Nehassaiu deGannes (she/her/hers) has appeared in a range of classical and contemporary roles Off B’way, regionally and internationally, including Stratford Festival of Canada, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Studio Theatre, DC, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Soho Rep, LaMaMa, Cleveland Play House, and John Drew/ Guild Hall in EQUUS with Alec Baldwin, directed by Tony Walton. Cited “Best Performance In A Play 2017” by The Wall Street Journal for her portrayal of “Esther” in Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel at Shakespeare & Co., she is also recipient of the 2016 Berkshire Theatre Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her nimble comedic tripling as Nell Gwynne, Maria, and Lady Davenant in Liz Duffy Adams’ Or,. Off-Broadway, Nehassaiu originated “Angie” in Soho Rep’s Obie Award winning production of Aleshea Harris’ Is God Is and “Arkadina” in The Assembly‘s world premiere SEAGULLMACHINE. She has twice served as featured performer for The UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women and plays “Krystal Rullan“ in Taheim Bryan’s timely indie-feature, Equal Standard, co-produced by Ice-T. Her solo-show Door of No Return, originally produced by Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University, has been presented at several theatres and colleges in NY and the Northeast, including Easthampton’s Guild Hall. Recipient of fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Soul Mountain, Community of Writers, and The Rhode Island State Council on The Arts, Nehassaiu’s poems have been published in literary journals such as American Poetry Review, Callaloo, PoemMemoirStory and elsewhere, two poetry chapbooks––– Undressing The River, selected by Kimiko Hahn for the 2011 Center For Book Arts National Letterpress Prize, and Percussion, Salt & Honey, selected by Michael Harper for the Philbrick Poetry Prize––– and Music for Exile, her debut book-length collection, available now from Tupelo Press. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Brown University, an MA in African American Studies, and trained at Trinity Rep Conservatory. Based in Brooklyn, Nehassaiu is a 52nd St Project Volunteer, a proud member of AEA, and is represented by The Talent House, New York & Toronto. Recipient of an Assembly Theater Deceleration Lab Grant, her current work–in– progress, EBB & lo’, unveils the Jamaican Creole identity of the renown Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, thereby rescuing the world’s “greatest love poems” from being white-washed.