Performers

Judi Edwards
Narrator

Judi is a multi-faceted actress, singer, comedian. She started her career in Austin, Texas where she helped popularize and bring awareness to Black theater, starring in Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Capital City Playhouse as well as in numerous productions at Zachary Scott Theater. As a comedian, she opened for Kenny G and performed at the Paramount Theatre. After moving to New York, Judi honed her artistic craft, but also pursued her educational passions by receiving her Master of Education. While teaching and inspiring youth, Judi has sung back up for Cissy Houston, toured with Ain’t Misbehavin’ and starred as the Mama Bear character in the children’s production of The Jungle Book. Her television appearances include a guest role on Law and Order SVU.

Baz
Percussionist/Rapper

BAZILMUZIK is an American singer/songwriter and music producer bringing his unique production to the world. Baz founded Drums for Youth to encourage at-risk youth through music to make positive alternative choices within self and community.

Bill Owens

Steve Carlton

The Bastrop Honor Choir

The Honor Choir, founded in 2009 by Bill Owens, is a community-based young people’s chorus made up of singers hand-picked for their character and their grades, exists because of their dedication to helping lift people up! The Choir’s original purpose was to be a musical component of the Children’s Advocacy Center’s annual gathering of all who are committed to helping make every child SAFE. Over the history of the Choir their focus has broadened to include a course in leadership called CaringLife. Their mission statement is: Like harmony is to our music, the mindful and caring life, shared, is a nourishment, a protection, and a healing for the human spirit. An invaluable part of the Choir family is Steve Carlton, accompanist, and assistant director. Steve has been with the group since 2014 and is a regionally known and respected accompanist not only for The Honor Choir, but for many Central Texas schools. When asked about his passion for the Choir, Bill will tell anyone that he is humbled by the singers and feels blessed that he can share music with them—because that’s who and what the Choir is really about!

Shasparay

Shasparay Irvin is a Black, queer, performing artist from Austin, Texas, with a B.S in Theatre and a Minor in African American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2018 they were the 10th Ranked Poet in the World.
She was a recipient of the First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Full Tuition Scholarship, a speaker at the 2016 TEDxYouth Austin conference and is a National NAACP ACT-SO Gold Medalist.
Shasparay is an award-winning artist who has been featured on Button Poetry, Youth Speaks, BuzzFeed, and Huffington Post. They are the Founder and Artistic Director of Black Arts Matter, LLC and the Black Arts Matter Festival that they created to provide a dedicated platform for Black arts and artists.

Perry Lowe
Booker T. Washington

Perry Lowe is a writer, artist, producer and drummer from Bastrop, Texas. He began his musical journey at the age of six after he and his there brothers inherited a collection of 45’s from the jukebox of his late grandmother’s Bridge Café. The varied collection included artists from Andrea True Connection to ZZ Hill, which helped him decide that, “There are only two types of music to me…good and bad.”
With this strong beginning, Perry went on to perform, write and produce in California with Brown Eyed Soul, a three- man R&B vocal harmony group who shared the stage with groups like Shai, Men At Large and Domino. Perry also was a member the Tyrone Vaughan Band and produced and arranged the demo track, If You Know the Truth that was later release by his father Jimmie Vaughan as the track Without You on his Grammy winning Blues album Do You Get the Blues.
Most recently Perry has been a mainstay with the Chubby Knuckle Choir as performer, drummer, writer, producer, and mixing/mastering engineer. He feels music of any kind, expressed properly has something to offer to everyone.

Jack Lewis
Julius Rosenwald

Jack and his wife, Cj, moved to Bastrop in 2014. Jack grew up in Denver, and after college, served in the U.S. Army as an officer, helicopter pilot and commander. Following his military career, he served as a manager and executive in the Facilities Services Industry for more that 25 years; retiring in 2019. Jack is an active member of Bastrop Christian Church. He and Cj enjoy spending lots of time with Dustin, Carly and the Bartee grandkids, as well as, their other children, Kara and Chad, who also live nearby. Jack stays busy with performing in musicals and plays at The Bastrop Opera House, flying, pickleball and outdoor activities with CJ and their four dogs.

Joe Brundidge
Spoken Word

Joe Brundidge is an author, host, teaching artist and public speaker living in Austin, Texas. For more than 20 years he has hosted and performed at open mic events showcasing Central Texas’ talent. Because of his versatility, both corporations and nonprofit organizations alike have taken advantage of his talents for a variety of hosting and performance gigs. Local venues, Spoken & Heard at Kick Butt Coffee featured Joe as an artist and curator from 2007-2017, and he also served as the Director of the Austin International Poetry Festival from 2012-2015. Joe co-hosts the radio program, Writing on the Air Wednesdays from 6p.m.-7p.m. on KOOP 91.7 FM. His most recent book Element 615 was published by Lit City Press in 2017 — with Joe Brundidge.

Stephen Perry

Stephen Perry is a gospel vocalist and instrumentalist with Louisiana roots. He has always had a love for music and has been singing since the young age of 5. Fun-loving and kind, Stephen’s friends and family consider him a beam of light who can command a room through his music. Stephen plays the keys and guitar, but his passion is the drums, and for six years, he played for the gospel sensation, Linda Greene. Stephen is the owner of Peerless Mechanical LLC where he specializes in HVAC. A family man at heart, Stephen is the proud dad of three children and the loving husband to Camp Gladiator Trainer and Nutrition Coach, Ashley.

Chris Perry

Chris Perry is a Louisiana man, and he has been playing music since he was 9. As someone who specializes in customizing cars, by day, you might call on Chris to help make your auto one of a kind inside and out. However, his true passion is music, and his instrument of choice is the harmonious sounds of the harmonica. Chris has played with various artists, including Louisiana blues legends Henry Gray, Tabby Thomas, and Bobby Broussard.

Juan

Juan, “J.P.” Flores started his dance training in Laredo, TX. He then moved to Austin where he studied under Rodolfo Mendez and Melissa Villarreal. He joined Ballet East, where he had the opportunity to work with acclaimed choreographers from all over. He’s danced works by Francisco Gella from Philadenco, Regina Larkin from Joyce Trisler, Hope Boykin from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, just to name a few. Melissa Villarreal took him under her wing, and became his teacher, mentor and friend. Several works were created for him including “Engulfing Addiction” by Melissa Villarreal which granted him the nomination for best dancer. JP worked with UpRise Productions as a dancer and actor. As a result, he landed another acting opportunity with Proyecto Teatro under Artistic Director, Luis Ordaz. J.P. continues to collaborate with Proyecto Teatro by setting choreographies on the acting company. In the summer of 2010, Juan attended the Ailey School in New York City, graduating after two years. Over the course of his career, he has been nominated for best dancer, he’s won awards for best choreography and has appeared in People en Español magazine. Juan has collaborated with numerous companies and individuals, including with Ashwell Clinic’s aids campaign and has danced at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival among other accomplishments. J.P. worked at the Laredo School of Contemporary Dance for four years, where he taught classes to the pre-professional programs. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in May, ??? from the Texas A&M International University. In May 2019, after the passing of Mr. Mendez, J.P. joined Melissa Villarreal in continuing the legacy of Ballet East Dance Company. This is Mr. Flores first season as Artistic Director of the company.

SAMANTHA HUERTA

Raised in Austin, Texas where she began dancing at the age of five, Ms. Huerta studied many forms of dance such as ballet, jazz, tap, modern, and musical theater. At the age of 10 she joined her first dance company, Believe In Me, starring in three productions. There she studied under Tamara Barrington, Laura Agnew, Leticia Rodriguez, and Valdo Perales. Ms. Guerrero attended high school at the McCallum Fine Arts Academy performing in over 12 productions. After high school she took three years away from dance to focus on her education at The University of Texas at Austin. To refocus on dance, Samantha took many major and non-major dance courses at the University. She studied modern and contemporary dance with Lorn MacDougal and Andrea Beckham. In May 2013, Samantha graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. After college, Samantha continued to focus on dance performing five seasons with Ballet East Dance Company. Ms. Guerrero then joined Lotus Contemporary Performing Arts company for its first premiere performance in May 2015 and has spent the last few years dancing with Lotus. In April 2020, she returned to the Ballet East family with its new transitions under Melissa Villarreal. In January 2022, Ms. Huerta was named Associate Artistic Director of Ballet East Dance Company.

TECHNICAL CREW

Peter Anthony Andrews
Director

Peter is currently CEO of PacoGlobal Entertainment in Dallas, Texas. He is a former VP PRIMETIME Dramatic Programming at NBC. He was SR VP at Columbia Pictures and Exec VP MGM. He created The Women & Minority Writers workshop at Warner Bros during his tenure at NBC. He is a Wharton School graduate and participated in the MFA program at Yale Drama School.

Michael Anthony Gibson
Technical Director

Michael Anthony Gibson, “Gibson” is a film and commercial producer based in Austin, Texas. He started as a sound engineer and video editor and is now producing projects for a variety of clients--from pitch to delivery. His passion for storytelling led him to documentary filmmaking, with a most recent being awarded a spot in the Austin Sound Unseen Film Festival. Gibson’s style is unique in that he is as gifted a planner as he is a creative, so people love him from all aspects of a project. He’s a problem solver, so he knows every detail of any given project and serves as the ‘go-to’ for clients, agencies, and creatives. And, as a guitarist and drummer, other creatives love working with him because he understands what they need. Since 2021 Gibson has worked as a freelance producer with Third Ear (formerly LatinWorks), leading and delivering creative projects for big time clients like Unilever, Tecate, Pedigree, and Twix.

Renee Davis
Artistic Consultant/Stage Manager

Renee is a multi-talented dancer, artistic director, and producer. Before relocating to Austin in 1998, she was the Associate Artistic Director for Desert Dance Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. She received her BA in Dance from the University of Maryland where she performed with the Maryland Dance Theatre. She has performed with Dancing Plus… at the Nat Horne Musical Theatre in New York City, Murray Spalding Movement Arts in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore Dance Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the co-creator and lead dancer in Sister Moses: The Story of Harriet Tubman. Renee produced several shows for the Martin Luther King, Jr., event organizers, including those with featured guests Maya Angelou, Bernice King, The Boys Choir of Harlem and Take 6.