Julianne Jennings: Wampanoag artist embodies funk and jazz

Playing Carnegie Hall by age 13 and becoming a studio session musician at age 16; Mwalim has spent 28 years in the music business as a composer, musician, singer and producer. As playwright, director, actor and drama teacher, he has been involved in theater, television and film for 24 years; and as a storyteller and performance poet, he has been in the spoken-word scene for 25 years. His work has been supported by numerous regional, national and international grants, fellowships, residencies, and institutions.

Storytelling was a strong tradition on both sides of his family; retaining history, lore and philosophies of both his West Indian (Bajan/ Barbados) and NDN backgrounds. Mwalim explains, “I grew up going to school in New York and spending the rest of the time in Mashpee, so I was immersed in my Wampanoag culture and community.”

Peters received his formal training in theater from New African Company in the 1990’s. Mwalim went on to become a three-time recipient of the Ira Alderidge Fellowship for his work in playwriting. He is the co-founder and Director of Oversoul Theatre Collective, a professional NDN arts and education organization, through which he used to lead the Mashpee Youth Theater. In 2000, Mwalim became a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s lab, leading to artist residencies at the Harlem Theatre Company, Live From The Edge Theatre, Nuyorican Poet’s Theatre, and the Longwood Arts Gallery. He is the author of one book, A Mixed Medicine Bag (Talking Drum Press, 2007) and many plays, poems, essays and articles. His plays and performance pieces have been presented throughout the USA and Canada as well as the U.K. and Caribbean. Mwalim won the ‘Outstanding New Playwright’ award in 2003 from the New York Theatre Forum and in 2004 became New African Company’s first Native American playwright-in-residence, and is a former filmmaker-in-residence with WGBH/ PBS.