Brenton Weyi

Brenton Weyi (born January 16, 1990) is an American essayist, thinker, playwright, poet, and humanist. He is an inaugural Playwright Fellow at Denver Center for the Performing Arts He is known for cross-disciplinary creativity Weyi then attended Whitman College, where he earned degrees in both philosophy and history. He appeared in several theatre works, founded a hip-hop crew and co-founded an award-winning poetry team. He also engaged in improvisation, music and danced professionally for a period.

Career After completing his undergraduate education, Weyi moved to Thailand, where he lived and worked at a meditation and martial arts school. He is also known for his travels to over 60 nations.

He created a reputation for his multi-disciplinary storytelling and immersive creative work. He has partnered with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Norman Rockwell Museum, Denver Art Museum, the Flobots, The Schusterman Foundation and others.

In 2015, Weyi joined Playback Theatre West, Colorado's longest-running improvisational theatre company, which uses theater an empathy-building tool. In the same year, he also co-founded Storytellers Acapella, an all-male vocal quintet with the mission of bringing together communities with music and storytelling. In 2016, he began tapping into his background to create art around the challenges and beauty in the Central African region. The project was originally founded by artist Clare Patey, and Denver's edition was put on by the Biennial of the Americas, featuring stories from Suzi Q Smith, Mayor Michael B Hancock, and others.

My Country, My Country musical In 2016, Weyi began work on a stage musical focusing on Congolese independence in the backdrop of the Cold War named My Country, My Country. The piece highlights the story of Patrice Lumumba and Baudouin I of Belgium and the tumultuous time of nationalism and Communism around the world that eventually led to Lumumba's death. Weyi staged his first reading at the Denver Art Museum in 2018. In late 2018, Weyi became the first Coloradan to host a Massivemuse—a large, multidisciplinary arts event—for national classical music company Groupmuse, which featured a staged reading of My Country, My Country and the music of Fanny Mendelssohn.

Achievements

2017: TEDxBoulder Speaker with talk titled "I've Always Wanted to Tell You..." 2019: Nominated by the City of Denver and Denver Public Library for the Juanita Gray award for exemplary service to the city by an African-American. 2019: Featured as a 'Colorado Creative,' a yearly series profiling the top 100 creatives in Colorado 2019: Named Inaugural Dramatic Writing Fellow at Lighthouse Writer's Workshop 'Writing in Color' retreat