Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones’ The Messenger (Staged Reading)
Photography by Tavon Taylor
The Messenger is a play with music that shares an intimate “coming of age” story about a young femme, Zanyah, who has been chosen to become the next Messenger for her nation, The In-Between. As Zanyah goes on a spiritual journey with her elders, she meets people that each share a lesson about what Zanyah needs to know about her past, present, and future. The Messenger shares with the audience the complexities, sacredness, and love of what it means to take on the role of a Messenger within a community.
Performance Dates:
Saturday, June 28th @ 5:00pm
Sunday, June 29th @ 5:00pm
Location: Arrow Street Arts
QUEER [RE]PUBLIC ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE
Photography by Tavon Taylor
Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones (she/they)
Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones is an artist of playwriting, contemporary art curation, radical learning environments, and joyful third spaces. They come from a political art background, as the former Director of Programming at In Solidarity and the current Associate Education Director at Company One Theatre. Cheyenne loves capturing conversations, the imagination, and the ways history cycles itself in our culture, language, clothing, and political beliefs. She started her art career in Boston, MA as a child actor where she appeared in historical pieces such as Aftershock: Beyond The Civil War directed by The History Channel, Fences directed by Up You Mighty Race Company, and Voices of Hope: Autobiography of Barbara Jordan directed by Jaqui Parker. Her love for theater has led her to write her first production, The Messenger, commissioned in 2022 by 5th Avenue Theatre.
As an artist who blends the power of storytelling, Cheyenne assumed the role of Independent Contemporary Art Curator through the platform Spiritual is Political, blending her expertise in radical space-making, art history, curriculum development, facilitation, and design. Her curation centers around histories, realities, and narratives that often go unnoticed and erased. Her curatorial practice has included collaborations with The Studio Museum in Harlem, Indigenous Curatorial Collective, The New Museum, and The Longwood Art Gallery, among others. Cheyenne holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Development & Social Change from Clark University and Master of Arts in Comparative and International Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Whether through intimate, character-driven plays or multi-sensory exhibitions, they seek to create spaces where audiences can experience what is, what was, and what could be. They hope to center the breadth of Black Indigenous Queer Technologies in this work.
The Messenger Company
Pascale Florestal | Director
Shawn Rene Graham | Dramaturg
Devika Ranjan (she/her) | Dramaturg
latrell “lala” novali | River Meya/Stage Direction
Steph Davis | Composer/Gyil
Kayla Sessoms | Zanyah
Rémani Lizana | Alice/Harriet
Kandyce Whittingham | Jade
Kai Clifton | Jaqui/Faith
Jeremiah Cossa | Pianist
Díjí Kay | Flutist
Pascale Florestal | Director
Pascale Florestal is a first generation Haitian American Queer Woman. She is a three time Elliot Norton Nominated Director, Educator, Dramaturg, Writer and Collaborator based in Boston, MA. Recent Directing Credits: Is This America? with White Snake Projects, Your Town with Central Square Theater Next to Normal with Central Square Theater and The Front Porch Arts Collective, MidSummer; Kinda? Written and Directed by Pascale Florestal at Suffolk University, World Premiere of Phaedra Michelle Scott’s DIASPORA! with New Repertory Theater, Magic Flute with MassOpera, Fairview with SpeakEasy Stage, Spring Awakening at Brandeis University, The Colored Museum with The Umbrella Performing Arts Center, Once On This Island with SpeakEasy Stage, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing with Emerson Stage, Everybody with Boston Conservatory and others. As an Assistant to the Director she has worked with Timothy Douglas, Liesl Tommy, Billy Porter, Paul Daigneault and M. Bevin O'Gara. Pascale served as the Associate Director to Gil Rose on X:The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Odyssey Opera and Kimberly Senior on Our Daughters, Like Pillars at The Huntington Theater. Pascale also served as the Associate Director for The Broadway National Tour of Jagged Little Pill. In 2021 Pascale was named one of the WBUR ARTery 25 Artists of Color Transforming the Cultural Landscape in Boston. In 2020 she won the Inaugural Greg Ferrell Award for her excellence in teaching and supporting young people. She serves as the Director of Education & Community Engagement for The Front Porch Arts Collective and is an Assistant Professor of Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music. SDC
Shawn Rene Graham | Dramaturg
Shawn René Graham [she/her] is a freelance writer and dramaturg from San Jose, California who has worked with countless writers such as Walter Mosely, Nilo Cruz, Lynn Nottage and Cori Thomas. She is currently the resident dramaturg of The American Slavery Project’s Unheard Voices, the Literary Director for the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Future Classics Series and Playwright’s Playground, and founder of All Creative Writes, an artistic assistance service designed to provide individual artists and performing arts organizations with administrative, fundraising and writing support. Ms. Graham holds degrees from the California State University, Los Angeles, and the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. She joined The Field in 2012 and lives in Bronx, NY with her dog, Mercy.
Devika Ranjan (she/her) | Dramaturg
Devika Ranjan (she/her) is a writer, ethnographer, theater-maker, and educator who tells stories about migration and technology. She creates communities of care through devised immersive performance and has facilitated workshops with migrants worldwide. As a Marshall Scholar, Devika holds degrees from Cambridge, RCSSD, and Georgetown. Devika is currently studying “data doubles” at Northwestern.
latrell “lala” novali | River Meya/Stage Direction
latrell novali, or “lala,” (he/they) is a mutli-passionate storyteller based on Massachusett land. His expansive cultural practice is one that wields creative expression and community-engaged arts as modes for collective healing and movement building efforts. Lala’s work knows no restriction, industry, trade, medium or otherwise and embraces handcrafts, creative writing, consultancy, education, research, mentorship, performance, organizing, and beyond. Informed by the works of Robin Wall Kimmerer and bell hooks, and other artivisms, his practice is always evolving based on community needs assessed via a love politic and ecological framework that lala calls “Thrivation.”
In addition to being a framework, Thrivation is also political philosophy that understands collective liberation requires the dismantlement of the powers that be. Through creative strategy, Indigenous ancestral wisdom and childlike wonder, we can actualize a world where historically marginalized peoples can thrive in reciprocity with each other, the planet and all of its inhabitants.
Steph Davis | Composer/Gyil
Steph Davis is a marimbist and cultural activist. Their music engages traditions, epistemologies, and aesthetics from the African diaspora as means for uncovering truthful historiographies, finding creative self-actualization, and reaching for collective liberation.
Hailed by The Washington Post as a "captivating" performer who brings "bright humanity and expressive depth" to contemporary music, Steph is a marimba soloist and chamber musician touring throughout the United States. Integrating Black and Western European classical music, traditional African American
Kayla Sessoms | Zanyah
KAYLA SESSOMS (Zanyah, The Messenger) is a theater artist in the Boston area. Kayla is the apprentice at the Front Porch Arts Collective. Some Acting Credits Include: Midsummer, Kinda? directed by Pascale Florestal, Julius Caesar directed by Bryn Boice, and Working: A Musical directed by Wes Savick. She is an alumni of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Apprentice Program (2023) and a Suffolk University college graduate (2024). She wants to thank the director, playwright, cast, and crew for welcoming her into the TTO family. (she/her)
Rémani Lizana | Alice/Harriet
Rémani Lizana (Harriet/Alice)- is excited to work with The Theater Offensive for the first time! They graduated from Salem State University in 2022 with their BFA Degree in Theatre Performance. Some of her recent credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Snug/Cobweb) at Actor’s Shakespeare Project, Sister Act (TJ) at Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Once On This Island (Papa Ge) at Actors Company of Natick, Into the Woods (Narrator/Mysterious Man), Much Ado About Nothing (Dogberry), Tiny Beautiful Things (Letter Writer 3), and Urinetown: The Musical (Officer Lockstock). Rémani shouts out God and their village!
Kandyce Whittingham | Jade
Kandyce Whittingham (she/they) is a theater artist, administrator, and educator with a passion for Shakespeare and new works (and yes, she sees the delightful irony in this). Some regional credits include: Portland Stage: Like Flies: a rage play. Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Macbeth. The Huntington: The Grove. Moonbox Productions: Holy Chicken Sandwich. Central Square Theater: Beyond Words. Actors' Shakespeare Project: The Taming of the Shrew. Apollinaire Theater Company: Hamlet. Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream. When Kandyce isn't acting, directing, or teaching, they work at Lyric Stage Boston as the Digital Marketing and Content Associate and The Front Porch Arts Collective as the Marketing Manager. Kandyce holds a BFA in Acting from Emerson College and is a proud Georgia native. Deep love and gratitude to the cast, creative team, and the TTO staff. @kandycekmw | www.kandycewhittingham.com
Kai Clifton | Jaqui/Faith
Kai Clifton (Faith/Jackie) is a multi-hyphenate artist from Boston, MA. Kai has sung with the Boston City Singers, the Voices of Hope and the award winning Spirituals Ensemble through the Boston Arts Academy. Kai even had the opportunity to travel to Italy to train in Classical/Oratorio vocal styles at The Assisi Performing Arts Program on a full scholarship. Musically, Kai has trained at Boston Arts Academy, Berklee college of music, and The New England Conservatory. With an equal passion for Theatre, some of Kai’s recent/favorite roles include Usher in the Regional Premiere of A Strange Loop (speakeasy stage company) Gloria in Madagascar (North Shore Music Theatre) Mary Sunshine in Chicago (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina) Ursula in The Little Mermaid (Palace Theatre) Miss Roj in The Colored Museum (The Umbrella Stage Company) and Sofia in The Color Purple (Umbrella stage company) which earned them an Elliot Norton nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Kai is also an award winning playwright who’s plays have been produced and seen in festivals; QUEENS at Moonbox Productions/Boston New Works Festival and Gods Dirty Deeds at Entropy Fest. Their original play QUEENS won the 2023 Broadway World Boston Award for Best New Play or Musical.
Díjí Kay | Flutist
Known for his soulful tone and mesmerizing phrasing, Trevor James Alto Flute Artist Díjí Kay (née DeShaun Gordon-King) has given performances as a soloist and principal flute in Europe, Asia, and throughout the United States. Díjí Kay grew up surrounded by griot traditions and jazz and gospel music. Inspired by the worlds and traditions of his upbringing, Díjí Kay grew passionate about programming that blends them all together to create unique and memorable concert experiences.
As he continued to expand his musical versatility, Díjí Kay also went inward to cultivate his spiritual practice. It was through these meditations that he understood exactly how he and his art were meant to serve the greater collective. Díjí Kay moved to Cambridge to pursue a Performance Diploma from the Longy School of Music where he worked with Sergio Pallottelli.
During his time in Boston, Díjí Kay has performed at Symphony Hall, Pickman Auditorium, Linde Center at Tanglewood, and has worked with Castle of Our Skins, the Celebrity Series of Boston, Shelter Music Boston, Boston Children’s Chorus, and with the American Repertory Theatre’s production of Evita. A graduate of the Longy School of Music and Harvard Ed Portal Pipeline Artist Fellow, Díjí Kay’s work and studies center around synergizing the principles of therapeutic music, sound healing, and vibrational therapy to curate healing and transformative concert experiences. He is deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute to amazing work The Theatre Offensive continues to do.
Jeremiah Cossa | Pianist
Jeremiah Cossa is the embodiment of a modern musician - a pianist dedicated to and proficient in a vast array of musical languages, leading an exciting and unorthodox career that spans classical and contemporary chamber repertoire, jazz improvisation, and rock performances. He has performed in prestigious concert halls including Merkin Hall and Roulette Intermedium in New York, jazz clubs such as The Lilypad in Cambridge and Sam First Bar in LA, and iconic rock venues like Ottobar in Baltimore and Chain Reaction in LA.
Jeremiah is a core member of the Art Rock band Cordis which Billboard Magazine has said creates “sparkling moments that defy classification” and plays in Parlando, a chamber orchestra based in NYC that has been recommended in the New York Times and reviewed as “off the scale for its integrity and emotional impact” by the NY Classical Review. Jeremiah’s Punk band nurse joy is a fixture of the Boston DIY music scene. Their latest record, “nu-wave” was called “the most indescribable record I’ve ever heard…. And at the same time one of the most addictive” by leading Punk blog Tremendo Garaje and music from it has been played on public-access television and local radio. As a Classically-trained musician, Jeremiah has appeared as soloist on repeat occasions with the Claremont Symphony Orchestra and with the Boston Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble. He has won Pyrenees Music Society’s Winter Festival competition, was 2nd prize winner of the MTNA Stecher-Horowitz Two Piano Competition with duo collaborator Kevin Madison, and received an honorable mention in the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition. Jeremiah is a regular interdisciplinary collaborator and performed the world premiere of choreography to Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos with the Boston Ballet’s second company.
Jeremiah grew up in eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) and started piano there at age 5, continuing to study after moving to California at age 11. He received a B.M. in Piano Performance from Azusa Pacific University in the studio of Dr. Robert Sage, followed by an M.M. at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, studying with Max Levinson from whom he still receives lessons and guidance.
Jeremiah’s music can be heard under his name on music streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music. His latest release is a solo improvisation on John Coltrane’s standard Giant Steps, and is the lead single from an upcoming solo record that juxtaposes music of Bach and Ravel with Jazz improvisations. Jeremiah approaches his kaleidoscopic range of musical experiences with profound gratitude, embracing different musical languages without hierarchy or distinction. He believes in the intrinsic beauty and significance of music in all its forms, recognizing that every live performance offers unique opportunities for artistic expression and connection.
Programs at the Theater Offensive
