2021 AATE National Conference
July 21-25, 2021

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   Keynotes

Opening Keynote

Wednesday, July 21st

Psalmayene 24 is an award-winning director, playwright, and actor. Psalm—as his colleagues call him—is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Mosaic Theater and the Doris Duke Artist in Residence at Studio Theatre. Directing credits include Flow (film production) and Pass Over at Studio Theatre, Necessary Sacrifices (audio production) at Ford’s Theatre, Native Son at Mosaic Theater, and Word Becomes Flesh (recipient of five Helen Hayes Awards, including Outstanding Direction of a Play) at Theater Alliance.

Playwriting credits include Les Deux Noirs (Charles MacArthur Award nomination) at Mosaic Theater, The Frederick Douglass Project (co-written with Deirdre Kinahan) at Solas Nua, Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth at Imagination Stage, and Dear Mapel (upcoming) at Mosaic Theater. His solo play, Free Jujube Brown!, is published in the first hip-hop theatre anthology, Plays from the Boom-Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-Hop Generation (TCG). Psalm has received commissions from the African Continuum Theater Company, Arena Stage, Imagination Stage, The Kennedy Center, Theater Alliance, Solas Nua, Mosaic Theater Company, and Theatrical Outfit.

His “pandemic-era hip-hop musical” film, The Freewheelin’ Insurgents, premiered in March 2021 as part of Arena Stage’s “Arena Riffs” initiative. His other film work includes May 22, 2020 (writing team) and The 51st State (directing team)—both produced by Arena Stage. He was also one of the writers of the web series Homebound, produced by Round House Theatre.

He 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. 

Psalm is currently the Artist in Residence at Bowie State University. He is the former Master Teaching Artist at Arena Stage and has directed locally and internationally (India, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina) with their acclaimed devised theatre program, Voices of Now. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, The Dramatists Guild, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. 

Closing Keynote

Sunday, July 25th at 4:30pm (EDT)

Cindy Marten served as Superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District from 2013-2021. As a teacher, instructional leader, and later as principal, she established a commitment to educating the “whole child,” through an emphasis on social and emotional learning and the arts combined with academic rigor. Marten witnessed her students become confident, curious, and successful learners, who have gone on to achieve their own dreams of success rooted in the belief that your demography does not determine your destiny.

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