Yao Kahlil Newkirk currently teaches Theatre Arts to grades 7-8 while pursuing his MA in Theatre Performance. His area of focus is on how the integration of Multimedia can help further the stories we tell onstage.

Newkirk has a background in music and entertainment, having toured internationally for the last 18 years as a Workshop Clinician and Background Singer for various artists. Most notably, he was fortunate to have been a “Sister Act” kid, a member of the Crenshaw H.S. Choir, which became the real-life inspiration for the Sister Act II film. Additionally, in the Spring of 2020, Newkirk will begin filming a full-length documentary on his experience as one of the youths adopted into the Crenshaw Community, that was deeply impacted by the Living Legend, Professor Iris Stevenson, whom the lead character, played by Whoopi Goldberg, is based upon.

As Newkirk prepares to pursue his education beyond the MA, he will focus on Identity Politics and Trans-Radical Understanding as it relates to Theatre Practice and Cross-Cultural-Communication.