BIOGRAPHY

Marguerite Laurent is a Haitian woman inspired, guided, and directed by the strength, legacy and visions of the Haitian warrior goddess, Ezili Dantò.

She is an award winning playwright, a performance poet, dancer, actor and activist attorney. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and raised in Stamford, CT. She holds a BA from Boston College, a JD from the University of Connecticut School of law, and, attended the Hartford Conservatory for Ballet, Jazz and Modern while studying Haitian dancing at home and with countless Haitian dance experts in the field.

She is a gifted spoken word artist who uses Haitian dance, performance poetry, theater and creative writing to create the "Red, Black & Moonlight" series, her critically acclaimed one-woman Jazzoetry Vodun dance theater work, which she has toured internationally and also performed at Colleges and Universities, performance art centers, and theaters, including at non-traditional theater venues, such as the United Nations and Carnegie Hall.

Ms. Laurent is also an essayist and educator who specializes in teaching about the light and beauty of Haitian culture; the "Symbolic and Archetypal Nature of Haitian Vodun;" the illegality and immorality of forcing neoliberalism policies on Haiti and the developing world; the illegality and human rights violations caused by the U.S. embargo against Haiti during the Aristide and Preval presidencies and the international crimes currently unraveling Haiti because of the U.S.-Canada-France-supported Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'etat and U.N. occupation; the need for France to repay the extraordinary 1825 ransom it extorted from the Haitian people and the constant Euro-US hostility Haiti faces, endures and struggles to overcome as the first Black Republic in the world after Ethiopia in a Eurocentric world which purposely inflames instability, insecurity, impasse and chaos in the Black republics in order to better exploit their labor and natural resources.

She is the author of three plays, a spoken word and jazz CD and two books of poetry and has received numerous awards for her art, activism and civic
contributions. In addition to producing and performing the "Red, Black & Moonlight" monologues, she teaches, through her production company, Ezilidanto's Spoken Word Dance Theater Company, master dance workshops on traditional Haitian dance; does in-school and after school workshops and teaching residencies in performance poetry, creative writing and Hip Hop Theater, and, on "How To Create The One-Woman Show." She has also taught an "Art and Business Law" class as an adjunct professor at various colleges in NY and CT and as a workshop for community and State art councils.

Marguerite won a Connecticut Playwright Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, a Vermont Studio Center writing fellowship and scholarship, a Stamford Arts Partnership Grant and many other awards, residencies and fellowships. She has been a Partner Artist with the Bushnell Performance Art Center, Connecticut's largest performance art center and is an Urban Artist Fellow with the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Institute for Community Research. She was trained by Arts Genesis to conduct curriculum based arts-in-education workshops and teaching residencies for the State of Connecticut.

Marguerite has also worked, for over ten years, as an entertainment attorney within the Hip Hop and R&B music, recording, merchandising and independent film industries. She has represented numerous national and international recording artists and independent film directors, producers and screenwriters. She is one of the pioneers of Hip Hop Theater and amongst a select few activist entertainment attorneys who conduct workshops studying and analyzing the impact of Hip Hop message music and African culture globally. Marguerite has been called a "Hip Hop attorney" for her career-long dedication to assisting independent labels; for advocating economic parity and democracy within the US music industry; and for advocating eventual artist ownership of their masters as well as for advocating for alternative methods of distribution.

She is founder of The Haitian Lawyers Leadership, a network of lawyers dedicated to institutionalizing the rule of law and protecting the civil and cultural rights of Haitians at home and abroad. She has written a judicial reform agenda for Haiti. Her most challenging and memorable work thus far has been as legal advisor, in 1994-1995, to Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide in promoting the democratizing process in Haiti. The "Red, Black & Moonlight" performance series is a musical memoir based on that story and her life and work in the United States.

Ezilidanto's Spoken Word Dance Theater Company represents artists whose art is a way for them to empower, honor, respect and refer to their own culture for strength, abundance, self-reliance and expanded awareness and to publicize and promote their own ancestor's great contributions toward world harmony and liberty. The company entertains as well as brings to application, the commitment, community and compassion that was first displayed by the indomitable spirit of Ms. Laurent's African ancestors - the amalgamated African tribes who became Haitians in the land of the Taino/Arawaks. The artists with Ezilidanto are representatives of the new Africans who created the first Republic in the Western Hemisphere; who wrote the first Constitution to expressly recognized the equality of men and women and of all peoples irrespective of race, color or creed; who were the first to legally abolish slavery (67 years before the US, 47 years before France), and, who created the Kreyol language and Vodun psychology that first synchronized the promise of the America's diverse peoples, and, therefore where the first settlers to apply creative and inclusive vision to actualize humane co-habitation, unity and order in the Western Hemisphere. Ms. Laurent's company works to bring these ancestral visions to the forefront and to promote their application globally through law, dance, drama, poetry and creative writing.