amani meliyah
Ghetto Alchemy: A Lunchroom Survival Guide
Created by Maleek Rae & amani meliyah
Written & Performed by Maleek Rae
Directed by amani meliyah
The Tank - May 2024
Ghetto Alchemy: A Lunchroom Survival Guide is an afrofuturist coming-of-age story that transports us from the outer reaches of space to the rhythmic tables of a middle school lunchroom. This hip-hop solo show uses rap, poetry, and movement as liberation tools to help our main character travel back in time to gain the assistance of their middle school self to overcome current-day blockades. Throughout this story, we evaluate and stitch together themes of puberty, socioeconomic status, and queer awakening. This show is a Sankofa offering. It’s never too late to go back and get it. It’s never too late to give 11-year-old you a hug.
Other works
amani meliyah
director, writer, performer
I am a multidisciplinary artist who creates socio-political portraits of identity, faith, and community through theme-driven narratives rooted in the ideology of intersectional black feminism. I seek to explore black femme experiences in narrative, theatrical work influenced by applied and physical theater practices. I'm interested in how satire and magic realism can be used to de-mechanize systems of power by challenging social margins and celebrating the multiplicity of life in this realm and beyond.
I am a co-founder of Blue Lilith Productions and we are currently in production for the film “ROOFTOP JESUS” in which I serve as writer and director. Additionally, I am a facilitator with Theatre of the Oppressed NYC and work with queer youth in transitional living.
I am passionate about the healing rituals of telling stories through live performance, movement, poetry, and video.
Member of the 2023-2024 Leon Levy Roundabout Directing Cohort
Education: Coastal Carolina University BFA in Acting; Life lessons from many ancestors and aunties
Today we gather in remembrance of a fragile generation.
Born on the cusp of a new millennium
Our birth marked the end of an era and the start of something new.
Today as babies we die and transcend into the afterlife of adulthood.
The first breaths of responsibility
The first steps of maturity
The first taste of freedom
We suck it down and beg for more
Emptying our pockets before they ever had a chance to fill.
Today we mourn for our innocence as
This christening into reality is vicious.
I mourn for a version of myself that wasn’t ready to die
And adjust to this new skin:
brown and tender like before
but with a tremor beneath the surface teeming with optimism and fear.
A karmic link with the Universe
We experience our rebirth in tandem.
- from "HONEYMOON'" by amani meliyah