devised by Sarita Covington and Gamal Palmer
written by Sarita Covington and the company
directed by Patricia McGregor
November 2006
Yale Cabaret
New Haven, CT

"Cipher" derives from the Arabic for "zero"; a "cypher" is the circle where hip-hop poets battle. Combining personal stories, history, interviews, dance, and hip-hop, the poets in Slam discuss ideas of dark and light, and how skin prejudice manifests in their own lives. Starting from their own "zero," they create both the world of the slam within the "cypher" and a living mirror reflecting their fears, truths and revelations, beginning a frank discussion about the color line.