My Dying City, Vol II. Creative

Playwright & Director

Dennis Leroy Kangalee

A triple threat, outsider artist Dennis Leroy Kangalee is a writer-director-actor best known for his 1999 revival of James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie at the National Black Theater and the related 2001 cult classic film, As an Act of Protest. He writes drama and critical essays about acting, radical art, Black cinema, and culture. A Juilliard alumnus (Group 27), he was the first artist to ever induct a Black Theater History Seminar in Lincoln Center in 1996. He is the creator of the "Visual Liberation" film pedagogy that relates certain political films to a tradition of American 'protest art'. He recently completed a three year devotion to the study and performance of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. His 2024 play The Life & Death of Art the very first American drama to protest the genocide in Gaza and equate an alliance between Black Americans and Palestinians. He is a proud 2024-2025 Artist-in-Action fellow at the Action Lab in NYC and the recent recipient of the Venturous Theater Fund’s Artist Initiative grant, provided by the Tides Foundation. Kangalee is the first North American artist ever to receive an authorized commission to write and perform an adaptation of Henry Miller’s mysterious short story, “The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder” which premiered during the for the Henry Miller Symposium in October, 2025 in Big Sur, CA. He is a member of the Actors Studio, Dramatists Guild and is humbled by the support and encouragement given by New Dramatists. He has been profoundly influenced or inspired by the legacy of the Group Theater, Antonin Artaud, John Berger, Frantz Fanon, Eric Bogosian, Joy James, The Living Theater, The Black Arts Movement and filmmakers John Cassavetes, Robert Kramer, and Bill Gunn. His latest play, My Dying City Vol. II (The Social Justice Suicide Hour) exemplifies everything the Kangalee Arts Ensemble stands for, aesthetically and politically.

Team

Nina Pineda (Set Designer): Nina Pineda newly joins Kangalee Arts Ensemble as the set designer for My Dying City II. A multidisciplinary artist from Texas, Nina has a background in production, props and acting, working in and on various short films after starting as a classically-trained actor. She has spent the last few years working syringe exchange in the LES while making art out of an old squat to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. She is proud to be part of this work and excited for the community to see it and be part of it too. IG @ninapinedaa

Tessa Young: She utilizes photography as her main practice, to amplify and blend the intersectionalities of queer, femme, and oppressed narratives as a way to contribute to the living, breathing archive of resistance through existence. IG @kiss2urlips

Gia Smith (Production Administrator/Props/PR): She is a poet whose work is rooted in deep attention and evocation. Across mediums, she creates from instinct and presence, letting curiosity guide her. Her evolving body of work merges the lyrical with the cinematic–transforming layered language into vivid sensory worlds, moving fluidly between written and visual forms. Her work is marked by philosophical depth and sensory richness, turning fleeting impressions into moments that feel suspended in time. She is very grateful to be working on My Dying City Vol II, a production that thrust forth such valiant honesty and searches for truth not yet spoken. Silence, what were we doing before this? IG @spotteddeersinthewild

David Gillam (Builder/Set/Wardrobe): Starting at a very young age, David has been on stage and behind stage since the fourth grade. While attending college, the youngest winner of the Student Directorial Minor Award, SUNY at Buffalo. David’s artistic endeavors include set design, costume design, illustration, interior design, product design, directing and writing. Having worked for The West Bay Opera; The Manhattan School of Music; The Sally Jesse Raphael Show; Chautauqua Institute; Mount St. Joseph's Academy; St. Hilda’s (NYC); Spirit of Broadway Theater; New York Fringe Festival; The Lion Theater; Town Hall; Connecticut Ballet; Montclair Opera; The Workhouse Theater; The White Party; The Black Party; 2001 Roxy New Year’s Eve Party; & Judy’s Cabaret. Other artistic projects include Morris Zand Advertising; Saks Fifth Avenue Christmas ornament design; custom wedding dresses; & interior design. One of his most proud accomplishments is being the published author and illustrator of the young readers book, “Gingertown”

Nicole E. Lang (she/her) (Light Designer): is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer. Her recent work includes Henry IV (Theatre for a New Audience), My Marlene (Edinburgh Fringe with Transforma Theater Co.), True Love Forever (Third Rail Projects), Other People’s Dead Dads (Arterial Projects), BIOADAPTED (Transforma Theater Co.), Hanging with Clarence (Park Avenue Armory), and Today Is My Birthday (Yale Repertory Theatre). She is currently the associate lighting designer for the pre-Broadway World Premiere of Purple Rain and Albany Park Theatre Project’s Port of Entry. She is also a part of the lighting team at the Guggenheim Museum. Member USA Local 829 and IOUE Local 30. nicoleelang.com

Christine Davis, Stage Manager

Susan Kingsland, (Organizing Producer & PR)

Evan Lawrence: Sound designer/Engineer