ABOUT DAHLAK
Dahlak is a multi-faceted hip-hop artist
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Since launching onto the national spoken word scene by appearing on the last two seasons of HBO’s Russell Simmons’ presents Def Poetry Jam, Dahlak has showcased his seamless blend of hip-hop, theatre, and spoken word at over 100 universities throughout the United States and Europe, SXSW, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Smithsonian, Ars Nova, and Off-Broadway on Theatre Row, NYC.
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Dahlak has worked closely with Marc Bamuthi Joseph writing and performing in several of Joseph’s critically acclaimed plays, including Word Becomes Flesh – presented at The Public Theater and Lincoln Center. In 2019, Dahlak performed at the Apollo Theatre alongside of T.I. and Black Lives Matter founder Alicia Garza in the reading of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between The World and Me (as now seen on HBO), directed by Kamilah Forbes. Spiritrials, the solo play written, performed and scored by Dahlak, is currently on tour. Since the premiere in 2015, Spiritrials has been performed in 20 cities around the country, including presentations at the prestigious Kennedy Center.
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Dahlak’s latest work, entitled Try/Step/Trip, was created in collaboration with legendary director Roberta Uno and premiered in February 2020 at Dance Mission in San Francisco. Development of the work has been supported by The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, CalArts, and Victory Gardens. Recently, Dahlak was nominated for the 2019 United States Artists Fellowship and was awarded NEFA’s National Theatre Project Grant. Dahlak earned his B.A. degree from the UC Davis, where he studied English and Dramatic Studies. He is currently an MFA student at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
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SPIRITRIALS, THE SOLO PLAY
WRITTEN, PERFORMED
AND SCORED
BY DAHLAK
IS CURRENTLY ON TOUR.
Currently, Dahlak is collaborating with director
Roberta Uno in order to adapt Spiritrials into an
ensemble musical. Development of the work has
been supported by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
and is being supported by California Institute of the
Arts (CalArts) through a series of residencies.
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Dahlak earned his B.A. degree from the University of California,
Davis, where he studied English and Dramatic Studies.
The play was commissioned by several
theaters around the U.S. and given support
through the Columbia and Zellerbach Foundations,
as well as the National Performance Network.
Since the premiere in 2015, Spiritrials has been
performed at 11 cities around the country, including two
notable presentations at the prestigious
John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
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MAKING OF AN ARTIST
I’m a writer.
I deal in words.
I create art that is
meant to be heard,
felt through vibrations,
and contemplated.
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