Welcome the 2024 Pay It Forward Program Cohort
Deja Carr, Suraj Malla, JuPong Lin, Tender Spot, Kai, Indë, Grotesque Burlesque, Jymese Brunson, Magid Ensemble, and Human Agenda Theater
DEJA CARR
Mal Devisa is the songwriting, liberation, and poetry project of multifarious artist Deja Carr. She approaches her sound from any and every direction. Masterfully a genre-hopper, her work spans everything from soulful rock to unabashed hip hop, lush experimental to folk, lo-fi to jazz. And if you’re wondering how that can all work together, the answer is just: Mal Devisa. Often accompanied by heavy bass, clever loops, and hard-hitting lyrics – her voice is probably what will pull you in wholly. Simply and seriously a talent, Mal Devisa’s catalog is an experience.
- Live Performance: Friday, September 13, 2024
- BANDCAMP
- SPOTIFY
- @maldevisa
SURAJ MALLA
Suraj Malla an actor, director, acting teacher. He completed his acting training from Actor’s Studio Nepal and has been performing with them since 2012. He is a three-time participant in the BRM Festival with NSD Delhi. He was invited as a Nepali representative for International Prospero Workshop in Denmark, focusing on devised theatre for youth and children. Recently, he participated in an online theatre intensive with SITI Company. Having taught in schools for several years, he has produced a variety of student shows. He has also worked as a professional theatre trainer at various acting institutions around Nepal. He is excited to share his love of theatre around the world, as a way to share stories and to know ourselves. Suraj Malla will be performing The Tragedy of Maila Kami, a solo performance that was originally debuted at the Minnesota Fringe Theatre Festival in August 2024.
Play: The Tragedy of Maila Kami, September 20, September 21 and September 22, 2024
JUPONG LIN
JUPONG LIN
JuPong Lin makes socially-engaged art, poetry, and ceremony to honor our Beloved Earth and all her critters. Ghosts of Taiwan, her born-place, haunt her with ancestral cries to end colonialism and repair our relationships with our homelands. JuPong lives in Nipmuc/Nonotuck/Pocumtuc Land, known by its colonial name of Amherst, Massachusetts, and writes poetry with the Writing the Land project. She works for food and land justice with the Hampshire County Food Policy Council and the Land Justice Affinity Group. JuPong was a faculty member of the MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program at Goddard College for close to 20 years. Phoenix in the Holy Land is JuPong’s first play.
- juponglin.net/peacebirds
- Play: Phoenix in Holy Land, October 12 and October 13, 2024
- @juponglin
TENDER SPOT
Marie Murry (fae/they/she/eyeball) primary partnership is with the meandering magic of the Muse. Living in devotion to this waking dream, fae shapeshifts between and beyond archetypal roles of boundless bard, dream druid, death doula, cosmic clown creature, harmonic healer. Their offerings are a convergence of creativity, connectivity & ritual. This residency will focus on their musical project Tender Spot, and the curation of a witchpunk musical.
- Event: Tender Spot, October 18 and October 19, 2024
- @maythemuses
HUMAN AGENDA THEATER
Human Agenda Theater celebrates the collaborative process of creating and sharing stories of the human experience through ground-breaking, interactive and weird forms of ensemble-based devised theater. We are committed to uplifting and integrating practices of pay equity/profit-sharing, radical accessibility and culture-building within our company and surrounding communities. We recently closed on our production of Gorgons by Megan E. Tripaldi and are currently working on an original show focused on the subject of gatherings.
INDË
Indë (they/he) is a prolific artist creating multimedia compositions to combat the lynching, disenfranchisement, and misrepresentation of queer people of color. Their work as an artist and educator are rooted in a love of creative problem-solving and an uncompromising commitment to advancing equity and media literacy. A skilled composer, Indë’s songwriting practice took shape at the Berklee College of Music, and over the past five years alone their repertoire has grown to include four self-produced studio albums, unified by their distinct bass-baritone vocals and progressive approach to harmony. Indë was born and raised on Norwottuck land (Northampton) to Afro-Caribbean American heritage, and their recent work redresses the absence of queer BIPoC in this white-dominated area who might have served as role models in their youth. Their debut solo show, Mirror, Mirror: Who’s My Role Model?, explores this subject through painting, sculpture, recorded music, and live performance. The installation will open in September 2024 at the 50 Arrow Gallery in Easthampton, before taking a new form in CitySpace’s Blue Room.
GROTESQUE BURLESQUE
Lex Grotesque (aka Jupiter Returned) is a Black, transgendered- nonbinary, queer, educator, activist, witch. Lex specializes in somatic healing, process arts, contemporary dance movement, theater arts, and curriculum development. Co-founder of Moon Prism Arts Collective; a queer makerspace & arts community in Easthampton, MA & Literacy Educator in Holyoke Public Schools.
JYMESE BRUNSON
Jymese Brunson is a 25 year old artist, musician and producer. Residing in the city of Springfield, MA born in Hartford,CT. Their work aims to present various music artists centering the sound of hip-hop to Easthampton. Jymese wants to give opportunities to underrepresented artists/populations to express themselves creatively through music and network with their peers.
- Live Event: November 23, 2024
- @misfit.vibes
MAGID ENSEMBLE
The Magid Ensemble presents: Shterna & The Lost Voice at CitySpace. “Unspeakably stunning, deeply soulful, profoundly moving… truly one of the most awe-inspiring performances I’ve ever seen” – Shterna and the Lost Voice transports audiences into the rich world of Yiddish folklore. Developed through rigorous research on Eastern-European Jewish folklore, this immersive storytelling production follows Shterna on an epic hero’s journey, through the living world, the underworld, and the immortal world, in order to retrieve the lost voice of her friend. Narration unfolds alongside a stunning papercut crankie (a long scroll wound onto two spools that illustrates the story as it unwinds) and is accompanied by a live original klezmer music score.
The Magid Ensemble (magid, meaning “storyteller” in Yiddish) – a new collaboration featuring award-winning klezmer musicians and composers Mattias Kaufmann, Raffi Boden, and Rachel Leader, Yiddishist and storyteller A. C. Weaver, and visual artist Kiah Raymond. The Magid Ensemble explores the interplay of sound, story, light, and shadow to create expressive and immersive storytelling landscapes.
KAI
Kai-Kahlila Blackheart is an interdisciplinary theater artist whose work tackles issues of social justice and identity. A playwright, actor, designer, and director, their work prioritizes marginalized voices. Kai’s art and collaborative process specifically centers the experiences of BIPOC, LGBTQ, and disabled individuals. A lifelong resident of Western Massachusetts, Kai graduated with a BA from Hampshire College in 2018. For their Division III thesis, they wrote and directed a choreopoem that centered black queer chosen family. With over a decade of experience in the arts and six years as a DEI facilitator, Kai strives to create diverse, inclusive, and accessible work for all members of their local communities. Kai-Kahlila will be developing a new play, culminating in a staged presentation in the Blue Room. The piece is (loosely) based on the archetypes of the Major Arcana is an unapologetically queer story about love, magic , self discovery, and our connection to the world. The production will prioritize collaboration with QTBIPOC community members both on and off the stage.
- Performances: December 13, 14 and 15
CitySpace's Pay It Forward program is made possible with the generous support by individual donors and:
