Dani Martineck: Pronouns Matter

In the moment we’re in, I myself, as an individual, have developed certain habits in ways of being where … if I am misgendered like it happened at the beginning of this conversation, to me, it becomes a learning opportunity.

Dani Martineck is a New York-based non-binary actor, writer, and award-winning audiobook narrator with a background in experimental psychology.

I’m a storyteller. I’ve found that in communicating truthfully through the stories I tell, other people feel seen and understood, and it just radiates this ripple of openheartedness outward to places I’ll never know.

they/them – what’s this?


Dani is here to celebrate moments of connection that bridge our experiential differences and create radical empathy. They bring their experience as a storyteller (as an actor, writer, and award-winning audiobook narrator), their experience as someone with their own daily meditation practice, and their experience as one who has found meaning living between several binaries to their offerings to you.

On screen, Dani has a recurring role on Blue Bloods on CBS, they can be seen (for a few seconds) cursing at Kendall Roy on HBO’s Succession and (for many more seconds) in short queer rom com Potion Masters, as well as several other short films and series. Their first audiobook narration, for We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey for Penguin Random House, won an Odyssey Honor. Through both their acting and their writing, Dani celebrates moments of connection that bridge our experiential differences and create radical empathy. They also offer meditations for free on Insight Timer and in a more personalized process for custom guided meditations.

Explore some of Dani’s work:

Screenwriter, Producer, Actor:

Experimental-narrative short film The Rushing of the Sea explores familial loss and grief as an immersive experience. Younger and Older are adult siblings who’ve just lost their mother to terminal illness. Older is processing by taking care of Younger, who has sunk into a grief where she intrusively relives the last perfect day the three of them had together: on the beach, with the rushing of the sea underscoring impermanence. When Older has to leave Younger alone for the first time since the funeral, Younger’s surreal, sensory grief threatens to drown her. She must turn into the swell and face it, accepting the help and love of her family—both here and gone—to resurface.

Screen Actor:

Voice Actor:

Give Me Away by Gideon Media

Audiobook Narrator:

We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey

The Witch King & The Fae Keeper by H.E. Edgmon

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor 

Writer:

“Pan the Pirate”

“Merlin and the Dragons”

“Storm Magic”

Nicky Beer: Real Phonies & Genuine Fakes, an exploration of our divided selves

Persona poetry is taking on a voice that isn’t yours and finding a way to speak your truths through that voice….to pursue a voice that isn’t necessarily heroic or very nice; it allows you to be transgressive in ways that you don’t feel comfortable speaking as yourself. It’s an incredible vehicle for play in poetry as well as the theatre.

I’m a displaced poet from Long Island living in Denver, writing with the hope that I’ll help other folks feel less alone. I celebrate all things queer, creepy, comic, disturbing, and tentacular in my work. Jon Cryer retweeted me once. 

Nicky Beer is a bi/queer writer, and the author of Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes (Milkweed, 2022). Her first two books, The Diminishing House (Carnegie Mellon, 2010) and The Octopus Game (Carnegie Mellon, 2015), were both winners of the Colorado Book Award for Poetry. She has received honors from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, the Poetry Foundation, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.

She is an associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver, where she is as a poetry editor for Copper Nickel.

Nicky Beer’s latest collection of poems is a “labyrinthine academy specializing in the study of subterfuge; Marlene Dietrich, Dolly Parton, and Batman are its instructors. With an energetic eye, she thumbs through our collective history books—and her personal one, too—in an effort to chart the line between playful forms of duplicity and those that are far more insidious.” Lambda Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Book of March 2022

What is illusion—a deception, or a revelation? What is a poem—the truth, or “a diverting flash, / a mirror showing everything / but itself”?

Through delicious japery, poems that can be read multiple ways, and allusions ranging from Puccini’s operas to Law & Order, Beer troubles the notion of truth. Often, we settle for whatever brand of honesty is convenient for us, or whatever is least likely to spark confrontation—but this, Beer knows, is how we invite others to weigh in on what kind of person we are. This is how we trick ourselves into believing they’re right. “Listen / to how quiet it is when I lose the self-doubt played / for so long I mistook it for music.”

Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes asks us to look through the stereoscope: which image is the real one? This one—or this one, just here? With wisdom, humility, and a forthright tenderness, Nicky Beer suggests that we consider both—together, they might contribute to something like truth.

To purchase: Click on this link

Twitter: @nbeerpoet

Website: nickybeer.com

#LGBTQ #RealPhoniesandGenuineFakes #MilkweedPress #Poetry #Poet #ArtsAdvocacy

Erika L. Ewing: Fashioning Change

When we’re talking about the power of The Arts — the healing, the transformative powers — we’re really talking about the fact that we’re human. We’re humanizing the experience of others. So, we lead with empathy, and we lead in such a way that we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. It’s more than meeting people for where they are –it’s BEING where they are. It’s getting inside of where they are . . . I can see new possibilities. NOW what can I do to change things?

Erika Lucille Ewing is a social impact entrepreneur and a
multimedia creative, actor, activist, and fashion designer,
“ARTIVIST.”

As former Chief of Staff of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York (BLMNY) Erika along with the powerful women of BLMNY organized the “Find Our Girls’ March to bring attention to the missing Black and Brown girls and youth across the globe. 

Got To Stop LLC is a social impact consulting company and lifestyle fashion brand that raises awareness about social injustice and empowers communities to take action. Got To Stop LLC designs clothing to invite courageous conversations around racism, poverty, health disparities, human trafficking, gun violence, voter suppression, domestic violence, and criminal justice reform.

Erika is very active in her Harlem community. In 2020, she co-produced the Black Lives Matter Mural in
Harlem. Erika has gained a stellar reputation and credibility as a community connector.
Most recently, Erika’s contributions to UNITAS (United Together Against Human Trafficking) curriculum
development team helped earn UNITAS the 2022 Anthem Award for its Transformative Anti-Human
Trafficking Curriculum. The curriculum is currently being implemented in NYC and D.C. public schools.

In addition to creating fashion for change, one of Erika’s goals is to create conversation collections for luxury fashion brands and cars. You can reach out to her at any of the social media channels.
Erika believes in the power of the arts to heal, unite, and be a catalyst for social justice, change, and
transformation.
Got To Stop LLC… It’s Not A Movement. It’s A Lifestyle

Erika holds a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and a Master of
Fine Arts in Theater Arts from Mason Gross School of The Arts at Rutgers University. She is a member of the Actors Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

IG/FB Twitter:
@gottosopllc

Moise Morancy: Returning the Favor

Artists have a responsibility to reflect the times . . . my experience as a young Black male looks through the experiences of an African-American male, but I’m a Haitian-American, so then there’s all those different dynamics that I’m taking from my Haitian culture, and I’m bringing these things in, and I’m taking from my American culture. Let me pick their brain. Let’s talk about what’s going on. Let’s put it on a camera. Let’s be authentic and be good people while doing it and tell the story.

Moise Morancy is an American actor, writer, director, producer, poet and activist from Brooklyn, New York. 

Moise always had a passion for telling stories. His career as a writer began as a young boy, capturing personal aspects of life’s challenges through written expressions such as poetry, songwriting and eventually screenwriting. His literary works are transparent and serve as a safe haven for his life experiences. He has always had the mindset of turning one’s pain into power. He believes that is what gave birth to his writing career. 

His theatrical background has spanned for 20 years. He has performed at notable theaters such as the August Wilson Theater on Broadway, The Public Theater and has starred alongside Chloë Sevigny in Downtown Race Riot at the New Group which had a successful run at the Signature Theater. 

Since the age of ten, Moise has pursued a career in film and television. He has appeared on a number of television shows such as Law & Order: SVU as a Trayvon Martin inspired character. He was invited back years later as a guest-star as Antonio, acting with Hip-Hop legend, Ice-T. He has also appeared on Showtime’s The Affair,  Happy!, Quantico, Blue Bloods, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Hunters, and more. 

Morancy’s diligence and willingness to learn has brought him under the guidance of television producer and show-runner, Patrick McManus as well as Littleton Road’s President, Kelly Funke. They were vital in assisting in the development of a television pilot based on his award-winning short film “When a Tree Falls,” a quasi-true story of his life, which was written, produced and directed by Moise himself. 

I wrote, directed, produced, and starred as Cleon in The Warriors prequel. A proof of concept. What would happen if Cleon, a Black man in the 70’s – formed a gang with people from different walks of life? Shout out to our amazing cast and crew! I would like to take this time to heap praise on everyone involved in the original film. We stand on your shoulders. You all paved the way for us to be better at our craft. Thank you for the audacity to make that film and make us feel like we can bop our way through any adversity. You guys weren’t good. You were “the best.” Growing up, I studied the video game and the movie. I’d always tell myself …. If there’s ever a Warriors remake and there’s an audition for the role of Cleon. You best believe…. ”it’s on. And we’re going.” The Warriors (2022) out now! 🙏🏿

Over the years Morancy garnered hundred of millions of views as his videos sparked conversations regarding sexual assault, race, AIDS awareness, politics, sexuality and more. 

Independently, Moise has been featured on platforms like: BET, Huffington Post, BBC News, Vibe Magazine, Essence, Deadline, Variety, NY Daily News, XXL Magazine, Shade45, AJ+ and more. He was even hailed as American Black Film Fesitval’s “Emerging Director.”

His viral poems and rap songs captured the attention of the likes of music legends such as T.I, Erykah Badu, Nas  and more. Hot97’s Ebro played his music on his radio show “Ebro in The Morning.”


It’s safe to say that Moise is a man of many talents, you don’t know what you’ll get next…

#The Warriors #BET #WhenATree Falls #AmericanBlackFilmFestival #TVpilotColumbia #Patrick McManus

Social media handles:

www.facebook.com/moisemorancy

www.instagram.com/moisemorancy

www.twitter.com/moisemorancy

Margarita Espada: Teatro Yerbabruja, a Conduit for Change

The immigrant stories that are here. . . when they see in us the possibility that it’s real. That’s why I focus on a specific community because we know the challenges . . . so young artists they see in us, [and] know that [change] is possible and we are here to support them.

Margarita Espada has traveled the world in her careers as an artist, educator and cultural organizer, training in physical approach to theater practice. Margarita is the founder and director of Teatro Experimenantal Yerbabuja, an art organization with the mission to use the arts as a tool for social change.  She is part of the faculty at the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University where she teaches theater and activism.

Teatro Yerbabruja’s mission is to use the arts as a tool for social change, to promote professional artists and to nourish emerging artists. Its programs are designed to promote creativity and to motivate civic dialogue. (The Yerbabruja is a medicinal plant from Puerto Rico that flourishes in the harshest of conditions.) 

Teatro Yerbabruja’s mission is to use the arts as a tool for social change, to promote professional artists and to nourish emerging artists. Its programs are designed to promote creativity and to motivate civic dialogue.

The Yerbabruja is a plant that flourishes in the harshest conditions and survives for a better tomorrow with just the sunlight for hope. Our mission at Yerbabruja is to connect community, art, and education and create a positive impact in the lives of the people we connect with through our work! 

Yerbabruja believes that artistic enrichment and social revitalization go hand-in-hand, and together build strong and sustainable communities. Teatro Yerbabruja’s programs are anchored in the values of racial justice that honor the contributions of people of color, and that are truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive. We understand that definitions of art, culture, and creativity depend on the cultural values, preferences, and realities of residents and other stakeholders in a given community.   

We create and produce experimental theater & use theater and other art forms to increase and encourage the understanding among people of different cultural backgrounds; provide opportunities to minority artists through performance, arts and workshops to develop their works. We provide knowledge and appreciation for the arts.

Get involved:  volunteer; artist opportunities; vendor opportunities

Margarita received her Master of Fine Art in Dramaturgy  from Stony Brook University and her Bachelor of Art in Education from Puerto Rico University. She is a New York State and Puerto Rico-certified theatre teacher with over 30 years of experience as an educator, performer, playwriter, arts activist, and cultural and community organizer.  

She has conducted research, supported school and organization change efforts, and facilitated teacher / professional learning around applied theater, culturally responsive practice, curriculum design, problem solving, and reflective communication. Margarita also works as a project manager for Center for Community Inclusion, Long Island University. Her works includes coordinating with Family Engagement Specialists/Parent Liaisons in various districts to develop and conduct family friendly practices within schools.

  Margarita has won multiple awards for her arts excellence and community work including Suffolk County Proclamation,2019, Recognition Senator Boyle, 2019. Martin Luther King Living Legend Award, NAACP Islip, NY, 2018. Citation for  Cultural Organizer, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, 2018, Artist of the Year, Legislator Monica Martinez, Suffolk County, NY,2016.

  She has received numerous awards and proclamations for her leadership, her art and community work including Suffolk County Proclamation,2019, Recognition Senator Boyle, 2019. Martin Luther King Living Legend Award, NAACP Islip, NY, 2018. Citation for Cultural Organizer, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, 2018, Artist of the Year, Legislator Monica Martinez, Suffolk County, NY,2016. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times and by the Associated Press, Newsday, and numerous other media outlets.

Location: Second Avenue Firehouse Gallery

17 2nd Avenue
Bay Shore, NY 11706
631.626.3603

Facebook: #teatroyerbabruja

Instagram: #teatro.yerbabruja