The Team
Who We Are
Dietra Kelsey
Founder, CEO & Playwright
Dietra Kelsey is a multi-award winning dynamic host, producer, playwright, and performer whose work highlights African American culture, politics, and community engagement. She is the host and co-producer of Sistah Talk TV Show, a variety talk show featuring African American women discussing politics, hot topics, entertainment, and events within the community.
Kelsey’s theatrical accomplishments include writing, producing, Hip Hop Gospel musical, “Whose Side Are You On?” combatting gang and gun violence. Kelsey has wrote, produced and performed her one-woman show ZORA SPEAKS, which delves into the life of celebrated writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. She also created PASSAGE, a powerful exploration of the civil rights movement. Her writing has been showcased in prestigious events such as Letters to Our Daughters, produced by the Billie Holiday Theatre, and Frank Silvera workshops curated by playwright and MacArthur Fellow Dominique Morriseau (Ain’t Too Proud to Beg). The event was produced in New York and Los Angeles.
She has moderated a segment of The Frederick Douglass Continuum: Echoes of Our Ancestors, produced by Tammie Tyree demonstrating her ability to facilitate meaningful cultural dialogue. Her work as a filmmaker includes SENSELESS, a short thriller accepted into the Queens Underground Film Festival. Additionally, she has moderated panels on Entertainment Law and Crowdfunding at the Kwanzaa Film Festival in Harlem for the past two years. Kelsey is a recipient of THE LORRAINE HANSBERRY AWARD from Phenomenal Women organization. She is in pre-production for another run of ZORA SPEAKS and her Hip Hop Gospel Musical, “Whose Side Are You On?” combatting gang and gun violence in April. The musical has been in performance since 2019.
Kim LaRue is the CEO and Founder of Medicine Women Productions, hailing from the Bronx, NY. Her humanitarian efforts began at age 14 when she raised funds for low-birth weight babies through the March of Dimes Walkathon. This cause became personal when her first child was born with a low birth weight, leading her to further her commitment to helping others. She volunteered at Montefiore Hospital and worked with Hospital Audience Incorporated (HAI) to teach conflict resolution and HIV education in high schools and shelters. Kim has a passion for the arts, studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the New York School for Film and Television. She gained experience in stage production, serving as a production stage manager and technician for various award-winning theatrical productions. Some of her other credits include Sound Technician for "A Song for You Lena," Stage Manager for “ The Roots Remembered" project at Medger Evers College Preparatory School Brooklyn, N.Y. Assistant Stage Manager for "OBATALA King Of The White Cloth"; and Production Stage Manager for "Sango-Lord of Thunder" at The Riverside Church Theatre and The National Black Theatre, both located in Harlem, N.Y., Production Manager for Mount Vernon’s “Arts On Third” Multi-Cultural Stage with over 50,000 attendees. Light & sound technician for “Elaina Vance Last Dance” at Theater for the New City, production manager for nonprofit organization Excellence Sound Academy located in the Bronx and Harlem NY. These are just a few of the many endeavors Kim has embarked on. In 2009, she founded Medicine Women Productions (MWP), a multi-creative consultant production company that produces empowering and healing entertainment. Medicine Women Productions has successfully produced numerous theatrical works and digital media productions, focusing on artistic development for creators at different stages of their careers. Despite her myriad accomplishments, Kim LaRue’s most treasured achievement remains her role as a mother to her three children.
Kim Larue
Director/Associate Producer
Joy Renee
Performer
Joy Renée LeBlanc, a native of New York City, is an actress passionate about her craft. She studied at St. Francis College in Brooklyn and began her professional acting career in 2021, appearing in a short film that qualified for the 2022 Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. She made her stage debut in January 2022 and has since worked with the Negro Ensemble Company, Ishmael Reed Productions, NIA Theater Company, Black Spectrum Theater, X|X Theater, and Medicine Woman Productions. She has also been featured in multiple AUDELCO-nominated productions. Joy is deeply grateful to God, her ancestors, and her theater family for their unwavering love and support.
David Wright
Sound Designer
DAVID D. WRIGHT a eleven times Vivian Robinson, AUDELCO AWARD winner for Excellence in Black Theatre. He won for Excellence in Musical Direction for The National Black Theatre’s production of The Legacy, and he received nine Excellence in Sound Design Awards for Rome Neal’s Julius Caesar Set in Africa, Amiri Baraka’s Meeting Miss Lillie, The Nuyorican Poets Café’s production of Pepe Carill’s Shango de Ima, Joseph Edward’s American Place Theatre’s production of Fly, Take Wing and Soar’s 2007 production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet The National Black Theatre’s production of Oshun, which he authored and Take Wing and Soars production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Edgar Chisolm’s Savage Queen and Billie Holiday Theatre’s Reparations. He is also the recipient of AUDELCO’S Board of Directors Award.
David has sound designed for many theatres in the New York City metropolitan area, and across the country.
David, as an actor, was nominated for an Most Outstanding Lead Male Performance, Audelco for his channeled-like portrayal of the late Louis Armstrong in Ishmael Reed’s play, The C Above C Above High C.
David, has received a Parents Choice Award for his production of Stephen Di Lauro’s River Tales tape and CD, as well as a Golden Reel, Silver Reel and Special Merit Awards from The National Federation of Community Broadcasters for his numerous radio productions aired on WBAI-FM, in New York City. He also received a Law Enforcement Video Award for his musical score of an NYPD training film. He had produced, hosted and engineered his own radio program entitled Orature, a dramatic literary series.
David is a recipient of the National Arts Club’s Food for Thought Playwrighting Fellowship, and he isa Fellow of the Columbia School of the Arts, WGAE’s Harlem Arts Alliance Screenwriter’s Workshop. David is the producing playwright of the Orisha Tales Repertory Radio Theatre Company, having successfully co-produced six of his seven critically acclaimed Yoruba Dance Dramas: Oshun(The Yoruba Dance Drama)winner of one Audelco Award; Oya (The Yoruba Dance Drama) winner of four Audelco Awards including Outstanding Musical Production; Obatala (King of the White Cloth), two Audelco Nominations; Sango (Lord of Thunder), winner of Outstanding Choreography; The Creatures(Tales From the Bush) and Orunmila (The Adventures of the Father of Ifa Divination), one Audelco nomination. He is a retired twenty-two year decorated veteran of NYPD and an initiated Babalorisa, (Yoruba priest).
