Performance Dates & Times
Thursday, January 22nd at 7:30pm

Friday, January 23rd at 7:30pm

Saturday January 24th at 7:30pm

Sunday, January 25th at 7:30pm

Monday, January 26th at 7:30pm

Content Warning: This show contains mature themes and language

maleek rae bodycount

Writer & Performer- Maleek Rae

Director - amani meliyah

Image designed by amani meliyah

Featured performer Maleek Rae 

You dug a hole, now lie in it. BODYCOUNT is a raw, visceral exploration of what it takes to rise from the depths of our own making. Set in a cruising park, this play delves into the simplest, most primal truth—sometimes all we really want is a little connection and to feel held. It follows Gatekeeper, an aspiring photographer yearning to craft a world where large Black queer bodies can simply exist, and be embraced gardens. The story whispers of longing, vulnerability, and the fierceness of reclaiming space in a world that too often deems that that those who be fat and black are of less worth.

Written by Maleek Rae and directed by amani meliyah, BODYCOUNT combines their unique talents in a collaborative, community-driven experience that explores vulnerability, healing, and the human need for intimacy.

About the Artist

Maleek Rae (they/them) great-grandchild of Joseph Gilbert, hails from the Eastside of Detroit, MI. They are gender queer multidisciplinary Rapper/Writer/Actor/Producer. Maleek is a graduate of the SUNY Purchase BFA acting conservatory. Their credits include The Best Man: The Final Chapters (Peacock), Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), East New York (CBS), and their recurring role on Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC).

Maleek’s work can also be seen on stages throughout NYC, national commercials, video games, and their own original multi media creations. Theatre credits include; Ghetto Alchemy: A Lunchroom Survival Guide (The Tank), ‘Tia Pray A Sound (BTBF), The Bacchae (Classical Theatre if Harlem), and Messiah (La Mama). Their most recent play Community: A Guttah Ritual has received developmental support from The Tank and SPACE on Ryder Farm(Greenhouse Residency). Maleek is a 2024 Gatekeeper Collective Learning To Love Fellow, 2023-24’ Institute fellow with Target Margin Theatre, a 2024 EMERGE cohort member at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and a current member of LIT Council, a developmental intensive for playwrights at the Tank. Outside of their theatrical work, Rae exercises their pen through lyrical flows and hard hitting punch lines, which can be heard throughout their debut mixtape Ghetto Alchemy: Vol 1. As a creative Maleek is interested in crafting theatrical baptistism as a means of decolonization. All glory be to God, “Work Hard and Pray Harder.”