Citizen James

James Alton (he/his) (James Baldwin) is a graduate of University North Carolina School of the Arts (Drama), originally from Hickory, North Carolina, now based in Brooklyn, NY.  James appeared in the Syracuse Stage premiere of Citizen James, or The Young Man Without a Country in August 2024.

Kyle Bass (playwright), Resident Playwright at Syracuse Stage and curator of Po- etry & Play, is the author of Toliver & Wakeman, which premiered at Franklin Stage Company, Tender Rain, which premiered at Syracuse Stage, Salt City Blues, which received its first production at Syracuse Stage, and Possessing Harriet, published by Standing Stone Books, which premiered at Syracuse Stage, and has been produced at Franklin Stage Company, East Lynne Theater Company, and HartBeat Ensemble. Citizen James, or The Young Man Without a Country, about a young James Baldwin, streamed nationally and has been optioned for a feature-length film. With Ping Chong, he is the co-author of Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo, which premiered at Syracuse Stage and was produced at La MaMa Experimental Theatre. A descendant of African people enslaved in colonial New England and in the American South, Kyle lives and writes in central upstate New York where his family has lived free and owned land for nearly 225 years. Kyle is Assistant Professor of Theater at Colgate University. kylebassplaywright.com

Joann Maria Yarrow (director) is a director and producer who specializes in story development across several platforms and serves as the director of community engagement at Syracuse Stage. She was artistic director of Teatro Prometeo in Miami, FL, where she directed and produced over 80 productions in Spanish, and translated, adapted, and commissioned new works that have toured nationally and internationally in multilingual communities. Joann co-founded A Laboratory for Actor Training with Vernice Miller inspired by their collaborations with Double Edge Theatre, Richard Schechner’s East Coast Artists, Odin Teatret in Denmark and ISTA, the International School of Theatre Anthropology. She worked for Broadway director Hal Prince on the productions of Parade, Whistle Down the Wind, Candide, Show Boat, Kiss of the Spiderwoman and The Phantom of the Opera. At Syracuse Stage she directed the Backstory productions of Commanding Space by Stephanie Leary, Citizen James by Kyle Bass and Our Words Are Seeds by Ty Defoe. She curates community dialogues, addressing topic that surface from Syracuse Stage’s productions and community projects. She is a featured director in the books: The Art and Practice of Directing in Latin America: Central America and United States; Latinx Actor Training; Inside the Performance Workshop: A sourcebook for Rasaboxes; and A History of Latinx Performing Arts in the U.S. (Routledge 2023). She is passionate about fostering multicultural and multi-disciplinary productions that challenge and shift our thoughts, actions, and perspectives. joannyarrow.co