Photo by Taylor Hayden

Harrison Guy is a nationally recognized choreographer, cultural architect, educator, and community strategist whose work bridges performance, cultural preservation, and institutonal leadership. For more than two decades, he has used movement, storytelling, and community engagement to illuminate Black cultural experiences and expand pathways for artistic excellence.

He is the founder and artistic director of Urban Souls Dance Company, one of Houston’s leading Black contemporary dance companies, where he has developed a body of work rooted in Black memory, identity, and liberation. His choreography has been presented nationally, including Can We Know the Sound of Forgiveness, which premiered at Rice University and was later performed at Carnegie Hall with dancers from The Ailey School. He also co choreographed Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson alongside Stanton Welch, Artistic Director of Houston Ballet.

Beyond his artistic practice, Guy has emerged as a transformative cultural leader. As Director of Arts and Culture for the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, he leads Houston’s Fifth Ward Cultural Arts District, a State-designated African American Heritage District, where he oversees the historic DeLUXE Theater and advances arts driven strategies for community development, cultural preservation, and equitable neighborhood investment.

Guy is also the founder of Black Arts Movement Houston, the African American Dance Festival, Brave Bodies, and the Charles Law Community Archive, institutions and initiatives that strengthen Houston’s cultural ecosystem while amplifying Black artistic and LGBTQ histories.

A Dance/USA Fellow, Dance Source Houston Artistic Honoree, educator, and producer of the NAACP Image Award nominated film Memory Builds the Monument, Guy considers himself a student of the city. His work is dedicated to remembering, preserving, and amplifying the stories that shape Black communities while building institutions that willsustain future generations.

 Photo by Michael J. Clarke

Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Pascale Florestal is a first generation American from Haitian descent. She was introduced to theater accidentally in high school when she stumbled into the drama room looking to get community service hours for graduation. Since then she has been hooked on theatrical experiences that shed light on narratives of the global majority and the queer community. She graduated from Ithaca College with her Bachelors of Arts in Theater Studies. During her time in college she studied Theater in London through the IC London Program and spent a semester at the National Theater Institute at The Eugene O’Neill Theater. 

My artistic journey began in education, first as an Education Apprentice and later as an Education Associate at the Huntington Theatre in Boston. Teaching felt instinctive, but directing was always the dream: guiding others through discovery, curiosity, and collective imagination. For seven years, I lived a dual life. By day, I worked in education and administrative roles at institutions such as Company One Theatre, the Boch Center, and the Boston Center for the Arts. By night and on weekends, I directed plays, building community, honing my craft, and learning how leadership functions both onstage and behind the scenes. This slow, intentional progression carried me from fringe productions to university theaters and eventually to mid-size professional spaces. When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Boston’s theaters, I transitioned into academia as an Assistant Professor at Boston Conservatory while also collaborating with the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture to support local cultural institutions through a moment of crisis. 

As a Haitian American queer woman, my work is driven by a deep commitment to uplifting stories of the global majority and challenging dominant narratives about whose lives and experiences are worthy of attention. I am drawn to work that celebrates joy, complexity, and the fullness of Black life while also illuminating systems of inequity and possibility. I prioritize collaboration with emerging playwrights of color and artists whose work explores intersectionality, particularly within the LGBTQIA community. Theater, for me, is both a site of celebration and a tool for education, resistance, and imagination. 

This commitment led me to The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theater company dedicated to advancing racial equity in Boston’s theater ecosystem. Since joining The Porch, I have grown alongside the institution, serving as Artistic Associate, Director of Education and Community Engagement, and now Associate Artistic Director. In these roles, I have initiated and stewarded programs that extend beyond the stage, including The Young Critics Program, which nurtures the next generation of arts critics, and a Financial Literacy Series that supports artists’ long-term sustainability. I have worked to expand apprenticeship and internship pathways, strengthen community engagement initiatives, and build meaningful partnerships with institutions such as Roxbury Community College to connect students with artists and conversations shaping Boston’s cultural landscape. 

Through our strategic planning process, we named a bold vision for the next decade: becoming a nationally recognized home for African Diasporic storytelling. The work of The Front Porch has reimagined how theater can be experienced while actively addressing the challenge of diversifying audiences in Greater Boston. From the moment I joined the company, I knew I

wanted to help build something that did more than highlight Black and Brown stories. I wanted to be part of an institution grounded in the spirit, traditions, and cultural practices of our communities. This work has affirmed for me the abundance of brilliance among Black and Brown artists in Boston and beyond, and the urgency of creating structures that allow that brilliance to thrive. 

During my time at The Front Porch Arts Collective I have continued my work as an educator at the Collegiate level. Currently I am an Assistant Professor of Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College Music. I have also served as Visiting Guest Artists Professor at Suffolk University and just completed my Monan Professorship at Boston College in the Theater Arts Department. Through these professorships I have cultivated partnerships with these institutions while inspiring young people and theater and providing path ways and guidance into the Boston Theater Scene. 

My mission as both an artist and administrator is to uplift stories and practitioners who have been pushed to the margins and rendered invisible, whether by creating space for audiences to see themselves reflected onstage or by offering programs where artists can ask questions, build knowledge, and imagine sustainable futures. At The Porch, we often say, “Everyone is invited to the cookout. We’re just going to teach you how to make the potato salad.” That ethos captures my approach to theater-making: generous, rooted in shared learning, and grounded in the belief that community is built through invitation, care, and accountability. 

I believe my role as an artist is not to offer easy answers, but to hold space for the difficult conversations we long to have. Through my work, I strive to help create the world we are collectively yearning for: one where truth is honored, joy is centered, and everyone is seen, heard, and invited fully into the room.