Dr. Ayshia Mackie-Stephenson is a director, playwright and award-winning poet from Brooklyn, NY. She is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Performing Fusion Theatre in Boston, whose mission is to promote multiculturalism through the integration of art forms. With an MFA from the California Institute of Arts and a PhD in Communication from the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Ayshia uses media and performance to investigate human rights, race and sexuality. Her critical and creative work have appeared in Black Camera, Qualitative Inquiry, Boston University Press, Open to Interpretation, Imaginary Friends Press, A Gathering of the Tribes, International Review of Qualitative Research, and is forthcoming in Research and Drama Education. She has directed productions at the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center, Eggtooth Productions, The Arts Block (Greenfield, MA), Jewel Box Theatre in NYC, Arts at the Armory, Davis Square Theatre, and The Rockwell (Somerville, MA). She is Assistant Professor of Art and Performance Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. https://www.ayshiastephenson.com/ https://www.performingfusiontheatre.com/