"The process showed me how to put together a show without compromising

the mental/emotional health of your cast and crew."

~ Student actor, Young Griots: New Works for the Stage 2025

Founded in 2024 by Professor Denise J. Hart, Restorative Theatre Performance Project (RTPP), is a collaborative performing arts-based research initiative that employs restorative practices to build bridges between arts, culture and science to engender social change.

Restorative practices have ancient roots in Indigenous cultures worldwide that focus on repairing harm. It employs the idea that a thriving community is interconnected and when harm occurs it does not simply affect those involved, but the entire community.

The arts are inherently multi-disciplinary and have always been used to incite change, thus, RTPP develops arts centric multi-disciplinary programming and provides reimagined performing arts training that utilize restorative practices to offer the arts community new paradigms for ways of thinking, knowing and being.

RTPP's restorative values methodology helps theatre leaders and practitioners move away from a culture that centers a punitive hierarchical power structure and move towards eradicating the perpetuation of harmful industry practices which remains pervasive in theatre audition, rehearsal and performance.

Denise is experienced in creating transformational trainings that support arts leaders, educators and practitioners, helping them learn from the past, create meaningful change and elevate organizational narrative and image.

RTPP Multi-Disciplinary Programming

RTPP’s multi-disciplinary programming strives to explore societal issues with integrated communities of various academic disciplines, practitioners and community members.

Our programming addresses complex, real-world problems with the goal of creating new holistic understandings that generate collaboration, co-creation, shared understanding along with ideas and actionable solutions.

Young Griots: New Works for the Stage, created by Professor Denise J. Hart, to serve as the vehicle to explore and develop the theory and methodology for Restorative Theatre Performance Project, Young Griots had its inaugural launch at Howard University in fall 2025.

Young Griots, a collaborative student play development program, celebrates the powerful voices of young emerging playwrights of color who address social change through their work.

Professor Hart looks forward to collaborating with the Department of Media, Journalism and Film at Howard University for Young Griots: New Works for the Stage 2026.

Play Development Lab is a play development incubator offering comprehensive play development support to professional Black women playwrights. The Lab, an academic creative research endeavor is under the direction of Professor Denise J. Hart and collaborates with the Howard University Department of Theatre Art's New Works Initiative. Through this program, Professor Hart aims to advance creative processes, enhance their craft, and foster long-term careers for playwrights.

RTPP Restorative Theatre Training

RTPP’s theatre training framework, Restorative Theatre Training, is designed for academic and professional theatre spaces, educators, leaders and practitioners, to help them reimagine training paradigms and establish baseline standards and optimal methods for wellbeing and harm reduction in performing arts training, audition, rehearsal and performance.

We seek to collaborate with existing arts organizations, universities and arts/theatre training spaces because they play a critical role in reimagining the history and culture of theatre training.

The research will engage in using restorative practices to establish baseline standards and optimal methods for wellbeing and harm reduction in performing arts training.

The training framework works comfortably with existing arts/theatre training theories and philosophies. Through restorative centered training, RTPP strives to transform both academic and professional performing arts training environments.

Our performing arts training workshops will help participants learn tools that allow them to participate in, create, manage and transmute restorative practices in audition, rehearsal and performance space.

Through its programming and training RTPP seeks to disrupt and intervene to create social change for the betterment of humanity.

Young Griots: New Works for the Stage 2025

Young Griots, a student play development program, celebrates the powerful voices of young emerging playwrights of color who address social change through their work.

Created by Professor Denise J. Hart, to serve as the vehicle to explore and develop the theory and methodology for her research initiative, Restorative Theatre Performance Project (RTPP), Young Griots had its inaugural launch at Howard University in fall 2025.

Throughout the audition, rehearsal and performance process for Young Griots, the research found that the expression and implementation of the following restorative values had significant impact for both practitioner and audience: Community, Collaboration, Respect, Inclusivity, Mutual learning, Insight, Process, Co-creation, Curiosity, Incubation, Discovery, Codes of Conduct, De-Roling, Stress Reduction, Trust, Consent and Audience inclusion.

Performance Photos: Echo Chamber by Kevoy Somerville

Photos by Benita Gladney

Rehearsal Photos: Echo Chamber by Kevoy Somerville

Photos by Denise J. Hart

The vehicle for the development of the RTPP applied methodology is a curated student play development event, Young Griots: New Works for the Stage. All plays are written by playwriting students at Howard University,

Plays, Playwrights & Cast

Two Sides to Black written by Efeoghene Rhonor, senior Musical Theatre major & playwriting minor:
- Cast: Mahlet Gebreyesus, T. Lang, Niani Braxton, Kameron Outland
5 Minutes written by Essence Jackson, senior TV and Film major & playwriting minor
- Cast: Cody Holmes, Skylar Wilson

Young Griots is a student play development initiative that celebrates the powerful voices of young emerging playwrights.

Plays, Playwrights & Cast

Echo Chamber written by Kevoy Sommerville, junior Acting major & playwriting minor
- Cast: Mahlet Gebreyesus, T. Lang, Niani Braxton
Incline written by Joycelyn Jackson, senior TV and Film major & playwriting minor
- Cast: Cody Holmes, Skylar Wilson

Performance Photos: 5 Minutes by Essence Jackson

Photos by Benita Gladney

Rehearsal Photos: 5 Minutes by Essence Jackson

Photos by Denise J. Hart

Performance Photos: Two Sides to Black by Efeoghene Rhonor

Photos by Benita Gladney

Rehearsal Photos: : Two Sides to Black by Efeoghene Rhonor

Photos by Denise J. Hart

Performance Photos: Incline by Joycelyn Jackson

Photos by Benita Gladney

Rehearsal Photos: Incline by Joycelyn Jackson

Photos by Denise J. Hart

5 Minutes by Essence Jackson

Echo Chamber by Kevoy Somerville

Incline by Joycelyn Jackson

Two Sides to Black by Efeoghene Rhonor

Thank you's & Reviews

Bringing Black Joy to the Stage

The next generation of Black storytellers is stepping into the spotlight at Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Oct. 9-11 to present “Young Griots: New Works for the Stage,” a showcase of four original 10-minute plays written by student playwrights exploring love, identity, and the many shades of Black joy.

Directed by Professor Denise J. Hart, the production highlights the creative voices of Essence Jackson, Kevoy Sommerville, Joycelyn Sophia Jackson, and Efeoghene Rhonor, students in Howard’s Playwriting minor program. “5 Minutes,” “Echo Chamber,” “Incline,” and “Two Sides to Black” will debut at the Al Freeman Jr. Environmental Theatre Space in Childers Hall.

This is the inaugural showcase from the department and they are anticipating it for years to come. “I conceived this project, which I've coined Young Griots: New Works for the Stage. It was designed to support these very talented student writers who I have been training for over 20 years, and to create a fully student-centered production—from the playwrights and actors to the designers and producers, " said Professor Denise J. Hart

"Ever since the 2020 pandemic, Black joy has been a trending topic,” said Hart. “Whether it’s on stage or screen, audiences want to experience stories that reflect the diverse expression of the Black diaspora. These playwrights reclaim and interrogate Black joy through deeply vulnerable relationships — siblings, partners, marriages, and friendships — and I’m moved by how they pursue joy by any means necessary.”

The student playwrights view the experience as both an artistic milestone and a journey of personal growth. “Before coming to Howard, I had no intention of becoming a playwright,” said Sommerville. “Being here has shown me that I have a voice worth sharing with the world — and a responsibility to be a contributor, not just a consumer.”

Dr. Khalid Y. Long, associate dean for research and creative endeavors and interim chair of the Department of Theatre Arts, emphasized the showcase’s importance to Howard’s artistic mission. “Events like this help us fulfill our role as the center of the Black dramatic narrative,” he said. “These plays demonstrate rigor, creativity, and a deep seriousness about the craft of storytelling.”

When asked about the audience reception, Professor Hart said the proof is in the pudding. “It was absolutely outstanding, and that’s because the audience response tells the tale. When you have a production where the audience doesn’t want to leave the lobby afterwards, that’s a very significant sign of how deeply they were engaged,” she said.

As one of the nation’s leading institutions for arts education, the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts continues to honor its namesake’s legacy by nurturing bold voices and expanding the canon of Black theatre. With “Young Griots,” Howard once again affirms its place as a cradle of creativity where young artists write, act, and imagine futures rooted in truth, culture, and joy.

DC Theatre Arts review CLICK HERE for full article.

Under the title Young Griots: New Works for the Stage, the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Department of Theatre Arts at Howard University showcased works from four students in its Playwrights minor program. The production, directed by Professor Denise J. Hart, was performed October 9 through 11, 2025.

All times can be said to be difficult in some ways, but in the face of our current difficult times, Young Griots: New Works for the Stage offered visions of a way forward. As I watched and absorbed the efforts of these young playwrights at the beginning of their journeys, I felt a sense of hope that continued to grow as each successive play unfolded.

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