Arielle Julia Brown is an artist, curator and creative wayfinder who directs and supports cultural spaces as sites for radical imagination, vision building and social transformation in her communities. Raised between Hayward, California and Conley, Georgia by her beloved migratory people, Arielle now also calls Philadelphia, Pennsylvania home. Arielle’s practices traverse playwriting, cultural strategy, research, evaluation, performance curation, dramaturgy, facilitation and performance making. Working most frequently in performance, philanthropic, memory work and cultural organizing spaces, Arielle’s offerings help create the conditions for the truthtelling necessary for the building of Beloved Community. As a mother and rigorous believer in the power of young people, Arielle endeavors across all of her work to be an accomplice to the free, resourced and self-determined futures of young people. Artistically, Arielle is committed to supporting and creating Black performance work that commands imaginative and material space for social transformation. Arielle was recognized by Intersection for the Arts as a 2014 Changemaker. She was a Mellon Artistic Leadership Fellow for the 2014 Encuentro at LATC. She was a 2017-2018 Inaugural Diversity and Leadership Fellow at Alliance of Artists Communities. Arielle was a 2019 Monument Lab National Fellow. Arielle is a 2021 Leeway Transformation Awardee. Arielle was in the inaugural cohort (2021 -2024) of Called By Water conceived and led by Omi Osun Joni L. Jones and Sharon Bridgforth. Arielle received her B.A. in Theatre from Pomona College and holds an M.A. in Public Humanities from Brown University where she was the 2015-2017 Public History of Slavery Graduate Fellow with the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.

Ri Bussey: a non-binary artist from Philly, deeply cares about narrative, housing, and disability justice. Their collaborative film “#MEDSTRIKE” premiered globally on December 1st, 2021, commissioned by Visual AIDS. They earned a BFA from Kutztown University, with a focus on Printmaking and Applied Digital Arts. In 2022, they had their first international residency in Sicily. Bussey’s practice encompasses various mediums, engaging with personal narratives, disability, sexuality, spirituality, and memory. They reflect on the role of technology and print in preservation. Bussey has exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally, including two solo shows in their emerging career as an artist.

Mawu Ama Ma’at Gora (dey/dem) is a black, queer, Caribbean artist and Brooklyn native currently residing in Philadelphia. As a multimodal artist they explore movement, textile art, history and science fiction as recipes for their performance art. As an educator they are a community organizer, a gatherer and a guide. They divine in the classroom and find pleasure in the unknown. As a deep listener and neurodivergent human being they are led by curiosities on life, love, grief and the made up and absurd. Their work is ritual, cathartic, raw and unconcerned with beauty, but sometimes beautiful. Told, recently that they write plays, so they write plays and they play. Movement lineages in West African dance, whining, Akoms, Fetes and the Parkway in Brooklyn for carnival. Child of many griot ancestors, hoodoo, christian and neither. Image captured by Hanifah Griffith

Briajanye Garvey can be found supporting her trans and queer communities, especially in the areas of housing advocacy, mutual aid, organizing entertainment events, and connecting folks with one another to foster care and abundance. In Fallawayinto she’s supported all of our community programming events and opportunities for the GIRLS. It is an honor to work with someone who has deep passion for wealth redistribution, and safety of Black trans women. We look forward to what Briajanye creates and fosters in 2025.

Pamela A. Hooks: is a multi-media social change artist who has cultivated her storytelling talents for personal and community transformation as a performer and digital media producer.

Her love of the performance arts began in dance as a child and teen, taking classes with local dance luminaries such as Faye Snow and Arthur Hall, as well as other community dance arts classes that put her front and center on the Academy of Music stage for recitals and fueling her love for performance and storytelling. Over the years she has studied acting with stage director/playwright/educator, Ed Smith, who directed Ossie Davis in his last play, A Last Dance For Sybil.  And most recently, taking classes with actor/educator, Johnnie Hobbs Jr., (Freedom Theater).

As a performance artist/director, Pamela was invited by the Painted Bride, in 2001, to bring to the stage for her original multi-media performance of The Tenderheaded Diaries, an audience collaborative exploration into the socio-cultural politics of Black hair and the beauty aesthetic. At that time, the production garnered the Bride’s fourth largest audience to date. The Bride invited her back for a one woman show, Optical Illusions of a Happy Black Woman and Other Stuff You Can’t See, for their Divine Women, Divine Work artist series. 

As a digital media producer/storyteller, she was selected by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage (2008) to travel to Guinea West Africa with Pew grantee, Kulu Mele African Dance Company to produce a documentary, In Search of Mali Sadjo: An African Dance Expedition.  Pamela is presently collaborating with the Painted Bride Art Center on a community archival storytelling project documenting Philadelphia’s cultural 52nd Street corridor, The Voices of 52nd Street-Then and Now.

Pamela is grateful for this opportunity with Ninth Planet Productions to return to her first artistic love and discipline – theatre and performance art. 

Mike is incredibly happy to be working again with Ninth Planet, having designed their 2022 production High Noon. Recent Philadelphia productions include: Peter Panto (People’s Light), Late Night Snacks (Bearded Ladies Cabaret), Boycott Esther (Azuka). Past Regional productions include: Henry V (Hudson Valley Shakespeare), HIR (Playwrights Horizons – NY premiere), Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (Ars Nova). Mike is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829. www.mikeinwood.com

Jordan McCree is an artist based in Philadelphia. Their most recent collaborations include:  The Comeuppance(Woolly Mammoth/Wilma Theater), Good Person of Setzuan(Wilma Theater), Grief Hotel(Clubbed Thumb), Cost of Living(Philadelphia Theatre Company), The BFG(Arden Theater), The World Takes(short film, Eight Flow Studio), Eternal Life Part 1(The Wilma Theater), The Karamazovs(film, Village Park Productions), Fat Ham(2021 World Premiere,The Wilma Theater). They were one of the 2022 grant recipients to the 1/52 Project. They are also a member of Philly-based, Barrymore Award winning, hip hop collective, ILL DOOTS. Their music is available everywhere!

Janelle Luster (she/They, QUEEN) is a vibrant Black trans woman who brings her whole heart to everything she does—whether she’s on stage, in the kitchen, or advocating for her community. Since her debut with Fallawayinto in 2022, Janelle has felt deeply connected to the project, and she’s thrilled to return for this latest iteration. Inspired by the life and legacy of Ms. Donna, a trailblazing Black trans woman, Janelle is committed to sharing her story with authenticity, grace, and love.

When she’s not performing or leading initiatives as the President of DecrimSWCA, Janelle can be found cooking up something delicious for friends and family. Her love for cooking is matched only by the joy she gets from spending time with her fur babies, who keep her grounded amidst her many passions. A Senior Employment Services Specialist by day, Janelle uses her gifts to help others find their voice and power in the workplace. Now, with Fallawayinto, she’s inviting you into a powerful journey of history, resilience, and the beauty of being unapologetically yourself.

Marcelline Mandeng Nken (b. Yaoundé, Cameroon) is an artist who draws from concepts of syncretism, non-human intelligence, and the labor traditions of the Global South. In 2024, she earned an MFA from Yale School of Art and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Recently, she completed a Dance Research Fellowship at the New York Public Library’s Jerome Robbins Dance Division culminating in a performance titled “Queening The Knight: Baryshnikov’s Vulnerability and Masculinity On Display.”

Ingrid Raphaël is a transdisciplinary artist, filmmaker & educator whose compass orients toward collaborative partnerships rooted in compassion & experimentation. 

Their process is a cyclical practice of relating to nature with curiosity as a canvas for poetic connections and liberatory lessons — embodied and alchemized into creative offerings such as films, courses, performances, publications, songs, collectives, and more. 

They co-founded NO EVIL EYE CINEMA with Ruun Nuur and founded NSISIM Studio. Currently, they’re developing  a speculative Black ecologies script, teaching , and collaborating with loved ones.”

Taj Rauch is an immersive game developer, filmmaker and theater designer with an appetite for learning anything he can get his hands on. With a background in playwriting, cinematography, installation and projection design, he’s convinced himself that world building is best done by exploring every corner of creativity. 

His work has been featured in PAFA Museum, IceBox Project Space, and Vox Populi Gallery. Previously a professor of Media Design at University of the Arts until its sudden closure, he has recently joined CCP to teach scenic design.

He is the recipient of a 2024 Residency with the recently Tony Award Winning Wilma Theater, as well as a recipient of the Niantic Developer Accelerator Fund.

Sam Tower (she/her) – Production Manager: is a Co-Artistic Director of Ninth Planet, where she creates and produces original works of performance with ensembles, young people, and families with babies. As an artist, Sam has worked with Applied Mechanics, Philly Thrive, New Paradise Laboratories, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Simpatico Theatre, Bryn Mawr College, Swarthmore College, University of the Arts, Westtown High, and others. Sam has designed artistic cohort models for IPAY, Headlong Performance Institute, and Cannonball Festival; and offered workshops and editorial articles for TYA/USA, ASSITEJ International, and WeeFestival. Sam also serves as the Executive Director of Bartol Foundation in Philadelphia, supporting cultural organizations, teaching artists, and arts collectives with grants, developmental workshops, and trauma-informed practice training. image by Kate Raines

Muteba Tshinabu is a multi-media Philly based artist, and has previously been a pan African organizer. You can see her gracing Philly’s sidewalks with style and grace. Muteba has an eye for picking out timeless pieces. She is currently contributing to bringing our cast members to life with her costume designing talents. With her patience, and eye for detail our cast will be well rounded because of her expertise.