Passing Strange is a daring, hilarious, and moving musical that takes us on a journey across boundaries of place, identity, and theatrical convention with a young bohemian who charts a course for “the real” through sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Written by the acclaimed singer-songwriter and performance artist Stew, Passing Strange is loaded with soulful lyrics and overflowing with passion, Stew’s storytelling brings us from Black middle-class America to Amsterdam, Berlin, and beyond on a journey towards personal and artistic authenticity.
PASSING STRANGE
Loaded with soulful lyrics and overflowing with passion
Passing Strange is a daring, hilarious, and moving musical that takes us on a journey across boundaries of place, identity, and theatrical convention with a young bohemian who charts a course for “the real” through sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.
Meet The Cast
Colin Carswell
Rev. Jones, Terry, Christophe, Hugo
Colin Carswell is an actor, writer, and musician based in NYC by way of Nashville. Set on becoming one of Hollywood’s next big multi-hyphenates, he wants to be a reflection of the beautiful complex messes that we all tend to be. He was last seen in the Cincinnati Playhouse & Actors Theatre of Louisville co-production of Once On This Island. Thank you to God, his family and friends, his reps, DPT, and all the artists inside of all of us. This one is for high school Colin.
Lulu Fall
Edwina, Mariana/Desi
Lulu is a singer, award-winning songwriter, actor, and visual artist from Washington, DC. Lulu is a jazz/soul vocalist with a musical theatre background, newly based in Detroit. Theatrical highlights: HAIR (first National tour, Broadway); Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway, off-Broadway); Hadestown (off-Broadway); Wild Goose Dreams (off-Broadway); Hastings Street (Detroit Music Hall). TV credits: Random Acts of Flyness (HBO); The Last O.G. (TBS); The 71st Tony Awards (ensemble performance for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812). Lulu was a finalist in the 4th annual Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition. Lulu independently released her debut EP, It’s Official, in 2009. Other music releases: Heal: Part 1, in 2015; The Unpaved Road, in 2017; Between Two Worlds, in 2019 under Ropeadope Records; Transform, was released in 2022. Songwriting Competition highlights include: Mid-Atlantic Song Competition (MASC); TOP 5 WINNER in the Great American Song Contest; International Songwriting Competition (ISC). In 2021, Lulu launched her visual art Etsy shop, LuluFallAbstracts.
Bereket Mengistu
Youth
Bereket grew up in Ethiopia adoring Hollywood and Bollywood movies. He got his first professional theater training at the Ethiopian National Theater in 2010, and that shifted his passion to the stage. He moved to New York in 2015 and since then has had the pleasure of playing remarkable roles at his college, off-off-Broadway, and off-Broadway stages: Oedipus, Hamlet, Prospero, and Oberon, to name a few. He is committed to spreading his Black Boy Joy throughout the country and the world.
Lee Palmer
Narrator
Lee makes his Detroit Public Theatre debut. A veteran actor whose career has taken him all over the map, Lee recently appeared as the Narrator in Passing Strange at Salt Lake Acting Company and is thrilled to revisit this compelling piece. Other select credits include Jitney (Congo Square Theatre—Jeff Award nomination, Black Excellence Award winner); The Full Monty, Newsies, Once on this Island (Skylight Music Theatre); Miss You Like Hell (TheatreSquared); The Whipping Man (Fulton Theatre); A Murder is Announced, Ghost The Musical (Peninsula Players); Julius Caesar, Taming of the Shrew, The Seagull (Michigan Shakespeare Festival); Two Trains Running (Goodman Theatre); To Kill a Mockingbird, Williams & Walker, Psychedelic Sundae, Benito Cereno (Milwaukee Repertory Theater); Race, microcrisis, Perfect Mendacity, The Exonerated (Next Act Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville); and Five Guys Named Moe (Tour and Mill Mountain Theatre). Primetime television: Empire (FOX) and Chicago Fire (NBC). Feature films: Small Town Wisconsin, Olympia, and Spike Lee’s CHI-RAQ. Proud member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA.
Monica Palmer
Mother
Monica is a native Detroiter. Actors Equity member. She is a graduate of Cass Technical High School. She received her BFA in Theatre from Wayne State University, and MFA in Theatre from Cornell University. Credits include: The Lion King National Tour, Oo-Bla-Dee directed by Ruben Santago-Hudson and written by Regina Taylor, Menopause the Musical, produced by G4 Productions, Sistas the Musical at the Meadowbrook Theatre and also Off-Broadway in NYC. Monica has traveled nationally and internationally, enjoying performing for audiences around the world. Yet, her greatest joy is to perform in her hometown for her loving and supportive family and making her debut on the DPT stage.
Ben Will
Mr. Franklin, Joop, Mr. Venus
Ben is a Black singer/songwriter, poet, spoken word artist, community organizer, and actor native to Detroit. As an ambassador with the US Department of State, (or the coolest dude in the room at any diplomatic function), Ben recently partnered with the US Embassy Belgium for a musical mental health tour as lead singer of The Ben Will Band. As a poet, Ben was lauded as the 2022 Motown Mic Spoken Word Artist of the Year, a 2022 Poetry Foundation Equity in Verse recipient, and opened for New York Times bestselling author Rupi Kaur. Ben serves as executive director of Motor City Sings, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that uses music to remove stigma from suicide prevention for Black Detroiters. Ben’s acting was last seen in the 2017 critically acclaimed world premiere of James Armstrong’s Capital at the Detroit Repertory Theatre. Outside of his art and activism, Ben is also the single father of a disgruntled domestic shorthair cat: Sir Brixton Black Lives Matter Alexander Cattington Williams Theee First.
Samara Naier
Sherry, Renata, Sudabey
Samara Naier is a singer/songwriter, voice-over artist, and theatre actress based out of Detroit who performed the role of Lutiebelle in the Off-Broadway adaptation of Purlie. She was a lead performer in the Off-Broadway musical revue Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and she worked with the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, playing Wanda Young of The Marvelettes in Now That I Can Dance: Motown 1962, a story based on The Marvelettes and Motown’s early days written by Mosaic’s founder, Rick Sperling. Samara studied with the founder/artistic director of Tectonic Theater Project and award-winning director and playwright Moises Kaufman in New York City, focusing on Moment Work, and has been acting for over 30 years. She is thrilled to be back on stage after taking a break to focus on her singing and an acting career in film/TV.
Meet The Creative Team
John Sloan III
Director
John Sloan III is a Detroit-based arts professional and community organizer. After studying musical theatre at The University of Michigan, where he earned his BFA, Sloan spent over fourteen years working in New York, LA, several regional theatres, and on the national tour of Disney’s The Lion King. Sloan is the lead organizer for Black Lives Matter Detroit, and Director of Operations for The Detroit Safety Team. He is the Founding CEO/Artistic Director of GhostLight Creative Productions and the Founding Executive Director of the GhostLight Arts Initiative, Producing Artistic Director of The Obsidian Theatre Festival, and the Film Producer for the Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival. Member – Actors Equity Association, Screen Actor’s Guild, Dramatist Guild of America. Composer and Lyricist credits include Hastings Street and #24viralmonologues. Recent Director Credits: “Gem of the Ocean” at Detroit Repertory Theatre, “Passing Strange” at Detroit Public Theatre, and Flint Rep’s New Works’ Festival 2023.
Brian Buckner
Music Director
Brian E Buckner is an extremely active pianist, vocal coach, and musical director in Southeast/Mid-Michigan. Specializing in the genre of musical theatre, Mr. Buckner is a four-time Wilde award winner, and very appreciative of Stephen and The J for the opportunity to perform here again! Recent credits include Souvenir (The Dio, Pinckney); Obsidian Theatre Festival (Detroit); Passing Strange (Detroit Public Theatre); Blues in the Night (Meadow Brook Theatre, Auburn Hills); and Gem of the Ocean (The Detroit Rep), as well as serving as music director for the Willis C. Patterson Our Own Thing Chorale (Ann Arbor) and The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation (Ann Arbor).
Carollette Phillips
Choreographer
Carollette Phillips is proud to be a native Detroiter, MFA Acting graduate of the Hilberry Repertory Company at Wayne State University, and alum of Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. While her roots are in theatre, ranging from Shakespeare to contemporary works, Carollette has also appeared in films including “American Prophet” and “Do You Believe.” You may have also seen her in the recurring role of Rhonda Devereaux on the Comedy Central series, “Detroiters.” In addition to her love of acting, Carollette has an extensive background in dance. As the Artistic Director of the LSODance Company and Resident Choreographer of Mosaic, her work has been featured on stages across America and beyond. When Carollette is not acting, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.
Monika Essen
Scenic Design
Moníka Essen is an award-winning, nationally recognized artist and designer. The recipient of the prestigious Lawrence DeVine Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre, she studied interior architecture and Environmental Design at Parsons School of Design NYC and received her MFA in scenography from the renowned Hilberry Repertory Co. Ms. Essen has designed countless productions in theatre, opera and film, and is currently the Resident Designer at the Michigan Opera Theatre, where she has just recently designed their highly acclaimed productions of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” and “Frida”, which also just made its debut at the Florida Grand Opera, and will be traveling to The Atlanta Opera in October. Other local favorites include “The Foursome,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, and “The Impossibilty of Now” at Tipping Point Theatre, and “Murder Ballad” and “American Hero” here at Detroit Public Theatre. Additionally, she creates furniture, museum exhibits, interiors and full sensory, multimedia environments for residential and commercial clients, including the Detroit Zoo. All her design work can be viewed at www.studioepoque.com
Kwame Wells
Lighting Design
Coming Soon.
Reyana Patterson
Costume Design
Lumumba Reynolds
Sound Design
Lumumba Leon Reynolds II was educated in Detroit Public Schools. During the summers of his youth, he studied stagecraft and public speaking under renowned entertainer, Motown artist Kim Weston’s Festival For The Performing Arts. In his teens, Lumumba was a DJ for house parties, cabarets and various hall parties including the Boblo Boat. After graduating from Cooley High School, Lumumba went on to earn a degree from Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts. Lumumba has a passion for sound design, has been a practitioner since the 80’s, teaches sound design and engineering at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, and is honored to contribute to the storytelling excellence that is always on display at Detroit Public Theatre.
Reyanna Patterson
Props Design
Doran Konja
Stage Manager
Doran Konja (he/him) – Doran is a Theatre Artist and Grant Writer that is more than excited to be back for DPT’s 9th Season. As a local Chaldean artist, he deeply appreciates DPT’s efforts to reflect the unique and diverse communities in Detroit through the work we produce. Some of his most memorable credits outside of DPT were with Shakespeare in Detroit (Detroit), The In[HEIR]itance Project (Detroit), The Agency (Chicago), and The New Coordinates (Chicago).
Chris Corporandy
Dialect
Chris Corporandy (Dialect Design and Coaching) has performed, coached, and taught around the world but loves Detroit best. Voice/Speech/Dialects (selected): American Hero, Murder Ballad, Dot, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Noura, Passing Strange, Eight Nights, Confederates (DPT); Blood at the Root, One Man Two Guv’nors, Noises Off, Taming of the Shrew (Chautauqua Theatre Co.); The Letts Fest (Alliance Theatre); Venus, Angels in America, The Colored Museum, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It (Hilberry Rep). Acting (selected): Dot, Birthday Candles (DPT); Dan Cody’s Yacht, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Romeo & Juliet Project (Chautauqua); The Brown Bull (Cherry Lane). Film: Savannah, The Wolf of Wall Street. MFA: Acting, Hilberry Rep. BFA: Acting, NYU Tisch. Certified in Knight-Thompson Speech Work. Chris is grateful to Mr. Marable, the wonderful cast, and the DPT family for trusting him on this one.
Badriyyah Wazeerud-Din
Assistant Stage Manager
Badriyyah is delighted to be a part of the DPT family. She has worked on DPT productions Mud Row, Noura, Peculiar Patriot (build crew/light board), and Detroit ’67 On Tour & Passing Strange (ASM). She has been a stage manager and production assistant for the African World Festival, and a stage manager for the Obsidian Theatre Festival. As a resident of Detroit, DPT’s creative space in the community resonates deeply with her, where diverse and powerful stories come to life. She loves the performing arts and has appeared in musical theatre productions and has performed as an instrumentalist. Badriyyah is a captivating singer-songwriter, recording, and voiceover artist who enjoys performing and telling stories through music. She has performed and recorded with many artists including Painted Pictures, Malik Alston & The Linwood Ensemble, Sean Blackman, and Veronique. Her current well-received vinyl EP project is “You Are The One” (Truth Manifest Records). Family and friends bring her the greatest blessings and joy. IG: @badriyyahthesinger
