Brave Storytelling

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Courageous Conversations

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Enduring Impact

Please note that the conversations on 1/9, 1/16 & 1/23—originally scheduled to be both in person and online—will now be virtual only.
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Andrea Ambam (she/her, Moderator) is a performance artist and writer whose roots sprout from Cameroon. As a politically engaged artist who believes in the art’s potential for movement-building and transformative justice, Andrea pulsates at the intersection of storytelling and truth-telling. Currently, Andrea is a Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, a Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) Artist-In-Residence, and the Programming Manager and Host at Level Forward. She has developed her multi-hyphenated practice in collaboration with Signature Theatre, PEN America, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Anna Deavere Smith, EmergeNYC, Classical Theatre of Harlem, NYU Prison Education Program, and others. Andrea lives in Brooklyn and holds a Master’s degree in Art & Public Policy from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

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Daresha Kyi writes, produces, and directs narrative and documentary film and television projects in Spanish and English. A graduate of NYU Film School, she recently completed Mama Bears, her second feature documentary about how conservative, Christian mothers are transformed when they decide to accept their LGBTQ children, which premiered at SXSW and won Best Documentary at the Sun Valley Film Festival.

In 2018 she was commissioned by the ACLU to direct Trans In America: Texas Strong, which garnered over 4 million views online, screened at SXSW, and won two Webby Awards and an Emmy for “Outstanding Short Documentary.” In 2017 she co-directed and produced Chavela, a multiple award-winning documentary about iconic singer Chavela Vargas that was distributed by Music Box Pictures and screened in over40 countries, including Translyvania.

In 2015 she produced Kristina Wong’s How Not to Pick Up Asian Women. In 2014 she served as EP of Emmy-winning writer Kevin Avery’s satirical take on The Wiz starring an all-white cast called The Whizz and in 2011 she produced his short comedy, Thugs, The Musical. In 1992 Daresha won a full fellowship from Tri-Star Pictures to attend the directors’ program at the AFI Conservatory based on her short, award-winning narrative Land Where My Fathers Died, co-starring Isaiah Washington. She produced her first, award winning drama, The Thinnest Line, as a student at NYU.

Daresha’s films have been funded by ITVS, NEA, IDA Enterprise, Creative Capital, the Jerome Foundation, and many other foundations. She was a fellow in the Firelight Media Documentary Lab, Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator Lab, Sundance Institute: Women and Film Financing Intensive, Breaking Through the Lens, Film Independent Documentary Lab, Creative Capital, and A Blade of Grass cohorts.

Daresha also has an extensive background in television and has produced programmingfor FX, WE, AMC, Telemundo, and FUSE, among other networks.

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Jen Hatmaker is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen books including For the Love, Of Mess and Moxie, Fierce, Free and Full of Fire, and her latest project, Feed These People: Slam Dunk Recipes for Your Crew. She is the delighted curator of the Jen Hatmaker Book Club and host of the award-winning For the Love podcast, in addition to being the leader of a tightly knit online community where she reaches millions of people each week. Jen is a co-founder of Legacy Collective, a giving organization that grants millions of dollars towards sustainable projects around the world. She is a mom to five kids and lives happily just outside Austin, Texas. To learn more, visit www.jenhatmaker.com

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Sara Cunningham is an author, activist, and founder of the non-profit organization Free Mom Hugs. Her journey is a surprising one that began in conservative Oklahoma, when her son, Parker, came out as gay. As a woman of faith, Sara wrestled with the news until she began to study, research, and reconcile the two worlds. This journey resulted in her book How We Sleep at Night. She found herself on a journey “from the church to the Pride parade,” falling in love with the LGBTQIA+ community. In the wake of beautiful glitter-covered hugs and heart-breaking horror stories, the mission of Free Mom Hugs began. Simple acts of love and acceptance turned into a viral sensation, and Sara knew she had the opportunity to lead impactful change.

Free Mom Hugs is now a movement across the country and the world. Sara goes Beyond the Hug to educate and advocate organizations of all types including schools and businesses striving for safe and protected spaces. She has appeared, many times with her son Parker, on the Today show and The RuPaul Show and spoke at the 2019 GLAAD Awards. She also has been featured in many national publications including The Washington Post, Woman’s Day magazine, and People magazine. Sara is currently in partnership with Jamie Lee Curtis, who has purchased the rights to her book and will release a movie based on her story. An upcoming documentary about the Mama Bears movement by award winning director Daresha Kyi also features Sara and the Free Mom Hugs movement.

Sara’s passion is to change the perspective of the outside world toward this beautiful part of our community so that we as a society, not only learn to affirm, but more importantly, celebrate. Her goal is to help parents and children have authentic relationships and understanding for each other using her own experience and education as a guide. Sara is passionate about connecting with faith, civic, and business leaders in efforts to make the world a kinder, safer place for our LGBTQIA+ family. She is gifted at inspiring others to join her in this movement that is sweeping the nation and the world.

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Irene Sofia Lucio (Patricia, she/her). Broadway: Slave Play, Wit. Off-Broadway: Romeo y Julieta (The Public Theater), Slave Play, Love and Information (NYTW), OrangeJulius (Rattlestick), Undertaking (BAM), King Liz (Second Stage), We Play for the Gods (WP). Regional credits: Yale Rep, Studio Theater DC, Cal Shakes among others. TV: “The Americans,” “Bartlett,” “Madam Secretary,” “Gossip Girl,” “Casi Casi.” Co-creator of “Buts” web series (NBCU Short Film Festival winner, Imagen Award nom). Education: Princeton and Yale School of Drama. Native of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Jakeem Dante Powell(Gary, he/him) Is thrilled to be returning to the Broadway cast of Slave Play! Select credits: This American Wife (Fake Friends), Twelfth Night (Yale Rep), One Room (Weston Playhouse), If Pretty Hurts… (Yale School of Drama), Slave Play (Yale School of Drama). Upcoming film: Rustin. MFA Yale School of Drama. IG: jakeemdpowell

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Devin Kawaoka(Dustin, he/him). Broadway debut. Off-Broadway: City Of (Playwrights Realm), Unnatural Acts (Classic Stage Company) for which his performance was awarded the Rosemarie Tichler grant. Select film/TV: “Lucifer,” “Goliath,” “American Housewife,” Marvel’s “The Runaways,” “Criminal Minds,” “The Path,” “Good Trouble,” The Manor, Under the Silver Lake, Under the Lantern Lit Sky, Submission. Training: MFA, NYU Graduate Acting.

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Rashaad Hall (Phillip u/s, he/him)is a multi hyphenate actor and artist from Chicago based in Los Angeles. His theatre credits include Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney (OWN’s David Makes Man, Moonlight) and he has performed regionally at The Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Haven Theatre, and The Black Ensemble Theatre among others. Film credits include his recurring guest star role on the Emmy nominated web-series "Brown Girls", and a lead role in the queer indie feature Rendezvous in Chicago. He has been nominated for a Chicago Joseph Jefferson award with the cast of The Hairy Ape directed by Monty Cole. As a writer, and director he has devised work with The SlamFam Ensemble creating theatre based in spoken-word performance poetry. He is represented by Paonessa Talent Agency and MRK Management. Thanks to God and all his family immediate, and chosen.

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Elizabeth Stahlmann(Alana, she/her). Broadway: Slave Play. Theatre credits include Grounded (Westport Country Playhouse-CT Critics Circle Award), The Humans, The Cake (The Alley Theatre), The Acting Company (three seasons), The Guthrie Theater. TV: “City on a Hill,” “The Equalizer,” “Law & Order: SVU.” Graduate of University of MN/Guthrie Theater (BFA), Yale School of Drama (MFA).

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Robert O'Hara (Director, he/him) has received the NAACP Best Play and Best Director Award, the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, two Obies and the Herb Alpert Award. Broadway: Slave Play (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway: he directed the world premieres of Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play, Nikkole Salter and Dania Guiria’s In the Continuum, Tarell McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays (Part 2), Colman Domingo’s Wild with Happy, Kirsten Childs’ Bella: An American Tall Tale, Ross Baum and Angelica Cheri’s Gun and Powder and his own plays, Bootycandy, Mankind, and Insurrection: Holding History. His upcoming projects include directing O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, directing Anthony Davis’ opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X and writing and directing several film and television projects.

Help us bring the MAMA BEARS Tour for Change to communities far and wide!

Watch MAMA BEARS now on Independent Lens or via the PBS app.

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a special conversation with

Andrea Ambam
HOST
VIEW BIO
Daresha Kyi
FILMMAKER
VIEW BIO
Jen Hatmaker
SHE/HER
VIEW BIO
Sara Cunningham
SHE/HER
VIEW BIO
For additional resources please visit
MAMABEARSDOC.COM
CHURCH CLARITY
THE MAMA BEARS RESOURCE LIBRARY

MORE TO TALK ABOUT x MAMA BEARS ENCORE

Join us for all the conversations in this series. Special guests to be announced.

Finding Unity in Division: The Art of Making Truce and Telling Truths
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 12PM PT
Radical Hospitality: Moving Towards Hope & Outwrestling Despair
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 12PM PT
Black Work Broadway is an evolving and comprehensive record of all the plays, musicals, musical revues, and other performances presented in Broadway houses, that were either written or created by Black artists. Black Work Broadway seeks to create lasting and living documentation of Black artists’ work on Broadway for the benefit of new generations of artists, audiences, and scholars.

Speaking of Black work on Broadway, this season—a historic and overdue one for Broadway—includes the work of eight Black playwrights (so far). These shows examine the unique and multi-faceted aspects of the Black experience and collectively represent a meaningful moment in the journey towards an equitable Broadway.
Download the CTG Discovery Guide and explore the themes of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.
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MORE TO TALK ABOUT is a multi-media, multi-format, community-centered platform devoted to the deeper questions and curiosities provoked by iconic cultural works on stage and on screen. Check out two recent videos from the MTTA library, curated by the team to complement the featured MAMA BEARS conversation.

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In this conversation, prompted by the Broadway production of POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, gay icon Lea Delaria, activist Charlotte Clymer, and ERA Coalition leadership discuss the urgent need for ERA ratification, and how we can ensure equal rights for all.
Members of the cast of the recent national tour of Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s OKLAHOMA! join representatives from the Human Rights Campaign and host Andrea Ambam, as they explore trans visibility and illuminate the ways in which trans people are—and have ALWAYS been—a part our stories.