Marc Bamuthi Joseph, originally from NYC, is an arts activist currently living in Oakland, California. In the Fall of 2007, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine after being named one of America’s Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. He is a National Poetry Slam champion, Broadway veteran, GOLDIE award winner, featured artist on Russell Simmons' Def Poetry on HBO and inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship. His evening-length works have been presented throughout the United States and Europe and include Word Becomes Flesh, Scourge, De/Cipher and No Man's Land. His performances have been described as everything from “electrifying” (The Houston Chronicle), to “ever-elegant” (The Washington Post) and have compelled The Seattle Times to name him their “cutting edge performer of the year” for 2003. In their recent review of Word Becomes Flesh, the New York Times declared his work to be “eloquent. . .seamless. . .and remarkable” and The Chicago Tribune named it the Best Solo Show of 2006. Bamuthi’s next project, red black and green: a blues performatively documents the eco-equity movement towards green collar jobs in Black neighborhoods. His current evening length work, the break/s was developed while completing the prestigious Arts Institute Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His critical writing is currently featured in Jeff Chang’s Total Chaos and his first non-fiction book, Line Breaks: A Source Guide to Hip Hop Theater will be published by The University of Wisconsin Press in Spring 2008. A resident at ODC Theater and Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, Bamuthi’s proudest work has been with Youth Speaks where he mentors 13-19 year old writers and curates the Living Word Festival for Literary Arts.
