How music holds our history.
Crossroads & Cyphers is an immersive theatrical and live music experience developed by Atlanta-based artists Alex Acosta and ANON The Griot. The production explores the evolution of Black musical expression, tracing the lineage of rap music from enslaved African work songs and Southern blues traditions to contemporary hip-hop freestyle culture.
Through live performance, storytelling, historical reflection, and audience engagement, the show examines how music has long served as a tool for survival, resistance, healing, and community building.
Led by artists from Soul Food Cypher, the production blends spoken word, live instrumentation, freestyle performance, and theatrical narrative to create an engaging and educational audience experience. Crossroads & Cyphers seeks to preserve cultural memory while introducing audiences to the historical roots and social significance of hip-hop through an innovative live performance format.
MEET THE ARTISTS
Alex “Cost One” Acosta is a Community Leader, Arts Advocate, and the Founding Executive Director of Soul Food Cypher. In 2011, he had a vision of creating the cypher while mentoring at-risk teenagers at the Whitefoord Intel Computer Clubhouse in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally, he aimed to teach students media production at the clubhouse, but quickly found he could reach them directly through their shared passion of Hip-Hop. Experiencing their brilliance and spontaneous ingenuity, he became a believer in their ability to improve themselves and their communities through their words. From this, Soul Food Cypher was born in 2012.
Since then, he has led Soul Food Cypher from the basement of WonderRoot Community Arts Center to stages and platforms worldwide, including Marseille, France, at the invitation of the French Consulate for the annual Hip-Hop Society Festival in 2024, and appearing on CNN as an honored Champion of Change in 2023.
MEET THE ARTISTS
Ahmariah “Anon the Griot” Jackson is a dynamic force at the intersection of spoken word, education, and Hip-Hop culture. Drawing inspiration from the impactful ideologies of Gil Scott-Heron and the subtle subversion of James Baldwin, he wields words as his sword and shield. As an educator, ANON passionately believes in the transformative power of education as a noble revolution. He prioritizes the holistic growth of students over standardized assessments, challenging the status quo. ANON has reimagined the poetry club as "The Griot Circle," a space where he cultivates empowerment through creative expression.
An avid emcee and devoted advocate of hip-hop as a culture, movement, and music, ANON seamlessly integrates his passions into the realm of education. He is the author of "Locked Up but not Locked Down: A Guide to Surviving the American Prison System" and "Poems for a Barfly." He is a two-time Cypher Master and curriculum developer for the freestyle rap organization, Soul Food Cypher, and pioneers his original course, "Criminology in Hip Hop," at Pendulum Ink.
MEET THE PRODUCER
Chiwuzo Ife Okwumabua (Chi Ife) (Producer, Production Manager) is a theater producer, musical theatre songwriter, creative writer, and arts professional committed to creating bold, culturally rooted work that uplifts communities and inspires social change. With experience spanning national and international stages, she has served as a show producer, production manager, lyricist, and actress—bringing visionary projects to life with excellence, heart, and strategy.
ABOUT STRIPPED BARE
STRIPPED BARE INCUBATOR PROJECT created from a desire to use our theatre space to make a home for new theatrical works, and a place for emerging artists to flex their wings, Stripped Bare is an incubator to test-drive new ideas. Stripped Bare is about theatre at its core. A Stripped Bare project is not about sets, lights, props, and costumes. It is about actors, words, passion, movement, and ideas.
