at www.chereaselamm.com.

Dionne Latrice currently serves as Lead Administrative Coordinator at the Emerson Wellness Center at Emerson College in Boston, MA. Dionne developed an interest in the performing arts in middle school, writing skits and raps for anti-drug awareness programs and was introduced toTheatre Arts at the Jeremiah E. Burke high school and Applied Theatre at Roxbury Community College and Lesley University, respectively. Dionne's unwavering passion for theatre and film is encapsulated by her desire to learn and share the unique and powerful stories of African-Americans, resolving personal and community traumas through the arts. Dionne is excited to work with the Truth: A Bio-Fictional Choreopoem ensemble in Fall 2024.

Zahra A. Belyea holds a BA in English from Boston University, an M.Ed. in Secondary Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College, and an MA in Theatre Education from Emerson College. She has taught and tutored in both writing and literature and is a former Writing Studio Coordinator for a university in Florida. As a teaching artist, movement performer, and playwright, she has worked with or for numerous venues, artists, art institutions, and theatre companies, including Company One Theatre, ArtsEmerson, On With Living and Learning (OWLL), the Billie Holiday Theatre (50in50), and And Still We Rise Productions, for which she is a former co-director. One of her favorite projects was with fellow dancer Sheri Bridgeman, performing as part of a living art installation in collaboration with Ingrid Oslund’s production of Women Writers’ Suicide Club. Zahra used 2016 as the year to step out of her comfort zone, acting in a few projects for the Open Theatre Project (OTP) including its production of Fear Project, with the brilliant director Alex Smith on the OTP's SLAM: Boston 10-minute play, It’s All in the Eye, and the staged reading of Prudence. As well, Zahra was a member of Company One’s PlayLab Unit, and worked with Liana Asim, Mary Driscoll, Melissa Nussbaum Freeman, Sheri Bridgeman, and writer, Alia Croley, on projects for Danza Orgánica’s We Create! Celebrating Women in the Arts Festival 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. Zahra is excited to be the stage manager for Truth: A Bio-Fictional Choreopoem and is striving to find renewed peace the more she leans towards God and away from her worries and fears.

Gail A. Burton began her creative writing journey as a spoken word artist during the era of the Poetry Slam in MA established at the Cantab Lounge by Patricia Smith and Michael Brown who brought it from Chicago. Burton was influenced by this style of writing and expression and became a spoken word artist in cafes, bars, museums and bookstores. She was a featured poet of the Dark Room Collective a black poetry collective founded by black Harvard College undergraduates as a means of continuing the legacy of the Black Arts movement. The  structure of the choreopoem led into forays with dramatic poetry and devised theater anthology work which eventually culminated in her first traditional play entitled Muses.  Muses received a review in a special edition of the African American Review edited by theater scholar Paul Carter Harrison. Additionally, Burton received a Cambridge Peace Award for the play. Her work has been written about and reviewed in the African American Review, ArtsMedia, Proscenium, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Phoenix, Bay Windows, Bay State Banner. She is also an applied theater practitioner and Joker of theater of the oppressed at the Center for Theater and Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

In addition to being the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Jean Appolon Expressions (JAE), Jean Appolon is a successful choreographer and master teacher based in Boston and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Appolon received his earliest training and performance opportunities in Port-au-Prince with the Viviane Gauthier Dance Company and the Folkloric Ballet of Haiti. Appolon continued his dance education in the U.S. at the Harvard and Radcliffe Dance Program (1995-1996, Boston, MA), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1996-1998, New York, NY) and the Joffrey American Ballet School (1998-2003, New York, NY), where he graduated with a B.A. from a joint degree program offered by The New School. Appolon has also performed with Elma Lewis Productions (Black Nativity), Marlene Silva, North Star Ballet Company (Fairbanks, AK), Black Door Dance Company (Miami, FL), and the Atlantic City Ballet Company. Since 2012, Jean Appolon and JAE have received funding support from The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Barr Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The National Performance Network, FOKAL, The Boston Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cambridge Cultural Council, Eastern Bank, Haiti’s Ministry of Culture and many individual donors. Appolon has been the subject of feature articles and interviews in The Boston Globe, Dance Studio Life Magazine, World Vision Report, The Boston Haitian Reporter, Le Nouvelliste and NPR, and has received significant coverage by Haiti’s television and radio stations. Appolon is an Inductee of the Haitian Roundtable’s 1804 List of Haitian American Changemakers (2014) for his groundbreaking accomplishments in dance. Jean Appolon has been endorsed by E. Denise Simmons, Mayor of the City of Cambridge, for his positive contributions to the Cambridge community. Jean Appolon is a member of The International Association of Blacks in Dance and The Boston Dance Alliance. Jean Appolon teaches regularly at Boston Ballet, The Winsor School, and The Dance Complex (Cambridge, MA), among other locations. Beginning in 2006, Appolon conceived and has since directed a free annual summer dance course in Port-au-Prince that serves young, aspiring Haitian dancers who do not have regular access to dance training. JAE’s 2022 Summer Dance Institute will be held in two countries for the first time, in both Santo Domingo, DR and Lawrence, MA, making it possible to reach more of the company’s global students in both Hispaniola and the US.

Antonio Ocampo-Guzman, an actor, director, and theatre teacher originally from Bogotá, Colombia, is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Northeastern University in Boston. He is the current President of the Voice & Speech Trainers Association. Antonio trained as an actor with Teatro Libre and with Shakespeare & Company and received an MFA in Directing, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Voice, from York University, Toronto. He is a Designated Linklater Master Voice Teacher and is the author of La Liberación de la Voz Natural: El Método Linklater (UNAM, 2010).

Josie Bray brings over two decades of work as a theatre and dance artist, producer, teacher, and facilitator. She is a lead Producer on Trevor the Musical (now on Disney+) and is a former faculty member of Emerson College where she taught Movement for Actors, Improvisation, and Dance. Josie has trained Broadway actors from the casts of The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys, Beautiful, Les Miserables, Chicago and professional dancers from Boston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Pina Bausch, Los Angeles Ballet, The Bang Group, City Ballet of Boston, The Cleveland Ballet, Urbanity Dance Company, among others. Josie has directed and choreographed Off-Broadway and Regionally in Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, and New York, as well as at concert dance halls and universities. She worked as Assistant Director on the 2009 Broadway Revival of Ragtime. Josie’s primary focus is on New Work. She has nearly two decades of experience in devised theatre and dance production, has directed several readings and equity showcases in New York, and in 2019 was awarded the LAB grant from the Boston Foundation to create a new piece in movement theatre. Josie has nurtured the new musical, Trevor, since 2013 and shepherded it through readings in multiple cities, a premier at the Writer’s Theatre outside of Chicago, and a run in New York City in 2021. Together with Gail Burton, Josie is the recipient of NEFA's New Works New England Grant for Truth: A Biofictional Choreopoem.

TyNia René Brandon is a Charlotte, NC native now living in NYC. After completing her BFA degree in Musical Theater, she began her career performing all over the world until landing her dream job, Broadway, in 2018. The following year, she co- founded a community outreach program called The Black is Beautiful Project. That platform allowed her the opportunity to partner with Sing for Your Seniors, a non-profit organization enriching the lives of seniors through entertainment, where she held a seat on the Board of Directors for the next 5 years.  Today, Brandon continues a career on Broadway and beyond. Being seen in shows including Disney's:The Lion King and Some Like It Hot. She is excited to continue reaching and teaching communities through joining the producing team of Truth. She lives by her family motto of “Reaching Back, Moving Forward”, a lesson that the Sankofa bird symbol offers as a reminder that we can use learnings from the past to carry us to a more beautiful future.

Lindsay Garner Hostetler is thrilled to be a part of the producing team of Truth. She has spent over 15 years as a theatre and marketing professional, director, and teaching artist for various institutions including Mountain Theatre Company, Camp Merrie-Woode, Flat Rock Playhouse, Summit Charter School, and Asheville Community Theatre. She is currently on the producing and developmental team of Fresh Air, a new musical set in her home of Southern Appalachia. Lindsay is passionate about bringing powerful women's stories throughout history to life, and she is delighted to be on board for this new work.

Victoria Masteller is the Associate Producer at coLAB Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is a multifaceted theatremaker, educator, and administrator with a rich background spanning over twenty years in the dynamic world of theatre. Recognized as the "Swiss army knife of theatre" by a producer, Victoria’s expertise encompasses diverse roles, from crafting engaging theatre curricula to spearheading complex production projects. For the past five years, Victoria was a theatre teacher in NYC and developed a curriculum focused on developing holistic artists. Passionate about the transformative power of theatre, Victoria is dedicated to fostering inclusive and impactful programs at the intersection of community engagement, arts, education, and social justice. Victoria is committed to leveraging theatre as a catalyst for empathy, understanding, and positive change in diverse communities.