Dahlak Brathwaite

Dahlak Brathwaite (born 1986) is a hip-hop-rooted performance artist, spoken-word poet, actor, musician, and writer. He has toured the United States with his one-man show, Spiritrials, since 2015. He first gained prominence when he appeared twice on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. As a CalArts artist-in-residence he has further developed Spiritrials with director Roberta Uno and choreographer Toran Moore to create the project Try/Step/Trip which he has performed at venues such as Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco's CalArts Center for New Performance, Since 2004, Brathwaite has toured over 200 colleges throughout the United States and Europe with the ill-Literacy artists collective and been a featured performer at the Los Angeles Get Down Festival. He has toured nationally and internationally with the hip-hop theater production of Word Becomes Flesh and Scourge, both under the direction of Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Additional collaborations include a track with acclaimed Bay Area rapper George Watsky and performances with Princess Cut. Brathwaite is a presenter through the CalArts initiative ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America and a U.S. State Department International Exchange Fellowship's OneBeat Fellow, through which he has performed for the State Department's hip-hop diplomacy program, Next Level. The role, which placed him on Team Uzbekistan, has taken him to Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic.

Religion Brathwaite was raised Catholic which segued into what he describes as "a traditional Black church where folks, you know, catch the Holy Ghost and run up to the altar and speak in tongues." This experience caused him to "contextualize Christianity in the historical sense," testing, and ultimately losing, his belief in the faith. As of 2019, Brathwaite and the group still tour. Also while a UCD student, Brathwaite appeared twice on HBO's Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam, on which he shared a bill with Talib Kweli, Lauryn Hill, Lyfe Jennings, Dave Chappelle, and others. During this time, Brathwaite performed in UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance productions such as The Island, directed by Professor Peter Lichtenfels, and participated in projects like a Youth Radio series helmed by reporter Anyi Howell.

Career Brathwaite's works reflect the modern age's struggle with the intersection of race, religion, law enforcement, and mass incarceration. Fresh out of college in 2008, Brathwaite was pulled over by a police officer while driving in a case of racial profiling. Georgia Tech; Florida's Asolo Repertory Theatre; the Greenway Court Theatre; the Theater Alliance of Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia Playhouse, the University of Chicago; Virginia's Middlebury University; Philadelphia's Painted Bride Art Center; Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, and other venues.

In 2025, Brathwaite announced his new musical, Ashwa, would premiere at Off-Broadway's York Theatre.

Awards and honors Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Adaptation for Long Way Down Nominee for 2019 United States Artists Fellowship

Discography Spiritrials (2012) Of No Consequence (2012) Live From The Boondocks: Commencement (2008) Dual Consciousness (2007)