'Creating Drama in the Midst of Trauma' Panel

Artists have always used their personal pain to create and unpack the pain of universal truths. But what happens when the trauma is society-wide? When norms and institutions at every level, in every direction, change every foundation to quicksand? We’ll talk about how theatre creators can build courage, resiliency, and creativity in challenging times for the arts.

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MEET THE PANEL

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MODERATOR:

Michelle Tyrene Johnson’s work has been staged nationally in readings and productions, including at the Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival in NYC, the Pork Filled Productions Unleashed Festival in Seattle, Washington, the Florida Rep PlayLab Festival in Fort Myers, Florida, the KC Repertory Theatre’s reading series and its New Works Festival in Kansas City, Missouri, and Local Theatre’s PlayLab in Boulder, Colorado where her play was selected for a full production in the following season. Her commissioned play “Only One Day A Year” was selected for the Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices Festival in 2020, was the recipient of a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and had its world premiere at Coterie Theatre in 2023. Johnson received her MFA in Writing with an emphasis on playwriting in May 2022 from the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University. Visit her website here.

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PANELISTS:

Mera Kathryn Corlett is a community-builder and storytelling practitioner rooted in Louisville’s nonprofit and civic landscape. She serves as Program Lead for StoryFest Louisville. There, she cultivates a cohort experience where nonprofit leaders refine their stories, build trust, and mobilize their communities.

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Dr. Nikki Lanier is an internationally recognized organizational strategist and nationally recognized authority on the future of work, demographic change, and economic equity. As the founder and CEO of Harper Slade, an advisory firm focused on preparing for a multicultural economy, Nikki is a frequent media commentator and analyst, with appearances and features on platforms including CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg TV, Schwab TV, Forbes, USA Today, and other national outlets.

Her commentary translates complex economic and demographic trends into accessible, compelling insights for business leaders, policymakers, and the public. She is widely sought after for her ability to connect data, lived experience, and systems-level thinking. A previous labor and employment attorney, 3X Chief Human Resources Officer, Previous Cabinet Secretary for the Commonwealth of KY, and Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve, Nikki earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law and her Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Hampton University.

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Larry Muhammad is an award-winning playwright and producing director of Kentucky Black Repertory Theatre. His plays have been performed in New York at New Federal Theatre; in Los Angeles at Robey Theatre Company; the National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, NC.; in Cincinnati at the Aronoff Center; in Louisville at Actors Theatre, Muhammad Ali Center, The Henry Clay, and Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. They include: “DOUBLE V”, a docudrama of the Negro Press in World War II featuring Louisville Defender publisher Frank Stanley Sr.; JOCKEY JIM, about Kentucky Derby winner Jimmy Winkfield, last of the great black jockeys; and WHO KILLED ALBERTA JONES?, about the trailblazing Louisville activist murdered mysteriously in 1965. See Larry’s page on New Play Exchange here.

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Gil Reyes is a theatre artist who focuses his creative collaborative energy on directing. He is the Producing Artistic Director for Pandora Productions, Louisville's longest-running LGBTQIA+ focused theatre company. In Louisville, he co-founded and served as Co-Artistic Director of Theatre [502], worked for Congressman Yarmuth, and currently serves on the Fairness Campaign Coordinating Committee.

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