Mingus

B Coleman is a high achieving, first generation college student who is suffering under the weight of her own expectations. When the opportunity arises to win a prestigious scholarship, she seeks out a letter of recommendation from the most popular faculty member on campus, Harrison Jones, a former member of the Black Panther Party, current Black Studies professor, and prolific author. Harrison sees potential in B and agrees to give her his recommendation after he takes her under his wing as a mentee. As B and Harrison’s relationship develops into an undefined, entangled web Harrison attempts to maintain his reputation, and B attempts to find light in the shadow of a famous man.

Playwright

Tyler English-Beckwith

Tyler English-Beckwith is a recent graduate of the Dramatic Writing MFA program at NYU. She holds a B.A. in African and African Diaspora Studies as well as a B.A. in Theater and Dance from The University of Texas at Austin. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Tyler currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Her plays include Mingus for which she received the 2018 KCACTF Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, was a 2019 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist, and was a finalist for the 2018 Goldberg Playwriting Prize. Her play TWENTYEIGHT received a world premiere in 2017 at The Vortex in Austin, Texas where it received Honorable Mention on The Austin Chronicle’s Top Ten Plays of 2017. She is currently a member of Page 73’s 2020 Interstate 73 Writers Group. Tyler recently wrote, co-directed and starred in a series of afro-futurist short films for Meow Wolf’s narrative chapter, “The Rift” which can be seen online at meowwolf.com and in their flagship exhibit House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, NM. Tyler hopes to create worlds, in her writing, where black women live beyond the basic means of survival and have the audacity to be autonomous.

Director

Margo Hall

Actor/director/educator has performed and directed in theaters throughout the Bay Area. Recent directing credits:  How I Learned What I Learned for MTC, BARBECUE, (which she also starred in) Red Velvet, and The Story for SF Playhouse.  Brownsville Song, B-Side for Tray, and Bulrusher with Ellen Sebastian Chang for Shotgun Players.  She is a founding member of Campo Santo, where directing credits include Mission Indians with Nancy Benjamin, The Trail of Her Inner Thigh with Rhodessa Jones, Hotel Angulo, and Simpatico. Other credit: Thurgood for LHT, and Friend of my Youth and Sonny’s Blues for Word for Word.  Chabot College:  Fabulation, Hamlet Blood in the Brain, The Trojan Women, SPUNK, Ragtime, and A Streetcar Named Desire, and Polaroid Stories at UC Berkeley.