Workshop & Performance with Guest Artist Daniel Beaty
Award-winning actor, singer, writer, and composer
Actor, singer, writer, and composer Daniel Beaty visited Purdue University to present a workshop and a special one-man performance on October 23, 2019.
Write the Past/Create the Future: A Writing and Performance Workshop
Daniel Beaty led Purdue students, faculty, and staff in his workshop "Write the Past/Create the Future" -- learning to transform adversity into art on October 23, 2019. This opportunity was brought to the Department of Theatre through Vice Provost John Gates and the Division of Diversity and Inclusion.
Performance of One-Man Show: EMERGENCY
Mr. Beaty also performed his one-man show, Emergency, later in the evening at Fowler Hall on Purdue's campus. The event was free. Event description: A slave ship emerges in front of the Statue of Liberty sending New York into a whirlwind of emotion and exploration in this explosive solo tour de force featuring slam poetry, multi-character transformation, and song. Daniel Beaty portrays a cast of 40 characters - including a homeless man, a scientist, a business executive, a street vendor and an 11-year old boy from the projects who will all respond to the unexpected phenomenon. Emergency weaves a stirring commentary on what it is to be human and the longing to be free.
About Daniel Beaty
Daniel Beaty is an award-winning actor, singer, writer, and community activist. He is the co-writer and lead actor of the upcoming feature film Chapter & Verse with Loretta Devine and Omari Hardwick about a man who re-integrates into society after eight years in prison. His critically acclaimed plays Through the Night, Emergency, Mr. Joy, Breath & Imagination, and The Tallest Tree In the Forest – Paul Robeson, have been produced at leading theaters across the nation and venues ranging from Lincoln Center to the White House, garnering numerous awards including an Obie award for writing and performance and three NAACP Theatre Awards. A highly requested keynote speaker, Daniel has spoken throughout the U.S., Europe, and Africa. In 2012, Daniel created I Dream, a nationally recognized social justice initiative that uses the tools of the arts, immersive group exercises, and trauma recovery to support young people to rewrite the story of race and class inequity in America, and create social justice projects to make that new story reality. I Dream has reached over 2000 young people in three cities across the nation, Watts, CA; Omaha, NE; and Boston, MA. A graduate of Yale University (BA) and American Conservatory Theatre (MFA), Daniel has developed original TV shows for Showtime and Fox/Imagine, and recently completed a documentary about the impact of mass incarceration on children and families called BEHIND THE GLASS. A child of an incarcerated parent himself, Daniel’s poem “KNOCK KNOCK” is an Internet sensation receiving millions of views and has been made into a children's book, also titled KNOCK KNOCK, published by Little Brown Books. Penguin-Random House published his empowerment book TRANSFORMING PAIN TO POWER in 2014.