Sha Cage

One of the most dynamic spoken word artists on the scene, and a noted actress, Shá Cage has been appropriately called 'The Priestess of the Word.' A striking mix of spoken word and theatre, her performances have left audiences moved. Her work unabashedly questions inequality, class, and gender issues and is rooted in the rhythms of her native Natchez, Mississippi. Shá Cage has performed her work widely in the U.S. and abroad teaching workshops, performing, and facilitating dialogue across communities. She recently opened for Cornel West, KRS One and was a featured performer at the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform, before a crowd of over 3000. Amongst other places, her work and performances have taken her to New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Canada, Johanesburg South Africa, Mali, England, Amsterdam, Paris, Switzerland, Belgrade and Serbia. She has helped nurture the theater arts, spoken word and hip hop, movement in Minnesota for the past 8 years.

In November 2006, she joined Creative Origins as part of the 'Word Temple' theater tour and was a guest writer/performer with Sema Grass Roots in the show Roots Runnin at University of Leeds. In February 2007, she starred as the bride in Garcia Lorca's 'Blood Wedding' produced by Ten Thousand Things. Her most noted stage credits include; Venus in 'Venus'; Hester in 'F*cking A'; Woman in Brown in 'For Colored Girls'; Nephthys in 'Osiris'; and The Princess in 'The Green Bird'. Other theater credits include: Theatre De La Jeune Lune, Penumbra, Mixed Blood, Pillsbury House, Pangea, Illusion Theater, The Guthrie, Hackney Empire Theater (London), Zion Arts Centre (London), Nottingham Playhouse (Birmingham,UK), and The Albany Theater (London). Her film credits include 20th Century Fox's 'Factotum'; Time Warner's 'Drop Dead Gorgeous'; 20th Century Fox's 'Joe's Somebody'; and other independent starring parts. Administratively, she produces and directs programs with Trú Rúts Endeavors and The MN Spoken Word Association (MNSWA). A young pioneer in developing artistic opportunities for women and young ladies, she is a co-founder of Minnesota's only professional women of color theater company, MaMa mOsAiC Theater; and the founder of Femme Fest, a celebration of women and girls in the arts, launched in 2007. 2006 and 2007 were great years for Shá marking television commercials with Parade of Homes and KARE 11, and two Twin Cities artist of the year mentions. She also landed the part of the female spoken word voice in Target's 'Art Connects' national commercial campaign; that was recently launched on the '08 BET awards. She is signed with indie label Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records with whom she dropped her long awaited debut album 'Amber People', considered one of the best spoken word albums of the year. (itunes.com)

She writes poetry, paints, curates, consults, and produces films. With MaMa mOsAiC, she has co-written five critically acclaimed plays including; Bride/Price, Making Medea, The Bi Show, Journals, and The Menstruation Project. Her solo play, Famous Amos was produced at Illusion Theater in 2004 and she was recently awarded a Verve grant to write the feminist hip hop & spoken word play titled These Hips Bleed Black. She is currently writing a new play titled Ishikawa's Blues that explores the cross cultural abuse and rights of women. Her published writings can be found in the Family Housing Fund's collection titled 'Home Sweet Home.' She is the recipient of several grants, awards, residencies and commissions. Shá believes strongly in building and nurturing community across borders and her work surrounds issues of home, class, cultural, and gender politics. More at www.myspace.com/truruts or www.myspace.com/shacage.