UNIVERSES

UNIVERSES Find our links at: https://linktr.ee/universes It supports artists within and outside of its core company, to foster artistic excellence in American Theater.

Now in their 27th year, UNIVERSES is a National Theater Company of color dedicated to the creation, development, production, touring, community engagement and educational dissemination of new theatrical and performance works for stage and screen. Its core company consists of a revolving and evolving set of multi-disciplined writers and performers who fuse Poetry, Theater, Music, and Dance, to brin

g American voices to life through moving, challenging and entertaining theatrical works. Led by its Founders/Artistic Directors, Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, the core group of writers breaks the bounds of traditional theatre; building on UNIVERSES' aesthetic and unique brand, to invite/challenge old and new generations of theatre crafters as well as theatergoers and newcomers to envision a new American Theater. Founded in The Bronx, New York in 1995, the original members of UNIVERSES came together in the urban poetry and music scene of the late 1990s; moving through the “downtown” performance scene to build a home for themselves in American Theatre. They have taken their original pieces around the world, electrifying crowds and sparking conversation about just what it means to be an 'American', right here and right now.

30 YEARS of UNIVERSES.Today I sat and started going through old videos. Old moments. Old rooms. Old versions of us. And ...
01/11/2026

30 YEARS of UNIVERSES.

Today I sat and started going through old videos. Old moments. Old rooms. Old versions of us. And I felt something wake up in me. We were just kids when we started. Kids with loud voices, big hearts, and a deep need to connect to the world. To injustice. To erasure. To the feeling of being told, in a thousand ways, that our voices did not belong everywhere. But we insisted.

UNIVERSES was born to lift and celebrate our communities. In the falling. In the rising. In the surviving. To make it through everything this country, this world throws at us, and still live to tell the stories.

30 YEARS. That number lands in my body. The last ten years, whew. They tried to take a lot out of us. Out of all of us. Collectively and individually. There were moments we were just trying to breathe. Just trying to get through. And honestly, sometimes we were tired. Sometimes we were hurt. Sometimes we were quiet. Not stopped. Just slowed. Because we are human.

Today felt like pressing play again. So many pause buttons on the past. Not to live there, but to remember. To remember our code. Our DNA. Who we have always been. There is so much unfinished business. So many stories still asking to be told. And what breaks my heart and fires me up at the same time is how much of what we made years ago is still painfully relevant. That feels like a signal.
To rise. To return. To expand. To proceed.

We never stopped being UNIVERSES. And even when I forget, even when I get tired, even when life gets heavy, this work, these people, this history remind me of something simple.

Being human has limits.
But being a UNIVERSE does not. --- Mils 🦋
---

This moment was thankfully captured by Edwin Pagán around the time Steven and I were founding The Point CDC. We had already been at it together for years. We were babies.

I will share more from the archive as I go through it. I hope it sparks memories and re-energizes you too.

We have been on this road for 38 years now. Still here. Much work to do, my peoples! Let's do this.

Thank You, April!!! How blessed we are to have spent this morning with you.
04/26/2025

Thank You, April!!! How blessed we are to have spent this morning with you.

In this episode of ASCENDING with APRIL R. SILVER, host, the tribute to is still going strong. The featured guests are MILDRED RUIZ-SAPP...

07/16/2023

Headimg to the stage for a good old fashioned club hit at GonzoFest in Louisville, Kentucky...

07/16/2023

It's . about . to go . DOWN!!!
07/15/2023

It's . about . to go . DOWN!!!

The 10th & Final GonzoFest Louisville is here!

Always an honor to return to one of our artistic homes. ❤️
07/10/2023

Always an honor to return to one of our artistic homes. ❤️

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