ML ROBERTS
ML Roberts is a writer and performer who believes that art can model and illuminate paths(past, present and future) toward collective liberation. He uses his work to highlight, examine and decontruct the effects of what bell hooks called the imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist, cis-hetero, patriarchy. He is the son of a Veteran, descendent of the Gullah Geechee of the Carolinas, and company member of ACT Theatre (Seattle) and Indianapolis Shakespeare Company. Incoming MFA Candidate in Playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, BFA in Acting from UNC School of the Arts.
FELLOWSHIP PROJECT AND ENGAGEMENT
ABOLITIONISTS
8 to Abolition Point:
Invest in Community Self Governance & Provide Safe Housing for Everyone
How does abuse originate and how do we stop it? A liberatory collective of Black women farmers become abolitionists after kidnapping the abuser of one of their members. Inspired by the work of Mariame Kaba, Mimi Kim and countless Transformative Justice practitioners, this play examines the causes of and efforts to address gendered violence in an imagined community as a means towards modeling alternatives to punitive and carceral systems in our real ones.
ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
Audiences will develop TJ and RJ practices in their respective communities by learning different toolkits and models. As the play travels from theatres, schools, to community centers and abolition focused organizations, audiences will be led to organizers, pamphlets, books, websites, already addressing gendered violence.
Lorenzo can be reached at mlroberts45@gmail.com.
MORE FELLOWS & PROJECTS
SAFETY IS:
YOUTH VIDEO-POEMS IN AUSTIN, TX SCHOOLS
8 to Abolition Point
REMOVE POLICE FROM SCHOOLS
WE ARE HOLDING THIS
8 to Abolition Point
INVEST IN COMMUNITY SELF-GOVERNANCE