
REVOLUTIONARY BLACK ART & THE FUTURE
IN-CONVERSATION EVENT
Friday, May 9th | 7pm - 8:30pm
Fort Mason's Magic Theatre
Ira X Armstrong (PEACE Out Loud) will sit down with Juba Kalamka, Janelle Luster, and LHT's Artistic Director Margo Hall for a discussion about revolutionary Black art, communal healing, and collective power in today’s everchanging world.
Moderated by playwright Julius Rea, this event will be followed with a celebration of Black artists from around the San Francisco Bay Area, complete with food, drinks and music!
Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can
Choose the price that works for you—every contribution, big or small, supports LHT’s mission to uplift Black voices, stories, and experiences. Thank you for helping to keep this vital work alive.
MEET THE PANELISTS

IRA X ARMSTRONG
Ira X Armstrong (They/He) is a Black trans/Indigenous two spirit/European Trickster, Performing Artist, Entrepreneur & Warrior for Ohlone land. They are Cofounder of PEACE Out Loud, a direct action art collective that uses art and technology to dismantle slave capitalism and rape culture, through non-carceral strategic conversation and interventions that move at the speed of relationship. Using performance, digital engineering, coaching, arts and crafts, and direct action, he applies Zapatista and Panther principles and theater of the oppressed style healing arts in solidarity and alignment with impacted folks, sex workers, fat folks, disabled folks, Black folks, Brown and Indigenous folks, poor folks, and trans and queer people and creatures everywhere. He brings the AAAIR Collective together for a conversation with Lorraine Hansberry Theater on Art and Activism.

JANELLE LUSTER
Janelle Luster (she/they/QUEEN) is a community organizer, transgender activist, performer, and certified Master Career Coach from Oakland, CA. With over eight years of experience in advocacy, Janelle has worked to uplift transgender people, sex workers, and individuals living with HIV through organizing, policy work, and community-building.
As the Executive Director of TRANScend Retreat and President of DecrimSWCA, Janelle creates spaces that center healing, empowerment, and collective action. She is also a dedicated performer, using storytelling and theater to highlight the experiences and resilience of trans communities. Most recently, she starred in Fallawayinto, a production amplifying trans narratives.
In addition to her activism and artistic work, Janelle is deeply invested in economic empowerment and employment services. As a Master Career Coach, she provides career development support for TLGBQ+ individuals, focusing on job readiness, workforce reentry, and professional growth.
Through activism, the arts, and career coaching, Janelle continues to build spaces that foster connection, joy, and liberation.

JUBA KALAMKA
Juba Kalamka (he/hymn) is most recognized for his work with performance troupes Sins Invalid and Mangos With Chili and as co-founder and producer of the queer hip hop group Deep Dickollective (D/DC). His writing appears in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Anthology of Rap (Yale University Press, 2010), Queer and Trans Artists of Color: The Stories of Some of Our Lives (2014), Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men (Bisexual Resource Center, 2015) and Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers’ Poetry(Arsenal Pulp Press,2019). His first full-length poetry collection, Son of Byford (Nomadic Press) and his debut album with queer nü metal/rap-rock collective COMMANDO (on Kill Rock Stars) were released in 2022.

MARGO HALL
Margo Hall (Artistic Director) is an award-winning actor, director, playwright, and educator, who has been a leading presence in national and local theatre communities for more than 30 years. Hall’s direction credits include productions at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Campo Santo, Word for Word, Chabot College, and U.C. Berkeley. As an actor, Hall has appeared at nearly every one of the Bay Area’s leading theatres, including Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Main Theatre Company, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Aurora Theatre Company, San Francisco Playhouse, and Shotgun Players. She is a founding member of Campo Santo. Hall’s T.V. and film credits include performing as the mother for Daveed Diggs’s character in Lionsgate’s Blindspotting, Netflix’s All Day and a Night. Hall collaborated with Tectonic Theatre Project’s Leigh Fondakowski (The Laramie Project and Laramie Ten Years Later), Greg Pierotti, and Stephen Wangh to write the World Premiere play The People’s Temple for Berkeley Repertory Theatre, which won the 2005 Will Glickman Award. Hall’s semi-autobiographical piece, Be Bop Baby: A Musical Memoir, premiered at Z Space in 2013. Hall is a dedicated theatre educator, mentoring and training the next generation of theatre artists in courses for American Conservatory Theater’s MFA Program, University of California Berkeley, University of San Francisco’s Performing Arts and Social Justice degree program, and Chabot Community College. In 2018 Hall was honored with SFBATCC’s Jerry Friedman Award, and in 2015 Hall received TBA’s Charles Dean Award. Hall holds a B.F.A. in Drama from Adelphi University and an M.F.A. in Drama from Catholic University of America.