Meres-Sia Gabriel is a poet, performer, and playwright whose one-woman show, I Was There Too!, offers a rare window into growing up inside the Black Panther Party. The multimedia piece has graced stages at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Legion of Honor, and Oakland Museum of
California. She is the bestselling author of I Twirl in the Smoke and founder of Life-Changing Writing, where she guides others in transforming memory into art. Meres-Sia is honored to join the Oakland Symphony tonight.