salt & steep : a night of curated poetry and music, hosted by Cristina Pitter

Curated by Cristina Pitter, salt & steep gathers folks to experience poetry and music set to soothe and stir the soul, if only for an evening. Featuring Diane Exavier, Jaime Cepero, Matthew Bovee, and Aya Aziz. The night wrap ups with an open mic for those wishing to share new work in a brave space.

Cristina Pitter (they/she) is a queer multi-spirit afrolatine fat babe artist and abolitionist who wants to burn it all down and plant new seeds in the fertile soil. She also has the best laugh ever. SERIOUSLY.  You may have seen her work at JACK, The Bushwick Starr, Target Margin Theatre, Abrons Art Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Mabou Mines, 59E59, Ars Nova, New Ohio Theatre, Joe’s Pub, The Tank, The Metropolitan Opera, or three separate but specific bathtubs. BFA Acting Brooklyn College. Follow her antics at  

Diane Exavier is a writer, theatermaker and educator working at the intersection of performance and poetry. Her work has been presented with The New Group, BRIC Arts, The Bushwick Starr, Bowery Poetry Club, and more. Diane concerns herself with what she recognizes as the 4 L’s: love, loss, legacy, and land. Her book-length lyric, The Math of Saint Felix, was recently published by The 3rd Thing Press. Her most recent play Bernarda's Daughters, is now available to listen to as an Audible Theater release. A 2021 Jerome Foundation Finalist, Diane lives and works in Brooklyn.

Aya Aziz is an interdisciplinary artist, songwriter, and educator from New York. Her musical, “Eh Dah? Questions for my Father” ran in New York Theatre Workshop’s 2019 Next Door series. She’s developing a new iteration of the musical with 59E59 Theaters, and is a current fellow with the Emerging Writer’s Group at The Public Theatre. Aya is also a NYFA grant recipient and is currently working on her debut album. You can find her single, “Rapids”, on all streaming platforms. When she's not making art, Aya works alongside youth activists at the YA-YA Network to get police and metal detectors out of public schools.

Jaime Cepero (He/They) is an Afro-Latinx Queer non-binary Actor, Writer, and Activist most well known for playing the prickly Ellis Boyd on NBC’s musical drama SMASH from exec producer Stephen Spielberg. TV: CONNECTING...(NBC), MESS (HereTV/Amazon). Film: DADDY, DATING MY MOTHER, JESS, I AM MICHAEL, THE GAME PLAN. Tours: PORGY & BESS 75th Anniversary National. Off-Broadway: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: THE MUSICAL! Regional: HAIR (Claude) Dallas Theater Center, GODSPELL(Judas) ACT Connecticut. JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR GOSPEL (Simon) Alliance Theater, YOU WILL NEVA ENTER OUR HIGH HOLY LAND OF BLACKNESS…(Marco Polo) Long Wharf Theater, CHOIR BOY (US Pharrus/David) The Geffen Playhouse. As a composer their musical Francois & The Rebels (a punkrock telling of the 1791 Haitian Revolution) was part of MTFmusicals 4X15 Workshop, JOE’S PUB New Musicals Concert Program, and the New Works Choreography lab at New York Theater Barn. He was a 2021 playwriting Cohort with Glaad/National Queer Theater, a 2X semi finalist in Times Square Alliance City Songwriting Competition, and a 2022 Gold Anthem Award recipient for his work in political activism.

Twitter: @JaimeCepero

Insta: @Papimagic

Debut EP: #FunkyPunk @Spotify.

Theater: @francoisandtherebels

Matt Bovee is a performer and creator living in Brooklyn. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he now works in New York as an actor, dancer, musician, choreographer, movement director, and teaching artist. As a creator, he is interested in compelling interactions between dance, text, and music in storytelling on stage and on camera. A graduate of UC San Diego’s joint Theater and Dance degree program, he specializes in movement-based, ensemble-driven, devised, and experimental approaches to material.

Janelle Lawrence is an interdisciplinary artist who specializes in highlighting the complexity and layers of our lives. What does it mean to specialize in this? Well, it means they use every tool: music, soundscaping, dialogue, poetry, conversation, body, movement, etc., to present and occasionally replicate the parts of us that are unique, special, and still shared. They have had their musicals, plays, and performance art presented in various theaters; The Kennedy Center, Legoland New York, Joe’s Pub, Seattle Public Theater, and National Black Theatre - but they no longer want that to define their artistic depth and experience. They have been crafting stories, examining (people), and attempting to dis/uncover how we grow together with their whole life; storytelling is what they do.