NSANGOU NJIKAM (Playwright and Performer) is an actor, playwright and Hip Hop Theatre artist originally from Baltimore, MD. His writing credits include Syncing Ink, Re:Definition, When We Left parts 1 & 2, I.D., 21 STRINGS, and he is one of seven writers of Hands Up: Seven Plays; Seven Testimonials. Acting credits include Syncing Ink (Victoria Stage at the Apollo), Re:Definition (LaMama), Henry V (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Deep Azure (Congo Square Theatre). NSangou’s play Re:Definition (Hip Hop Theatre Festival reading) was developed and directed by Chadwick Boseman. NSangou has also written for and collaborated with Grammy Award winner Common, specifically on his Audible.com project “BlueBird Memories,” the 2020 NBA All Star Game, and the Audible interview series “Mindpower Mixtape.” His Hip Hop Theatre play, I.D. (commission by Penn State University) premiered at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. NSangou is a member of the 2015 Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater as well as a member of UNIVERSES, a theatre company fusing jazz, blues, hip hop, Spoken Word, and Spanish boleros. He received his BFA in Acting from Howard University. After tracing his African ancestry, he received his name from the Bamum King in Cameroon. NSangou is also an initiate of the Yoruba spiritual tradition Ifa, under the training of Chief Ayanda Clarke. 

DENNIS A. ALLEN II (Director) is a multi-hyphenate in the world of theatre. As a director he has had the pleasure to direct and develop new plays by NSangou Njikam, Aziza Barnes, Tanya Everett, a.k. payne, Thaddeus McCants, Rudi Goblen, Craig “Mums” Grant, Kemiyondo Coutinho, Maria Smith, Hayley Spivey, Keith Josef Adkins, and more. Allen also directed the Brooklyn College 2022 production of Fucking A by Suzan-Lori Parks. As a playwright, his play The Mud is Thicker in Mississippi won the 35th annual Off Off Broadway Samuel French Festival. He is the recipient of Atlantic Theater Company’s inaugural Launch Commission, Clubbed Thumb’s Early-Career Writer’s Group, and National Black Theatre’s “I Am Soul” Playwright Residency. He also served as the National Playwriting Program Vice Chair for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival region 1. An adjunct professor at LaGuardia Community College, Montclair State University, The New School, and is the Co-Program Director for the MFA Playwriting program at Brooklyn College. Dennis received his MFA from Brooklyn College’s Playwriting program. 

DJ MONDAY BLUE (Performer). A daughter of the Southern Diaspora, DJ Monday Blue is a Brooklyn-based DJ who plays music to help you unlock your old memories while creating new ones. With over ten years experience as a disc jockey, Monday Blue has worked with organizations and brands such as The Meteor, Soho Grand Hotel, Weeksville Heritage Center, Soul in the Horn, The Pulitzer Prizes, Spelman College, Black Girls Love Vinyl, 651 Arts, Virgin Hotels NYC, H&M, Andscape, and Buy From A Black Woman. Monday Blue plays both digital and analog, but her heart beats with vinyl. A featured DJ at Soho Grand Hotel in New York City, Monday Blue is also the official tour DJ for the Buy From A Black Woman Inspire Tour presented by H&M. Additionally she performs in the theatrical realm. Monday Blue was the onstage DJ for Stacey Sargeant’s production Buh Wha’ Trouble is Dis? as part of New York Theatre Workshop’s 2019 summer residency at Dartmouth and also lent her skills to Life In Sepia: Vermont’s Black Burlesque Revue in 2021. Monday Blue is the founder and resident DJ of Doyennes of Disc, a vinyl party featuring all women selectors. You can listen to and watch her live when she pops up to stream “Follow Your Bliss With Monday Blue” on twitch.tv/DJMondayBlue. 

JILL M. VALLERY she/her (Choreography). Broadway: 1776, (Caesar Rodney, Dance Captain) Tony Award winning FELA! (Dance Captain: Drama Desk Nomination, Astaire Award, ACCA Actors Equity Award) Cullad Wattah (Associate Choreographer), shadow/land (Movement Director, The Public Theater), Lordes (Choreographer, New Ohio Theatre). Tours: FELA! (National + International). TV: “Harlem” (Dancer), “She Gotta Have It” (Jubilee Jones, Netflix), “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness” (Choreographer, Netflix).  Music Video: “Say Yes” (Michelle Williams, Choreographer) “Just Do You” (India Arie). AEA and SAG. Much love and gratitude to the ones who came before me, my mentor Sylvia Turner, and my family!

JASON ARDIZZONE-WEST (Sets) is a stage designer whose work spans theater, film, concerts, dance, and architecture. Notable and recent projects include: Redwood (Broadway), Lady Gaga (Mayhem Ball / Coachella & tour), Dua Lipa (Radical Optimism Tour 2025), Jesus Christ Superstar Live! (Emmy Award), shadow/land (Public Theater / Lucille Lortel nomination), Wedding Band (Theatre for a New Audience / Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Audelco nominations), Sojourners, The Grove, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, The Bluest Eye (The Huntington Theatre / Elliot Norton nominations), Blue Man Group (tour), Hikaru Utada’s Science Fiction Tour 2024 (Amazon Prime), and more. Member USA 829. Website: www.jawstudiony.com. Instagram: @jasonardizzonewest.

IUSASET “U-U” BAKR (Costumes). The first daughter of a seamstress, U-U began sewing at age 7, creating costumes for a United Nations cultural presentation-earning her the UN Youth Ambassador Award. A lifelong performer and designer, she created costumes for many local West African Dance Companies and, by 14, debuted her work at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Dance Africa Festival. Her fashion lines-Dutchess Crew, The Lalibela Collection, and Kick Rocks Swarovski shoes-led her to dress socialites and celebrities like Iman, Toni Braxton, Marishka Hargitay, Mariam Edelman Wright, Deborah Roberts, Derek Hough & more. Her credits span prestigious companies such as Asase-Yaa, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, The Hungarian Opera, and shows like “Dancing with the Stars,” “Nanny,” “Flatbush Misdemeanors,” “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” “Gotham,” “Emergence,” “Good Morning America,” etc. Known in sacred circles as lya Adefunmilayo, she is a crowned priest in the Lukumi tradition and honored as Alaso-creator of sacred garments. Her designs carry deep spiritual purpose, channeling ancestral guidance into every piece. She is grateful to lend her vision to A Freeky Introduction.

SIM CARPENTER (Lighting) is an award-winning scenic, lighting, and production designer from Baltimore, MD currently based in New York City. Sim holds a deep passion for social equality. His goal as a designer is to use his many mediums to captivate the audience, craft environments that elevate storytelling and reveal the, far too often, disregarded truths of marginalized groups. Selected credits: Everything that Never Happened, Tiny Beautiful Things, The Folks at Home (Baltimore Center Stage); Long Way Down (Olney Theatre/Apollo Theater); Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Marriott Theatre Chicago); D.R.E.A.D., FLEX (New York University); Hoodoo Love (Raven Theatre). Sim holds a B.F.A. in Stage Design from DePaul University and an M.F.A. in Design for Stage & Film from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Sim is a recipient of the 2024 Princess Grace Theatre Honoraria Award. simcarpenter.com

G. CLAUSEN (Sound) is a sound designer and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. Some of his theatre credits include: Jeff Award Nominee for Queen of the Night (Victory Gardens Theater); St. Louis Theater Circle Award Nominee for Twisted Melodies (St. Louis Repertory); Syncing Ink (Victoria Theater at The Apollo); I Am Deliverd’t (Co-Pro Dallas Theater Center and Actors Theatre of Louisville); Crumbs From the Table of Joy, How I Learned What I Learned, Native Son, Skeleton Crew (Playmakers Repertory); PYG or The Misedumacation of Dorian Belle (Studio Theatre); Peter Panto (People’s Light); The 39 Steps, Member of the Wedding, Dirty Blonde, Fences, Don Juan, The Mystery of Irma Vep, And Then There Were None, A Christmas Carol, Two Wolves and a Lamb (Triad Stage); The Piano Lesson, Too Heavy for Your Pocket, How I Learned What I Learned, Intimate Apparel, A Raisin in the Sun, Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies (Pyramid Theatre Company).

DISTER (Mural Artist). Born and raised in Washington Heights & the Bronx, New York City, DISTER has always been a part of an amazing culture that is more than its food and dance, but also can’t be defined without it. From Hip Hop to Mambo there are many layers to his story. A young kid finding his way as a Graffiti writer and club dancer, he evolved into a professional Muralist and Artistic Director while building a successful career as an international Choreographer. Using the tools from these fields, he pivoted to focus on education, working as an adjunct professor in several universities in New York and abroad. With plans to educate and work within our communities on a larger scale DISTER started I LOVE MY HOOD, a collective of educators, artists, and activists dedicated to the greater good through Hip Hop. www.DisterNYC.com

RACHEL M. F. KENNER (Props). Atlantic Theater Company: Elyria, Grief Camp. Other selected credits include Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along, Leopoldstadt, The Glass Menagerie. Lincoln Center Theater: Floyd Collins, McNeal, Marys Seacole, Dada Woof Papa Hot. The Public: Sally and Tom, Manahatta, as an artisan: Girl From The North Country, Suffs, many years at Shakespeare in the Park. 

MONÉT THIBOU (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be making her PSM debut at Atlantic Theater! Broadway Credits: Moulin Rouge, Uncle Vanya, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Death of a Salesman, Mr. Saturday Night. Off-Broadway Credits: In the Amazon Warehouse…, Black Odyssey, Morning Sun, All the Natalie Portman’s, The Wrong Man, Happy Talk, Clueless the Musical, The True. Regional Credits: Oh Happy Day (Baltimore Center Stage), 3 Summers of Lincoln (La Jolla Playhouse). Education: BA from Sarah Lawrence College.