larryjean “Gene” powell (theM)
an omnicreative born n raised south central Los Angeles, ca.

as a south central kid growing up with their grandmother’s canon mini dv camcorder, writing and recording their "projects," Gene became obsessed with how their play-like stories could live on screen — big and small. these were their “movies”. this lifelong passion gave birth to an omnichannel form they call cinetheatre: a new canon blending stage and screen into singular, electric experiences. through radical community support and sheer vision, they have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to create and spearhead six original works — mother’s milk, the gaze, strong friend let go.

each piece begins its life on the page, crafted not only, or even to be first produced, for the stage but also finding new power on camera, audio-only, and other new digital media forms, each format speaking multiple languages speaking simultaneously.

The PASSION Triptych (the daddy issue, the house of providence, the madame of leimert), a project they have single-handedly raised $100,000 for, over the course of a very daunting year and a half, is the latest venture in this new form.

Learn more about it at blackqueertheatre.com —a space larryjean founded to promote and center the works of blackqueer+ innovative theatrebased changemakers globally.

Gene’s work is rooted in love, community, and the belief that storytelling can expand access, belonging, and imagination across generations…as long as the makers of such art expand their own ideas on access, belonging, and imagination.

as an award-winning theatre actor, they have premiered fierce new plays like the christians by lucas hnath, the legend of georgia mcbride by matthew lopez, father comes home from the wars by suzan-lori parks, brokeology by nathan louis jackson, while i yet live by billy porter, curve of departure by rachel bonds, seared by theresa rebeck, the flower thief by pia wilson, bronzeville by aaron woolfolk and tim toyama, and many seasons at the obie-winning fire this time festival.

most recently they were seen on stage at pasadena playhouse’s production of the martin crimp adaptation of cyrano as ligniere. as an actor, they are a two-time ovation award nominee, three-time naacp theatre award nominee, san francisco bay area theatre award nominee, two-time LA drama critics circle award winner, and multiple audelco and audie award nominee/winner.

most recently on screen, they’ve portrayed rick james on mgm+’s hotel cocaine opposite mark feuerstein + danny pino, and directed by academy award winner guillermo navarro. the iconic leimert park vendor in calmatic’s white men can’t jump opposite jack harlow. shannon in the acclaimed short written by terrance daye and directed by adriane mccray, when offered wind, starring opposite fellow emmy nominee carl clemons-hopkins, and chauncey jenkins on bet+’s 3x emmy nominated tv sitcom, the ms. pat show.

as a writer, they’re the recipient of the 2021 iama theatre company shonda rhimes unsung voices playwriting award, 2020 cornelia street playwriting award, and are an inaugural 2021 circle of confusion writers discovery fellow.

their play the gaze, a 2021 o’neill npc finalist, is also an award-winning digital series: a two-time 2021 daytime emmy award nominee, 2021 webby award honoree, and 2021 micheaux film festival’s best comedic digital series winner. 2023 micheaux film festival winner for their film strong friend, let go.

they wrote/directed/starred in/produced their debut experimental feature mother’s milk: a film quilt which won the 2021 seattle international film festival’s new american cinema special jury prize and was an official selection at the 2021 pan african film festival.

currently a staff writer/exec story editor for five seasons on the 3x emmy-nominated tv sitcom the ms. pat show, and a director of the 2023 audie award-winning audio drama of pipeline by dominique morisseau. and director of johnny laveie’s philocomedy concert special queerious times as well as yazmin monet watkins’ solo show a vessel born to float. you can watch their work at larryjean.com/stream/videos.

adjunct lecturer at USC’s school of dramatic arts. carnegie mellon school of drama grad where they received the roth-levine award.