Truthworker Theatre Company

I spent this International Women's Day supporting a courageous mama in a magnificent homebirth. Kissed my daughters and shifted gears when I got the call. Ushered a new babygirl into the world, not even 6 pounds, on the heels of losing my high school best friend to cancer this same week under the lunar eclipse of a blood full moon. 30 years later, the tender and subtle, yet potent intimacy of our connection has been medicinal. Honored to continue to be called to the thresholds. Portals. Holding the duality of grief and joy. Awe and sorrow. The raucous preciousness of it all. Witnessing a new life courageously make her way into this broken world as Brooklyn threw Holi colors to the sky to welcome Spring and center love, while mama growled and roared wildly on her living room floor on all fours, I give thanks. For new ancestors and newborn babies. Making way for one another. Chop wood, carry water, and show the fuck up. Welcome to the world, Babygirl. Thank you for your light, Kendall Iya Fasewah Johnson Smith

To march and roar and sing and drum and dance in rage and defiance and grief and hope and prayer with my daughters, my beloved, my community....true medicine. May our bodies and voices and spells cast bring protection to those most vulnerable to the harm that this administration continues to bring. #nokings #mybodymychoice #fucktrump #freepalestine

EVERYDAY.

Honored beyond belief to be serving as Community Education Director for La Paloma Prisoner's upcoming run at @chelseafactory.nyc Dec 10-15! Deep in the trenches of rehearsals and tech as we prepare to activate the space to hold the poignant and necessary storytelling of @raquelalmazan . Excited to be bringing together decarceration activists and to be curating pre and post performance rituals and panels for this project. Hope to see you next week.... ************************************* La Paloma Prisoner Project in association with La Lucha Arts and Sam Morreale, and in partnership with Chelsea Factory presents: @lapalomaprisoner The La Paloma Prisoner Project is Raquel Almazán’s theatre initiative about the reclamation of identity by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, and sharing those stories through workshops, advocacy and community partnerships. Developed from her long standing work with incarcerated and impacted communities, the associated play, La Paloma Prisoner, directed by Estefanía Fadul, will have its Workshop Premiere at Chelsea Factory. Performances run from Dec 10th -15th, 2024. Tickets will be available at Chelsea Factory site. To make an advance reservation for presentations and panels, please visit /lapalomaprisoner. Daily pre-show ritual: Doors open at 6:30pm. #LaPalomaPrisoner #WomenInPrison #IdentityReclamation #TheatreForChange #LatinxArtistry #PrisonStories #SocialJusticeTheatre #LatinxTheater #VoicesOfTheIncarcerated #ArtAsActivism #LaPalomaLegacy #truthworker

We have been watching state sponsored murders of innocent people for 11 months & sounding the alarm. US justice like Israeli justice are supremacist myths rooted in the annihilation of Black and Indigenous peoples here and abroad. ~Saul Williams Graphics/Video: Samara Gaev Music: Dead Prez, Sweet Honey in the Rock

"When I think about the fact that society, a nation, has sentenced me to death, all I can do is turn inside myself, to the place in my heart that wants so desperately to feel human, still connected to this world, as if I have a purpose." After serving 34 years for a crime he did not commit, Jarvis Jay Masters vows to continue his pursuit of justice and exoneration after a U.S District Court denied his federal habeas petition on September 3, 2024. This recent ruling underscores the systemic challenges of exoneration for the wrongly convicted, despite significant evidence of innocence. This is a billboard @jarvisjmasters and I collaborated on for @forfreedoms , which was up in Kansas City and has just been published in their book, Where Do We Go From Here. Brilliant animation by @cobykennedy We must do better. We must. #freejarvis #truthworker #endcapitalpunishment

Motherhood. Movement. Magic. A holding. A letting go. #truthworker #freespel #freejarvis #graterfordarchive

So looking forward to sharing the beginnings of MI[SPEL]T tomorrow, Sept. 11th at the @Barnesfoundation as a part of an evening that celebrates the launch of @GraterfordArchive supported by @mellonfoundation . Creating this multimedia theatrical work has been so nourishing! I love being back in the lab, collaborating with inspiring humans both inside and outside the walls of confinement, to tell important stories of wrongful convictions and spiritual transcendence. Spel is a legendary visual artist from the Graterford Diaspora who is currently serving life without parole for a crime he did not commit. As a 22 year-old B-boy and graffiti artist in Philadelphia at the time of his arrest in 1990, he was denied basic due process, and was wrongfully convicted of second degree murder. Jarvis Jay Masters is a Buddhist writer and poet who has been incarcerated since the age of 19 in San Quentin Prison for a crime he did not commit. Of those 43 years, he has spent 34 on death row and 23 consecutively in solitary confinement—longer than any other prisoner in San Quentin’s history. Featuring animation collaboration with my beloved @CobyKennedy for @ForFreedoms national billboard project, Where Do We Go From Here. @jarvisjmasters @freespel @rickdanimation @desiramos.z @fletchmayo @akeil.r @elizabeth.m.webb @artchangeus @muralarts @ikeluddy #freespel #freejarvis #truthworker #graterfordarchive #forfreedoms

It's been so nourishing to be back in the lab making new work! We've brought in young artists, brought back alum, and are developing a new piece in collaboration with Spel, an innocent man serving life without parole. What an honor it has been to rise to the invitation to tell his powerful story. Looking forward to sharing this work in progress at the launch of The Graterford Archive at Barnes Foundation on Sept 11th. Clip: Truthworker rehearsal footage featuring @ikeluddy Music: Enchan @graterfordarchive @freespel @barnesfoundation @muralarts @mellonfoundation @artchangeus @elizabeth.m.webb @akeil.r @fletchmayo @desiramos.z @rickdanimation #freespel #freejarvis #truthworker #graterfordarchive

“Here In Love” love and gratitude song - on all platforms🌻link in bio from forthcoming #followthesound featuring @ceebrew and @joncowherdmusic Thank you dear sweet friends who shared some moments of sweetness and cuteness for this offering ✨I always have to remember we work for collective liberation because we love….to keep love at the forefront of my mind. It is a challenge and we’re not meant to feel, learn, unlearn, be and do any of this alone. So grateful for worldwide familyship♥️🌊🌟 #here #love #inlove #worldwide

#freepalestine #ceasefire #alleyesonrafah #risingappalachia #truthworker #colearthurriley #blackliturgies Words • Cole Arthur Riley @colearthurriley Music • Rising Appalachia @risingappalachia Video | Graphics • Samara Gaev @truthworker

So excited to be a part of this incredible and timely book! It was an honor to create so intimately with my dearest @jarvisjmasters . A Measure of Joy excerpts and weaves together verbatim dialogue, transcribed and adapted from communications spanning over 6 months in the height of COVID-19 between Truthworker Theatre Company founder/director Samara Gaev, and Jarvis Jay Masters, an innocent man on death row. Jarvis, who has been incarcerated since the age of 19 in San Quentin Prison, spent 23 consecutive years in solitary confinement, and has been living on death row for 40. Through their decade-long collaboration, a powerful triangulation of healing has emerged between a dozen young visionaries directly impacted by mass incarceration, a survivor of a violent crime whose perpetrator is spending multiple lifetimes in prison, and a death row inmate whose capacity for liberation within the walls of confinement is astounding. Each continues to grow closer to themselves, their healing, their purpose and compassion as they collectively strive to interrupt and transform the criminalizing and violent systems that permeate our communities. Thank you @elizabeth.m.webb @roberta_uno @spiffy_d for your vision and labor! Thank you @artchangeus . Thank you @dukeuniversitypress for publishing this poignant powerhouse of a book! Graphics by yours truly. So fun. Music by the most brilliant and beautiful @toshireagon @wisereagonarts #ceasefire #freepalestine #gaza #truthworker #freejarvis #artchangeus #dukeuniversitypress