PT Ensemble
"Performance and writing here are astonishingly vivid..." - NYC ShowBusiness Weekly
Since 2001, the demands of PT's touring schedule and growing performance reperotire has allowed us to share the stage with many artists. The bios here represent the founding and core members of the Progress Theatre ensemble.
CRISTAL CHANELLE TRUSCOTT (Artistic Director/Playwright) is founder of PROGRESS THEATRE. She is a graduate of the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (Houston, TX) and a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at New York University. Her premiere play PEACHES is currently featured in the anthology Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Theatre from the Hip Hop Generation published by Theatre Communications Group in 2009-10. In addition to her PT plays PEACHES and 'MEMBUH, Cristal also co-wrote Notice Me, presented at NYC's Fringe Theater Festival and is completeing two new plays for the PT repertoire titled Shahadah and The Rain. Cristal has been a guest lecturer/speaker at universities and arts programs nationwide including San Francisco State University, University of Houston, Spelman College, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Columbia University and is currently Coordinator and Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department at Prairie View A & M University. Her artistic work has garnered recognition & grants from the likes of the Ford Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, Gates Millennium Scholars, National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and the National Performance Network. Cristal is former Assistant Editor of TDR: The Drama Review and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Network of Ensemble Theaters. She has been an invited artist participant in groundbreaking national and international conferences such as “Future Aesthetics: Hip Hop and Contemporary Performance” funded by the Ford Foundation and “Diversity Dialogues,” lead by the US Embassy to the Netherlands and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. As a playwright, Cristal blends academic and pop-culture conversations to examine the concerns and struggles of our times, striving ultimately to be of some assistance to efforts toward peace, freedom and progress.
MAIESHA MCQUEEN (Music Composer; Actor) began her artistic activism as a member of the Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble of Atlanta where she developed as a performer & musical composer. She holds a BFA in Theatre from Tisch School of the Arts with a minor in Applied Theatre and a Masters In Education from Fordham University. Maiesha became an ensemble member of PEACHES and founding member of PROGRESS THEATRE in 2001 and her artistic collaboration with Cristal Chanelle Truscott began. In addition to writing and arranging the original scores for PEACHES & 'MEMBUH, Maiesha is an educational outreach coordinator of GENERATION PROGRESS, PT’s arts education initiative, where she has developed a series of workshops that help artists use singing/songwriting as tools to express urgency, emotion and to promote change.
DANA BOWLES (Actor; Generation Progress - Baltimore Program Director) holds a BFA degree in Drama with an Africana Studies minor from New York University and a Masters in Education with a theatre concentration from the University of Maryland. Dana is Program Director of PT’s GENERATION PROGRESS program in her hometown of Baltimore, where she first gained a love for ensemble work as a student at The Baltimore School for the Arts. She believes in being a part of work that makes bold statements, encourages awareness and change, and is unapologetic about being progressive. As a PROGRESS THEATRE founding member, Dana has helped to create a unique collaborative space in which she can share her visions for her life as an artist and human being.
SUPPORTING ENSEMBLE
Tashiya Umoja (Actor) first performed as a child with the New Afrikan Scout organization in Atlanta, GA, then went on to the performing arts program at North Atlanta High School. At NAH she majored in theatre and chorus while performing in several stage productions and commercials. Tashiya has also studied voice through the genres of classical, jazz and gospel music. She currently works at the home school project, Kilombo Cultural and Educational Institute and is a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. With PROGRESS THEATRE, Tashiya is excited about doing work that will not only entertain, but is meant to move people through art into action.