The Colored Museum is a provocative and seriously funny tour of eleven “exhibits”—toxic narratives about Black American experiences. From confrontational to aspirational, morbid to triumphant, Wolfe’s satiric sketches target America’s most pernicious stereotypes of Black culture, looking to retire outdated exhibits and make room for the future. This innovative environmental production immerses the audience in George Wolfe’s 1986 classic about the grief, madness, and hope of Black life. This production will be a one-of-kind collaboration between two members of the Studio Theatre Cabinet: Director Psalmayene 24 (Pass Over, Good Bones) and designer Natsu Onoda Power (Vietgone, Astro Boy).
Runtime: Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Read the program.
In the interest of welcoming people with a wide range of needs and life experiences, Studio offers a bit of information on what you will encounter in the play. Use this information as it is helpful to you.
Please note late seating will be determined at the discretion of House Management.
Seating Note: In designing the set and surrounding environment for The Colored Museum, Natsu Onoda Power created a seating bank that mimics the ship alluded to in the first exhibit—a slave ship crossing the Middle Passage.
Environment Warnings: This production of The Colored Museum includes sudden loud noises, including simulated gunshots and explosions; a strobe lighting effect; and theatrical haze.
The Colored Museum is generously underwritten by Susan & Dixon Butler with additional support from Craig Pascal.
This project is also supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe has established himself as one of America’s most influential cultural voices. Wolfe most recently directed the feature film adaptation of August Wilson’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. He first gained acclaim in 1986 for penning the off Broadway production of The Colored Museum. Other work as a writer includes his adaptation of Spunk, three short stories from Zora Neale Hurston. His work as a Broadway director includes Jelly’s Last Jam; Angels In America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika; Bring In ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Twilight; The Tempest; Golden Child; Top Dog/Underdog; The Normal Heart; Lucky Guy, starring Tom Hanks; and The Iceman Cometh, starring Denzel Washington. Wolfe made his feature film debut directing HBO’s Lackawanna Blues, followed by Nights in Rodanthe starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane, and the HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.
(As of April 2023)
Psalmayene 24 is an award-winning director, playwright, and actor. Directing credits include Good Bones, Flow and Pass Over at Studio Theatre, Metamorphoses at Folger Theatre, Tempestuous Elements at Arena Stage, Necessary Sacrifices: A Radio Play at Ford’s Theatre, Native Son at Mosaic Theater Company, and Word Becomes Flesh at Theater Alliance. Playwriting credits include Monumental Travesties, Dear Mapel and Les Deux Noirs at Mosaic Theater Company, Out of the Vineyard at Joe’s Movement Emporium, The Frederick Douglass Project co-written with Deirdre Kinahan at Solas Nua, and Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth at Imagination Stage. His solo play, Free Jujube Brown! is published in the anthology Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-Hop Generation. Acting credits include Ruined at Arena Stage, Free Jujube Brown! at The African Continuum Theatre Company, and HBO’s The Wire. He is the writer/director of the short film The Freewheelin’ Insurgents. Psalm is the host of Psalm’s Salons at Studio, an interview-based cultural series that celebrates theatre and community through a Black lens. He is the recipient of a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play and has received the Imagination Award from Imagination Stage. His work has received grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Walt Disney Corporation. Psalm is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Mosaic Theater Company. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Dramatists Guild, and Actors’ Equity Association. On social media at @psalmayene24 (Instagram).
Ayanna Bria Bakari's theater credits include Purpose and Last Night and the Night Before at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Relentless and Too Heavy for Your Pocket at TimeLine Theatre Company, Relentless and How to Catch Creation at Goodman Theatre, As You Like It at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Niceties (Black Theater Alliance Award Recipient) and Stick Fly at Writers Theatre, The Salvagers (Assistant Director) at Yale Repertory Theatre, Clyde’s at TheaterWorks Hartford, Sunflowered at Northern Sky Theater, The Rainmaker at Peninsula Players Theatre, and The Originalist at Indiana Repertory Theatre. Film and television credits include Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu); The CHI (Showtime); Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, Empire (FOX); 61st Street (AMC) and Holiday Heist (BET). Ayanna Bria has a BFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University and is a governing ensemble member of The Story Theatre. She is represented by Stewart Talent in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. On social media @ayannabakari_ (Instagram). #BLACKLIVESMATTER
Kelli Blackwell is an actor, art maker, teaching artist, and self-published children’s author. Her theatre credits include Fat Ham at Studio Theatre; Shout Sister Shout! at Ford’s Theatre; Beauty and the Beast and A.D. 16 at Olney Theatre Center; Nine Night at Round House Theatre; Crowns and Thunder Knocking on the Door at Creative Cauldron; A Streetcar Named Desire and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at Everyman Theatre; The Wiz, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and Next to Normal at ArtsCentric; Ain’t Misbehavin’, Dreamgirls, and Grease at Toby’s Dinner Theatre; Hairspray at TriArts Sharon Playhouse; Once on This Island at Cortland Repertory Theatre; and the national tours of Chicago and Amazing Grace. Kelli serves on the executive leadership team and as the Director of Education with Baltimore-based theatre company, ArtsCentric. kellimblackwell.com.
Iris Beaumier is an actor and filmmaker born and raised in New York City. Her Broadway and NYC theatre credits include The Little Prince, Dr. Rees Ziti’s Pageant for a Better Future at Ars Nova ANT Fest, and The Dark Star from Harlem: The Spectacular Rise of Josephine Baker at La MaMa, for which she received the Audelco VIV Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. Regional credits include Cabaret at Asolo Repertory Theatre, Ragtime and Godspell at Theatre Aspen, and The Marvelous Wonderettes at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. On screen she can be seen in Modern Love (Amazon), Blindspot (NBC), Alternatino (Comedy Central), and the film Mariannes Noires. She is a core member of Quail House Pictures and a Carnegie Mellon University alum. irisbeaumier.com @eeris.bomiyer (Instagram).
Matthew Elijah Webb is a Detroit-raised actor, writer, and creative who is returning to Studio Theatre after his work in Fat Ham. Theatre credits include Fat Ham on Broadway (u/s), Off Broadway (u/s), and most recently as Larry in the West Coast premiere of the play. He has developed new works with playwrights a.k. payne, Rudi Goblen, and Jeremy O. Harris. He holds his MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. matthewelijahwebb.com. On social media @matthewelijahwebb (Instagram).
William Oliver Watkins (he/him) is an actor, writer and unapologetic sci-fi geek. His theatre credits include Hamlet with The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, Sweat with Capital Repertory Theatre, Romeo and Juliet and the world premiere of Kirsten Childs’s The Three Musketeers with The Acting Company’s national touring company, Ruined and One Night in Miami with Denver Center, and Othello and Twelfth Night with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Will can also be seen in the Sundance Award-winning film The Forty-Year Old Version and television episodes of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, New Amsterdam, Blindspot, The Blacklist (NBC), and Madam Secretary (CBS). Will was born, raised and keeps a substantial percentage of his heart in Cincinnati, OH. WilliamOliverWatkins.com.
Ruth Benson is a vivacious and talented tween with a zest for life, laughter, and good food. A passionate dancer and avid reader, Ruth’s musical journey spans over six years of piano study; recording studio adventures; and performing with her band, the Lumberjanes. She’s also skilled in gymnastics and parkour, adding flair to her performances. A dedicated Montessori student, Ruth thrives on learning and takes direction with enthusiasm. Her theatre highlights include Finding Rhythm at The Kennedy Center. Ruth has shined in recruitment commercials like Be The Change, Helping Hands, and Many Hats for the DC Metropolitan Police. She also starred in a campaign for Salah Czapary for City Council and the music video Old Birds by Bumper Jacksons.
Jabari Exum is an electrifying percussionist, Hip-Hop, and Theater artist born and raised in DC. Since 1997, He has also been a pioneering artist in the Hip-Hop Theater movement. Jabari's approach to everything he touches is unique & unconventional. He has been acting, drumming, rapping and moving through martial arts, gymnastics and dance, since he was two years old. A few of his mentors include Debbie Allen, Chadwick Boseman, Reggie & Roy Wooten, Mamady Keita, Grady Tate, Djimo Kouyate, KRS-One, Sonya Sanchez, Glen Turner, Chucky Thompson, Bill Summers, Leon Mobley, Rickie Byars Beckwith, Robert Northern, Mamadi Nyasuma, Barnett Williams, Baba Ngoma, Hugh Masekela, Jabulani Tsambo, and Marc Cary. Most recently, Jabari served as the Movement Coach and Lead Djembe player (African Drummer) for Marvel's Black Panther & Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His latest Creation is called, 'Percussion Theater' (a community drum cypher-class and interactive mediation concert) focused on healing human beings through sound.
Tymetrias L. Bolden (she/her) is an artist, storyteller, and change-maker born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. Her theater credits include Fat Ham with Studio Theatre, The House That Will Not Stand with Howard University, A Raisin in the Sun and She Kills Monsters with The Howard Players. Her short film credits include The Chase, a Disney Storytellers Fund production, Film School (a senior film thesis), Permanence with Howard University Film Organization’s Afrosurreal anthology series Where Everybody At?, and Envision Us On Fire with Howard’s MFA Film program. Tymetrias is a current student teaching artist at Shakespeare Theatre Company. She received a BFA from Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and studied at Midsummer in Oxford with the British American Drama Academy (BADA) at Magdalen College, Oxford University. Tymetriaslbolden.com On social media @tymetriaslbolden (Instagram).
Madison Norwood (she/her) is a recent graduate from Howard University's BFA Musical Theatre Program. DC Area credits include The VSA Playwright Discovery Program at The Kennedy Center. Regional credits include Amahl and the Night Visitors (Chorus - Soprano) at Suumaya Ali Productions. Educational credits include Sonnets and Soul (Aunt Peaches), Rhyme Deferred (Record Label Executive), and Heathers The Musical (Stoner Chick/Ensemble) at Howard University. Madison is currently an intern at The Kennedy Center in the Theatre Education Department - TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) and a tap teacher for elementary school children. On social media @maddi.norwood (Instagram).
Sophia Early (she/her) is making her Studio Theatre debut this season with The Colored Museum. Her regional credits include Next to Normal and Ink at Round House Theatre, Meredith Willson's The Music Man at Olney Theatre Center, and Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience at Theater Alliance. She is a proud graduate of Howard University's BFA musical theatre program. On social media as @sophia.the.early (Instagram).
Henian Boone is an actor last seen at the Studio Theatre in Choir Boy. His other theatre credits include Alabama Story at Greenbrier Valley Theatre, Crimes of the Heart at American Stage, Darius & Twig at The Kennedy Center, Trouble in Mind at The Old Globe, and Coriolanus at Play on Shakespeare with Oregon Shakes. He recently assistant directed Measure for Measure at The Old Globe and University of San Diego (USD). Henian has workshopped Three Sisters with director Whitney White, Another Shore with Mark Brokaw, and Henry VI with Barry Edelstein. He earned a BFA in Theatre Arts from the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. He is an alumnus of the British American Drama Academy (BADA) Oxford Program. Henian is also a graduate of the Shiley Graduate Theatre Program at The Old Globe and USD garnering a MFA in Acting. HenianBoone.com
Natsu Onoda Power (she/her) specializes in adaptation of texts into new works of visual theater, but she also directs plays and designs sets. Studio credits include Astro Boy and the God of Comics (writer/ director), Vietgone (director), and Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (director). Favorite set design credits include Postcards from Ihatov at 1st Stage (also adaptation/direction), The Lathe of Heaven at Spooky Action Theater (also adaptation/direction), Dear Mapel at Mosaic Theater Company (also director), and Anime Momotaro at Imagination Stage. Natsu holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is the author of God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post World War II Manga (The University Press of Mississippi, 2009). She is a member of the Studio Cabinet.
Moyenda Kulemeka (Costume Designer) has worked at Studio Theatre previously on Good Bones and John Proctor is the Villain. Regionally, she has worked on Tiny Beautiful Things at Baltimore Center Stage; Selling Kabul, Daphne’s Dive, and Detroit ‘67 at Signature Theatre; Jump at Everyman Theatre; Radio Golf at Round House Theatre; Gloria: A Life and Intimate Apparel at Theater J; Dance Nation at Olney Theatre Center; Bars and Measures, In His Hands, Marys Seacole, and Fabulation, Or The Re-Education Of Undine at Mosaic Theater; Mlima’s Tale, The Phlebotomist and The Brothers Size at 1st Stage; A Chorus Within Her at Theater Alliance; Cinderella at Synetic Theater; La Tía Julia Y El Escribidor, Exquisita Agonía, and En el Tiempo de las Mariposas at GALA Hispanic Theatre. She received her B.A. at the University of Maryland and is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829, IATSE.
Jesse Belsky previously designed John Proctor is the Villain, Until the Flood, Pipeline, P.Y.G. or The Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, The Remains, The Effect, Three Sisters, No Sisters, and Animal and co-designed White Noise at Studio. Regional credits include Lydia and Rough Crossing at Yale Rep and The Year of Magical Thinking at PlayMakers Repertory Company. Other DC designs include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Ford’s Theatre; JQA and The Year of Magical Thinking at Arena Stage; Oslo and The Book of Will at Round House Theatre; Penelope, The Bridges of Madison County, and Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre; Henry IV, Part 1, The Winter’s Tale, and Sense and Sensibility at Folger Theatre; and The Music Man, Labour of Love, and The Magic Play at Olney Theatre Center. Jesse holds a B.A. from Duke University and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. He has taught lighting design at Connecticut College and UNC Greensboro. jessebelsky.com
Matthew M. Nielson returns to Studio, where his design and composition credits include Hand to God, Clyde’s, The Remains, MotherStruck, The Real Thing, and Venus in Fur. Other area credits include Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Theater Alliance, Contemporary American Theater Festival, and The Smithsonian. Off Broadway credits include The Public Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, and 59E59 Theaters. Regional credits include Guthrie Theater, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Cincinnati Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Barrington Stage Company. Film credits include Those Who Wait, Elbow Grease, and From Hell to Here, with TV/commercial credits including The Hero Effect on OWN as well as other work for the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and Delivery.com. Matthew has received several Helen Hayes, regional theatre, and film festival awards for his sound design and composition work. curiousmusic.com
Kelly Colburn's (she/they/K) recent DC credits include My Mama and the Full Scale Invasion at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Passing Strange at Signature Theatre, Look Both Ways at The Kennedy Center, and Fela! co-produced by Olney Theatre Center and Round House Theatre. Off Broadway credits include american (tele)visions at New York Theatre Workshop. Kelly has been nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and a Henry Hewes Award. She was a 2020 and 2024 Helen Hayes recipient and a 2022 and 2023 Helen Hayes nominee. She received the 2018 Jim Henson Puppetry Grant and was a 2017 NextLOOK Resident. She is the Executive Director at Flying V. Kelly holds a BFA from NYU and a MFA from UMD. kellycolburn.com
William Knowles is a composer, arranger, music director and pianist. His first theatre job was Bessie’s Blues at Studio Theatre in 1995. Since then, he has worked at Arena Stage, CenterStage, Milwaukee Rep, MetroStage, Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and The 5th Avenue Theatre, where he will return next summer as music director for After Midnight. Offstage he has released eight jazz CDs with music partner Mark Saltman, most recently Native Speaker. When not on the road, he can be found playing jazz gigs in the DC area. On social media @williamknowlespiano @saltmanknowles (Instagram).
Amy Kellett (she/her) is excited to be back working at Studio Theatre, having previously worked on The Hot Wing King; Fun Home; and Love, Love, Love. She has also designed props regionally for productions at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Rep Stage, Constellation Theatre Company, 1st Stage, Theater Alliance, The Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audience, NextStop Theatre Company, ArtsCentric, Pointless Theatre Company, Gala Hispanic Theatre, The Hub Theatre, Synetic Theater, American Stage and Young Playwrights Theater. Some of the other hats Amy wears include being a puppeteer/puppet builder and a scenic charge.
Sierra Young (she/her) is a violence and intimacy director working in the DC/Baltimore area. Sierra is the Resident Violence and Intimacy Director for Mosaic Theater Company. She is an active member of the Society of American Fight Directors, Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Recent DC choreography credits include POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive at Arena Stage; Little Shop of Horrors and Shout Sister Shout! at Ford’s Theatre; Momia en el clóset: Evita’s Return at GALA Hispanic Theatre; Merrily We Roll Along and Sweat at The Keegan Theatre; Spring Awakening at Monumental Theatre Company; Nancy, Confederates, Monumental Travesties, one in two, Unseen, Bars and Measures, and The Till Trilogy at Mosaic Theater Company; King Lear and Red Velvet at Shakespeare Theatre Company; and Ain’t No Mo’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. sierrayoung.org. On social media at @syoungfights (Instagram).
Tony Thomas (he/him) is an award-nominated director, choreographer, and interior architect. His credits include Fat Ham; Good Bones; People, Places & Things; White Noise; Pass Over; and Flow at Studio, Metamorphoses at Folger, Tempestuous Elements at Arena Stage, Mexodus and Native Son at Mosaic Theater Company, Out of the Vineyard at Joe’s Movement Emporium, Miss Nelson is Missing, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience and P.Nokio: A Hip-Hop Musical at Imagination Stage, and Mysticism & Music and The Last Five Years at Constellation Theatre Company. Tony is also active in pre-professional education and private professional level artist coaching and technique. In education, Tony has worked with Adventure Theatre Academy, Levine Music Theatre Productions, Landon School, and actively leads numerous workshops and coaching circuits between New York, DC, and Los Angeles. Tony Thomas Designs was developed in 2004, featuring Tio Diaz Studio as a premiere design house in residential and commercial design.
Adrien-Alice Hansel (she/her) is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of Problems Between Sisters, Good Bones, John Proctor is the Villain, I Hate it Here, Queen of Basel, No Sisters, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, Red Speedo, Dirt, Lungs, and The History of Kisses, among others, as well as productions of At the Wedding; Love, Love, Love; Fat Ham; Fun Home; English; Heroes of the Fourth Turning; Flow; 2.5 Minute Ride; Curve of Departure; Wig Out!; and New Electric Ballroom, among others. Prior to joining Studio, she spent eight seasons at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she headed the Literary Department and coordinated project scouting, selection, and development for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. She is the co-editor of eight anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and editor of 12 editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
John Keith Hall has stage managed many productions at Studio including At the Wedding, Espejos: Clean, Fun Home, English, Bad Jews, Choir Boy, Cock, Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, The Habit of Art, Torch Song Trilogy, 4000 Miles, In the Red and Brown Water, The History Boys, and The Road to Mecca. Other DC area credits include Ain’t No Mo’, Where We Belong, Shipwreck, The Peculiar Patriot, Gloria, Familiar, Hir, An Octoroon, and The Nether at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Mary Poppins, Annie, The Crucible, On the Town, Matilda the Musical, Cabaret, Beauty and the Beast, and Fiddler on the Roof at Olney Theatre Center; Ain’t Misbehavin’, Soon, West Side Story, and Passing Strange at Signature Theatre. His regional credits include over 40 productions as Resident Stage Manager at the Barter Theatre as well as Shadowlands Stage, Virginia Musical Theatre, and Contemporary American Theatre Festival.
Stephen Bubniak's (he/him) previous Studio Theatre credits include People, Places & Things; John Proctor is the Villain; Queen of Basel; Kings; and The Effect. Additional credits include RENT in Concert, Leonard Bernstein’s MASS, National Symphony Orchestra Pops concerts featuring Norm Lewis and CeCe Winans, the 36th annual Hispanic Heritage Awards, Songs for Hope, and REACH Opening Parade with The Kennedy Center; Romeo and Juliet with the Washington National Opera; American Prophet; Step Afrika! Holiday Step Show; Change Agent; Celia and Fidel; A Thousand Splendid Suns; Dear Jack, Dear Louise; Newsies; and Jitney with Arena Stage; Through The Sunken Lands, A Wind In The Door, Jacqueline Woodson’s Block Party, The Ice Cream Truck is Broken, Because, and We Are All Connected with The Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences; and Pacific Overtures with Signature Theatre. He graduated with a double major in Computer Science and Theatre (Design/Production) from American University.
Ashley Mapley-Brittle (she/her) is a local theatre director and assistant/associate director. The Colored Museum is her second time assistant directing at Studio Theatre after previously assistant directing Good Bones. Previous Associate Directing experience includes Private Jones at Signature Theatre and The Hatmaker’s Wife at Theater J. Some of her Assistant Directing experience includes A Christmas Carol at McCarter Theatre Center, Much Ado About Nothing and Jane Anger at Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Great Leap, We Declare You a Terrorist…, and Nine Night at Round House Theatre. Directing experience includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Nu Sass (upcoming), Peerless staged reading at We Happy Few, Undiscovered Country and Elbow staged reading at Spooky Action Theater, and MOJO at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has her B.A. in Performance Theatre from High Point University and her MFA in Theatre Directing from East 15 Acting School (London, UK). ashleymapleybrittle.com
Geoff Josselson, CSA Broadway credits include Spamalot, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods (Artios Award winner), and The Velocity of Autumn. Select Off Broadway credits include Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, Altar Boyz, Yank!, and Southern Comfort. Select New York and regional theatre companies include Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Baltimore Center Stage, The Irish Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Studio Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Rep, and Signature Theatre.
Invading White Institutions: The Prolific Work of George C. Wolfe
A Note from the Dramaturg, Adrien-Alice Hansel
“A Dangerous Tension”: Audiences and The Colored Museum
The Colored Museum Exhibit
George C. Wolfe on The Colored Museum