Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Joseph is currently developing The Black Whole, which will debut at Laney College in 2020.

His latest piece, “The Just and the Blind,” investigates the crisis of over-sentencing in the prison industrial complex, and premiered at Carnegie Hall in March 2019.

Joseph became the Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in January 2019.

Joseph left his role as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at YBCA at the end of 2018.

The Center commissioned him to write his play, /peh-LO-tah/, in 2017. It "explores the matter of black life and the ecology of egalitarianism" through the lens of futbol, pitting the enjoyment of the game against the political realities of the Global South. It toured across North America for three years, including at BAM’s Harvey Theater as a part of the 2017 Next Wave Festival.

Joseph has collaborated twice with composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain. In 2016, he and Roumain toured their joint concert, 'Blackbird, Fly'. We Shall Not Be Moved was named one of 2017’s “Best Classical Music Performances” by The New York Times, which featured Roumain composition and Joseph opera libretto.

He has previously performed at the Center in 2013 for the “One Mic Hip Hop Culture Worldwide” festival, in 2014 for Red, Black & Green: A Blues, and in 2018 for a live performance of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me.

Joseph premiered his dance theater piece, Red, Black & Green, (a collaboration with artist Theaster Gates) at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in 2011. Shortly afterward, he was interviewed for an administrative role at the institution and in February 2012, he became Director of Performing Arts

In the fall of 2007 he appeared on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine. Two of his works have been featured at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, Chicago, Sudan in 2011, and the break/s in 2008.

In 2006, he presented Scourge, a hip-hop/spoken word/dance performance reflecting upon his native Haiti's history and future. This was done in collaboration with choreographers Rennie Harris and Adia Whitaker and it was directed by Kamilah Forbes.

His work was featured in episodes of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry on HBO in 2004 and 2005.

In 2003, he debuted his “choreo-poem”, Word Becomes Flesh, about love, fatherhood, and legacy.

In 1999, he became National Poetry Slam champion in 1999 as part of the San Francisco team. He went on to work with Katherine Dunham, Joe Hahn, Mos Def, and Bonnie Raitt.

In 1999 he became the Arts in Education Director and the eventual Artistic Director of Youth Speaks, and helped to name and found the Brave New Voices Festival and Network.

In 1998, Joseph worked with the Senegalese National Ballet.

Joseph attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA., where he was involved in the spoken word movement with classmate, Saul Williams. After graduating from Morehouse College in 1997, he was hired by The Branson School to teach English and dance.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph (born 1975) is a spoken-word poet, dancer, playwright, and educator who frequently directs stand-alone hip-hop theater plays.