Being Human: An Evening of Storytelling and Readings

P. Carl is a Senior Distinguished Artist in Residence, Department of Performing Arts, at Emerson College in Boston and the author of the memoir, Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition (Simon & Schuster, 2020). His adaptation of the memoir was produced in February of 2024 by the American Repertory Theater of Harvard to critical acclaim — nominated for Outstanding New Script by Boston theater critics. He was the Spring 2020 Anschutz Fellow at Princeton University, awarded a 2017 Art of Change Fellowship from the Ford Foundation, the Berlin Prize fellowship from the American Academy for the fall of 2018, and the Andrew W. Mellon Creative Research Residency at the University of Washington. His work has been published in the New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, and Lit Hub.

His most recent work in the theater includes dramaturgy with collaborators Claudia Rankine, Jessica Blank, Erik Jensen, Melinda Lopez, Deborah Stein, and Suli Holum, among many others. He also served as an advisor to the Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill and is the founder of the online theater journal Howlround.

Carl received a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a master's in Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, and holds a PhD in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society from the University of Minnesota. He was born in Elkhart, Indiana, and now lives in Rhode Island with his spouse, the writer Lynette D'Amico.

Cristela Guerra is a senior arts and culture reporter at WBUR in Boston, a queer Panamanian journalist of color, and a moderator who facilitates and leads conversations around race, identity, and equity. Before working in public radio, she was a newspaper journalist for more than a decade, working at The Boston Globe and The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida. She is one of 24 journalists from around the world selected for the 2024 class of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Her work received a regional and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2014 and most recently received another regional Edward R. Murrow in 2023 as part of “Continuing Coverage” for her work at the US-Mexico border on the journey of Venezuelans migrants. She was chosen as a 2019 Latina Leader by Amplify Latinx and selected by YW Boston to be inducted into its 2023 Academy of Women Achievers and receive the organization’s Sylvia Ferrell-Jones Award. 

Cristela Guerra is the vice-president of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, vice-chair of the board at RAW Art Works, and a board member at The Jar.

Porsha Olayiwola is a native of Chicago who writes, lives, and loves in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator, and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the founder of the Roxbury Poetry Festival. Olayiwola is Brown University's 2019 Heimark Artist-in-Residence as well as the 2021 Artist-in-Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She is a 2020 poet laureate fellow with the Academy of American poets. Olayiwola earned her MFA in poetry from Emerson College and is the author of i shimmer sometimes, too. Olayiwola is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston. Her work can be found in or forthcoming from with TriQuarterly Magazine, Black Warrior Review, The Boston Globe, Essence Magazine, Redivider, The Academy of American Poets, Netflix, Wildness Press, the Museum of Fine Arts, and elsewhere.

Emma Makela is a graduate student at Emerson College studying Publishing and Writing. From a young age she always wanted to work in medicine, but in college (after a few run-ins with calculus), decided to make the switch to English Literature. She spends her time now as a student studying the infinite ways science and literature influence the very human instinct of storytelling. Her research focuses include fandom and fanfiction, and also whatever you’re currently obsessed with. 

Charles Rosario is the program coordinator for the Emerson Prison Initiative. Rosario passionately advocates for higher education in carceral spaces as well as for creating more pathways for returning citizens to access higher education on traditional college campuses. Rosario also works to connect returning citizens to reentry services, provides direct one-on-one case management, and works to help expand EPI and its Reentry and College Outside Program (RECOUP). As an alumnus of EPI, it is Rosario’s experience as a formerly-incarcerated person that fuels his commitment to empowering others to pursue their educational and personal growth.

Emerson Comedic Arts BFA student, stand-up comedian, producer, actor, writer, and director Jayden Lopez has never found one box big enough to fit him creatively. Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Jayden's love for comedy and storytelling blossomed within his community who taught him that where you come from doesn’t predetermine who you are or what you will become; not just to love but to have pride in where he came from. The vice-president of Holyoke High School Theater Co., Jayden served in multiple roles for each of the school's three productions, ranging from behind-the-scenes to roles on stage. While working on his professional journey as a creative, Jayden has also worked with Enlace De Familias, a local nonprofit in Holyoke to produce multiple community events including the WESTERN MASS YOUTH CONFERENCE, and dedicated summers to Generation Teach as a Teaching Fellow.

His most recent project STAND-UP TO CLIMATE CHANGE, a hybrid sketch and stand-up comedy show premiered on February 24 in the Judee Wales Watson Theater. It was funded by a seed grant from Inside the Greenhouse for Creative Climate Communication at the University of Colorado, Boulder.