The Experience Band & Show’s Second Line of the City is a high-energy, dynamic second-line ensemble founded by TromboneKing as a sub-group of The Experience Band & Show. Rooted in the rich tradition of New Orleans brass bands and infused with the signature rhythms of Washington, DC’s Go-Go music, Second Line of the City brings an electrifying, crowd-moving experience to every performance.   
 
Since 2017, we have provided professional live music and entertainment throughout the DC area and beyond, delivering authentic second-line processions for parades, private events, festivals, and community celebrations. Whether leading a celebratory march, engaging audiences with infectious call-and-response, or creating an unforgettable street-party atmosphere, Second Line of the City embodies the spirit of movement, culture, and joy through music. 

Bible, and directed Glengarry Glen Ross, Forum Theatre where he acted in The Language Archive and directed The Illusion, Olney Theatre Center, where he played Captain Hook in Peter Pan and directed Rabbit Hole, The Shakespeare Theatre, The Studio Theatre, Forum Theatre, Signature Theatre, Rep Stage, and Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. In fall 2012, Mitchell directed a co-production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the University of Maryland and The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing, China. He has been nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards (Clybourne Park and The Drawer Boy) and received the Greater Baltimore Theatre Award for Outstanding Actor in Uncle Vanya. He is on the faculty of the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, where he is a Professor of Acting and Directing.

Esco Jouléy Actor, singer, dancer, clown, movement artist, creator. Recent credits: Dying For Sex (FX), State of the Union (Sundance), Blindspotting (Starz), High Maintenance (HBO), Inventing Anna (Netflix), Monsterland (Hulu), movement coach on In a Man’s World (Bravo). Theatre credits: Trophy Boys, Twelfth Night, Wolf Play, As You Like It, Interstate, Runaways, Galatea, Magic Theatre Player in The Demise, Beowulf. Other: resident actor at the historic Barter Theatre for three and a half years, alum of the ABC Discovers Talent Showcase. Recipient of the 2023 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Ensemble. @escojouley 

Taylor Mac is the first American to receive the International Ibsen Award, is a MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony nominee for Best Play, and the recipient of the Kennedy Prize (with Matt Ray), the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim, the Herb Alpert Award, a Drama League Award, the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, the Booth, two Helpmann Awards, a NY Drama Critics Circle Award, two Obies, two Bessies, and an Ethyl Eichelberger. An alumnus of New Dramatists, judy is the author of Bark of Millions and The Hang (with composer Matt Ray); Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil The Musical; Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music; Prosperous Fools; The Fre; Hir; The Walk Across America for Mother Earth; The Lily’s Revenge; The Young Ladies Of; Red Tide Blooming; The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac; and the revues Comparison is Violence; Holiday Sauce; and The Last Two People on Earth: an Apocalyptic Vaudeville (created with Mandy Patinkin and Susan Stroman). 

Peter Marks was the Washington Post’s chief theater critic from 2002 to 2023. Prior to that, he was a national reporter, culture writer and theater critic for The New York Times. A graduate of Yale, Peter served four times as chair of the jury for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He’s co-author of the book, “Good for the Money” and co-hosts a theater podcast, Marks and Vincentelli on substack. Currently, he’s a cast member with Theater of War, a troupe that performs classic plays on critical social issues and this summer he embarks on a new chapter: he’s been accepted as a student in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s Shakespeare acting program. 

Mina Morita is a celebrated new plays director, and Woolly Mammoth’s BOLD Resident Director & Creative Producer. She recently served as the Artistic Director at Crowded Fire Theater Company for a decade. Selected work includes: Wish You Were Here (South Coast Rep); Yoga Play (Sydney & Brisbane, Australia);  English (Berkeley Rep); Vietgone (The Guthrie); Today is My Birthday (Yale Rep); Pearl’s Beauty Salon (Yale DGSD); Crazy Wisdom (Berkeley Rep); The Chinese Lady (Magic Theater); Sisters Matsumoto (Center Rep); On Grace (Anna Deavere Smith); Both Your Houses (ACT’s MFA Program); Crowded Fire; Shotgun Players; Campo Santo; Ferocious Lotus; Just Theater; Playwrights Foundation; Playwrights Center; and Bay Area Children’s Theatre.  

Citlali Pizarro is a writer and theater producer based in New York City. She currently works in Producing at The Public Theater, where she has produced mainstage productions, readings and artistic developments, and the Mobile Unit: Comedy of Errors tour, which brought free theater to more than 20,000 New Yorkers. She is also a freelance theater journalist, whose work can be read in Howlround, American Theatre, and 3Views. She was an inaugural Miranda Family Fellow in Connectivity at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Rising Leader at Theatre Communications Group, and participant in the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute.  

Miko Reed is a native Washingtonian, retired Army Nurse, Recruiter and
Master Sergeant. She is an author, poet, public speaker, curator, podcaster and
host. Miko holds a Bachelors of Science in Management, from National
Louis University and an Executive Masters in Leadership from Georgetown
University McDonough School of Business. In August 2021, she became an
Amazon bestseller of her first book, “Eggshells In Soft Black Hands.” Reed
published a book of fiction in 2022 and has also been published in multiple
publications, compilations, reviews, magazines, journals and international
anthologies.
She has headlined and featured at festivals, speak easy’s and various venues
up and down the East Coast, to include the National Museum of African
American History and Culture and DCW50 Local News. Reed is the newest
co-host of a DC Staple, Spit Dat, in Residence at Woolly Mammoth Theatre,
in Washington DC. She is a doting mom of two and they all reside in
Maryland

Howard Shalwitz co-founded Woolly Mammoth in 1980, and over 38 seasons built it from a tiny alternative theatre into one of the nation’s most influential producers of provocative new plays. He has directed and performed at Woolly and at theatres in New York and across the country, and has received multiple Helen Hayes nominations and awards as both an actor and director.  In 2014 Howard won the prestigious Margo Jones Award for his lifetime commitment to new American plays.  Since 2018, he has been serving as Associate Director of the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD) where he leads LINKAGES:Poland, a multi-year project to build a new generation of relationships between theatre leaders in the US and Poland. He is also teaching and working on a book about the language of theatre.   

Sasha Velour, is a critically-acclaimed drag queen, author, and artist. Winner of the RuPaul’s Drag Race and co-host of HBO’s We’re Here, Velour is one of the foremost experts on drag, known for her impeccable style, thought-provoking multimedia performances, and radical genderfluid approach. Velour’s New York City drag revue NightGowns has been running for 10 years, and in the past year alone has raised nearly $50,000 for mutual aid. Her one-queen theater show, Smoke & Mirrors (2019 – 2022), which combined drag with high-concept projection art, entertained over 100,000 people across five continents. In 2023, she published her best-selling first book The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag (Harper), which explores the history and philosophy of drag through personal stories. The accompanying tour, The Big Reveal Live Show brought readings and new iconic reveals  to sold-out houses in Europe, Canada, the US, and will be in residence at Berkeley Rep this summer. As a visual artist and cartoonist, she has drawn a Google Doodle (Marlene Dietrich, 2018) and a cover for The New Yorker (June 2023). She is thrilled to be with the team at Woolly tonight! 

Vagenesis is a prominent drag performer in the Washington, D.C. area, celebrated for her distinctive blend of comedy, charisma, and activism. DC’s black bearded beauty began her drag career in the spring of 2018 quickly making a name for herself in the local scene and securing the title of the third winner of “DC Drag Wars.” 

Beyond her performances, Vagenesis is a dedicated activist, advocating for diverse forms of drag, queer individuals, and performers of color. She founded Black Label, a showcase highlighting Black queer artistry. She is one of the cofounders of Highball Productions – a theatre company that produces drag parodies of famous musicals. Since 2021, she has been the host of the DC Improv Comedy Club Drag Brunch and is the host and head judge of DC-Area lip sync competition, Drag Duels. 

Her accolades include Captain Green Lantern 2019, TikTok Drag Contest S1 Winner (2020), Mx MoCo Pride 2021, National Bearded Empress 2022, and Park ‘n’ Bark Volume 3 Winner (2024). Vagenesis cohosts the podcast 2 Tho(ugh)ts with DC drag icon, Citrine.