storäe michele (they/them)—a self-given name speaking to the sacred act of storytelling—is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, poet, playwright, theologian and seasoned educator.

their experimental films, performances, and choreopoems center black femmes, honoring their routes to authenticity— the reclamation of body, sexuality and personhood—which serve as reminders of how to create brave space as black queer wild & holy beings.

storäe returns to African diasporic folklore as a practice of story-weaving. by integrating archives of black folx, exploring ancestral accounts & documenting dreamworlds as transformative spells for healing, their art provides pathways toward future world-making.

their first film, [the listening heart], earned the Robert E. Seaver Award granted by Union Theological Seminary and has been officially selected byfilm festivals in Berlin, New York, Carbondale, Colorado and Cannes. their directorial debut was celebrated on the front cover of Women CineMakers, a digital magazine in Berlin.

storäe is a Lambda Literary Fellow (Playwrighting Cohort, 2021) and their choreopoem, mama [rose], was nominated for the 2022 LGBTQ Drama Lammy Award. storäe is a fellow for the 2023 Baldwin for the Arts Residencyand the 2023 Greenhouse Residency (SPACE on Ryder Farm). storäe is also New York Stage and Film’s 2024 Founders’ Award Recipient.

storäe recently collaborated in an on-site gallery installation and exhibit titled, because you’re [mine.] (2024), which nuances self-possession and ritual practice in the mundane. their upcoming performance piece [claustrophobia], is supported by Columbia University’s Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics & Social Justice as a Rapid Response grant recipient .

storäe has a Master of Professional Studies graduate in Creative Arts Therapy & Creativity Development, Pratt Institute (2008), also holds an Interdisciplinary Master of Divinity graduate of Union Theological Seminary (2017), and has earned a Master of Fine Arts in Performance & Performance Studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY (2021).

Please note, when I say femme, I am speaking to trans, cis-, queer, het-, non-binary energies, practices, materialities.

photography by Anne Hoilman.