PAIGE HERNANDEZ is a multidisciplinary artist who is critically acclaimed as a performer, director, playwright and choreographer.  As an AEA equity actress, she has performed on many stages throughout the country, has collaborated with the Lincoln Center and has been commissioned by several companies including the National New Play Network, the Smithsonian, The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse and the Glimmerglass Festival. 

Hernandez is the recipient of an Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council as well as four Helen Hayes nominations for choreography, directing and performance. She has also been named a “classroom hero” by The Huffington Post, a “Citizen Artist Fellow” with the Kennedy Center, “40 under 40” by the Washington Post and one of “Six Theatre Workers You Should Know” by American Theatre Magazine. 

Hernandez' work on inclusive spaces and theatre-based trauma informed practices has received international acclaim and garnered her such acknowledgement as the inaugural Victor Shargai Leadership Award and a repeat keynote speaker and presenter for Disney. 

In 2023, Hernandez was appointed to the Maryland State Arts Council by Governor Wes Moore. She was recently named one of the Top 5 Most Produced Artists for Theatre for Young Audiences. She is elated to be the Associate Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre in her hometown of Baltimore, MD. With her company B-FLY ENTERTAINMENT, Hernandez continues to develop and tour original work internationally.

www.paigehernandez.com

BAYE 'StraightForward' HARELL (aka Uncle Baye) is a writer, performer, producer, and historian. He has become a fixture within his hometown of Washington, DC as an artistic visionary who has worked towards bridging the theater and Hip Hop communities.

As students at Howard University, he focused his creative efforts toward bringing a theatrical approach to the traditional Hip Hop aesthetic. He completed his undergraduate education in 2004 with a BA in Sociology and a Minor in Film. He collaborated with an array of artists toward redefining and broadening the experiences within the Hip Hop community. They broke new ground with 2005's Listen: With Your Heart– a motion album and two years later with The Oldsouls: Mix Album.

Harrell has toured across the country to performance and educational institutions, produced and been featured on diverse variety recording projects, lent his talents to dozens of theatrical projects, and has co-written multiple stage productions including Hueman Prophets’ Read: White and Blue, an exploration of class division within the Hip Hop generation. He and his group have been the opening act for such notable artists as Questlove of The Roots, Common, Trey Songz and Dead Prez.

Harrel is also a voice-over actor, film and television actor,  teaching artist and mentor, and co-writer of All the Way Live! with Paige Hernandez. He is also currently developing a new draft of a piece inspired by the mystical and mysterious events that prompted the creation of Hip Hop culture under the working title of How the B-side Won.