2022 Sizzle the docuseries under its original title: WerkShopRealness (now WerkShopProvidence) filmed at hiARTS and Judson Memorial Church in NYC.

WERK! The House of Providence is Part One of a docuseries following larryjean “Gene” Powell, a former member of the Legendary Iconic House of Ultra Omni and a Carnegie Mellon School of Drama graduate, as they search for a home for their story. Rooted in lived experience, the work traces a young artist finding healing inside two radical spaces that demand presence, rigor, and truth: the Acting Conservatory and the Los Angeles Ballroom Scene in 2006! …Is it giving period piece?

Set against the intensity of training, competition, and chosen family, The House of Providence explores what it means to be seen, shaped, and sustained by community. Moving between rehearsal rooms, ballrooms, and moments of reflection, the piece captures the collision of discipline and freedom, ambition and survival, performance and realness.

Both documentary and live performance, WERK! holds space for vulnerability, resilience, and becoming. It asks how artists endure, where they belong, and what it costs and gives to claim one’s voice in rooms that were not built with you in mind.

WERK! The House of Providence
Part One of the three-part docuseries WerkShopProvidence

Written by:
 larryjean “Gene” powell

  • Live Performances Directed by:
    Zhailon Levingston

  • Creative Consultant / Story Editor:
    williambryantmiles

  • Docuseries Directed by:
    larryjean powell

  • Produced by:
    larryjean powell, Angelica Robinson,
    Kim Steele, Samia Zaidi, and Carter Redwood
    Co-Producer: Bairton “Bair” Brown

  • Cast:
     Galen J. Williams
    Susan Louise O’Connor
    Armand Fields
    Veroman “Rome” Woods
    Lashawn “Champ” Dawson
    Justin Sams
    Immensely Iconic Byron Keaton
    Mariyea
    Larry Powell
    Erika Olson
    Thaddeus Fitzpatrick
    Primo Bailey
    Ish Brown
    williambryantmiles
    Zhailon Levingston

  • Credits cont’d below…

Recorded at:
 Television City (July 2024)
Judson Memorial Church (2022)
Los Angeles LGBT Center (2025)

  • The Origins of The House of Providence

    Realness began at The Lark Play Development Center’s Vassar/Powerhouse Retreat as “Prince Ramsey” in 2015. Its first public reading was made possible by 360RepCo at sacred community space Judson Memorial Church in 2016 as “Realness.” After years of developmental workshops and readings at places like SFBATCO as “Realness: Othello Vogues,” Greenway Court Theatre Alliance “Realness,” and Theatre of NOTE in Los Angeles as “Realness; The House of Providence,” all supported by community micro-crowdfunding of upwards of $10,000.

    In December 2022, Gene brought the piece back to NYC as a three-part docuseries following the ups and downs of telling this story over the years. WerkShopRealness was made possible by a community crowdfunding campaign raising upwards of $20,000 in a couple of months. Part One follows the latest NYC workshops and recordings of the piece and the discoveries, challenges, and moments of Providence that have anointed the path of this play. Docuseries created by Gene Powell; Realness; The House of Providence as a work is directed by Zhailon Levingston. … There's so much more to this story. You gotta watch the documentary series to get the full cup!

    Audience Feedback:
    "I felt seen and heard, like for real, for the first time."

  • The House of Providence explores identity, acceptance, and resilience within the vibrant and challenging worlds of the Ballroom Scene and The Acting Conservatory Training Program circa 2006. Divine Providence, Chosen family. Also, the importance of carving out a sense of safety for oneself internally is a concept examined in the piece and how it takes radical authenticity to do it.

  • Passion Creative Community for Werk! The House of Providence:

    Consulting Producers: Kenneth L. Roberson, williambryantmiles, Enyce Smith

    Intimacy Coordinator: Joy DeMichelle

    Production Stage Managers: Toya M. Nelson, Shiku Thuo

    Sound Team: Tim Murphy, Mahlick Ceesay, Orville Allen, Parida Tanti, and Danny Garcia

    Camera Team: Alex U. Griffin, AJ Lovelace, Malachi Middleton, Matt Rasku, Samia Zaidi, Elliot Peter Guilbe, John McDonald, Ryku Lyght-Lèger, and Carlos Mikelangelo


    Editing Team:
    Joey Scoma, Malachi Middleton, John MacDonald, and Cosmo Salovaara

    Scenic Design: Yohannes Yamassee

    Production Support: Wesley T. Jones, Taylor Artis, Kareem James, Byron Coolie, Sidney Edwards, Galen J. Williams, Rami Campbell, Maela Way, Bairton Brown, Ashton Legadoé, David Laffe

    And all community sponsors and supporters who make this work possible.

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