Universes: 30 Years of Arts and Activism

Mildred Ruiz-Sapp and Steven Sapp, co-founders of Universes Theater Company, are in residence in Theater Studies from September 15-26 as guest artists for the Fall 2025 New Works Lab. A public performance, An Evening with Universes: Celebrating 30 Years of Art and Activism, will take place on September 26 at 5:30 pm in the Sheafer Lab Theater, Bryan University Center. Admission is free.

Mildred and Steven, who met while attending Bard College, formed Universes Theater Company in the Bronx in 1995. They wanted to express their lived experiences through poetry, stage craft and music, as well as give back to the community where Steven grew up. One of the first groups to pioneer hip hop theater, Universes is an ensemble of writers and performers of color whose blend of poetry, dance, jazz, hip hop, theater and politics has been seen on stages worldwide.

In 2015, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp and Steven Sapp received Doris Duke Foundation Performing Artist Awards, given to empower, invest in and celebrate artists in the fields of contemporary dance, jazz and theater.

We caught up with them to ask about their residency at Duke, their public presentation this week and their reflections on the last thirty years.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are you working on during your residency?

Steven: We were commissioned a couple of years ago by the Goodman Theater to write a piece about Chicago. We wanted to write something authentic, so we decided on house music, which is huge in Chicago. We did research and hung out with a lot of the legends in that genre. Now, we're in the process of writing a piece about the birth of house music, and that’s what we’re working on here at Duke.

What has your experience interacting with students been like?

Mildred: We had a great experience in Johann Montozzi-Wood’s acting class earlier this week. The students were incredibly willing to dive into the workshop, and they had this energy, this openness and readiness, which was fantastic.

Steven: You know, Universes has been a theater company for 30 years, and it's interesting to realize what we have to share, especially when we come to colleges and talk to students. Why do we it? Why do we get up and go on stage? If someone's waiting to talk to me after a show, I’ll be available to talk to them about what they saw. It’s part of my job, my responsibility, my calling. 

The purpose of theater isn’t just what happens on stage; conversations are equally valuable. It's just as important for someone to have access to you and ask a question. So, coming to colleges is always special because when students walk into the room and you share your story, they're really paying attention and listening. It's beautiful.

You’re giving a public presentation at the end of your residency. What will you be sharing and what are your thoughts on how Universes Theater Company has evolved over the last three decades?

Mildred: We've been lifting up the voices of a lot of people across the country, and across the world, in our work over the last 30 years — not just our own narrative of what we've lived and experienced but also these soundscapes, these voices we've interacted with, that continue to be relevant. There are pieces we wrote years ago that sound like we could have written them today.

At the public presentation, we'll bring in a couple of signature pieces from our previous works but also samplings of what we're currently working on. We have several productions that are in development. We’ll try to give a snapshot of our America — the America that we were born into, that we're living through and that we’re hopeful for.

Steven: We don’t have the whole company here, but we can share some dramatic pieces, poetry, monologues, songs and some stories, too. We’ll put some of our pieces in context — the places we were and the folks we talked to that made the works come about. 

Mildred: If you know our work, you know that it's all musical and it's all poetic. Everything is interwoven and layered, and it's delivered quick as fire.

Steven: We've been to a lot of different places, talked to a lot of different people, performed with a lot of different folks, heard a lot of different stories, cried with a lot of different people — it's all part of the work, you know? 

It's fun, it's beautiful, it's scary, it's sad, it's frustrating and it's amazing. It's a journey. Sometimes we pinch ourselves and laugh when we think that we've been doing this for 30 years. But we know we've changed some folks’ lives with our work, and we know they've changed ours.