Welcome to episode two of Meeting the Moment with Michael Mwenso.

Michael Mwenso, a Harlem-based cross-genre artist and leader of jazz-funk band The Shakes, is partnering with the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State to provide opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and community members to engage in thought-provoking conversations that speak to the topics of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Charles Dumas, who retired in 2013 as professor emeritus of the Penn State School of Theatre, remains active in the university theatre community. The actor, writer, and playwright devised and directs The Osaze Project, a theatrical workshop to be staged in November that explores the incidents that led to the 2019 death of State College resident Osaze Osagie. In 2002, Dumas was a Fulbright Fellow at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He has written and directed more than fifty plays.

The free live series will be broadcast via the Zoom video conference app, and questions will be taken in real time from audience members through the chat function.