The stage drama explores Black masculinity, mental health, family relationships, and generational trauma at Sewell Mill Cultural Center.

ATLANTA, GA —NewWorks Theatre announces an executive producing collaboration between singer, reality star, entrepreneur, and actress Drew Sidora and acclaimed playwright, director, and producer Joel PE King for the two-day Atlanta-area presentation of EXPOSED. The stage drama comes to Sewell Mill Cultural Center in Marietta, Georgia. It will be presented on October 29 and 30, 2026, at 7:00 PM each evening.

Written and directed by King, EXPOSED is an intimate drama about the fault lines within family, love, and manhood. The play brings relationships under pressure into focus as private wounds, family expectations, and long-held truths collide.

EXPOSED: A Stage Drama About Truth, Family, and Healing

At the center of EXPOSED is a man forced to confront the distance between the life he has built and the truths he has avoided. As the people closest to him demand honesty, old wounds surface. In addition, relationships are tested, and silence becomes impossible.

Moving between confrontation, vulnerability, and dark humor, the play examines how trauma can be inherited, hidden, and repeated. It asks what happens when the versions of ourselves we protect can no longer survive what has finally been revealed.

Rather than presenting truth as a simple revelation, EXPOSED explores what comes afterward. It examines accountability, forgiveness, choice, and the difficult work of becoming whole.

Drew Sidora on Mental Health and Her Executive Producer Role

For Sidora, serving as executive producer connects with a subject that holds personal importance: mental health.

“I’m really excited for people to come check out this show. Many people that know me also know that mental health is a topic very near and dear to my heart. Throughout the play’s storyline audience members are going to be taken on a journey. They’ll be exploring just how truly important it is to take one’s own mental health journey seriously.”

Joel PE King on Black Men and Generational Trauma

King says he wrote EXPOSED to encourage conversations about mental health among Black men. He also wants to explore how everyday experiences can leave lasting effects across generations.

“I wrote this play specifically for our black men. Far too many of us feel that the topic of ‘mental health’ only applies to people dealing with extreme circumstances. However, I wanted to use this play as a conduit to show the various scenarios where every day people encounter generational traumas. These traumas carry a lasting effect on the people we ultimately become as adults and have influence on the next generation. Do yourself a favor grab a ticket for yourself and someone else. You won’t want to miss this conversation.”

Core Themes in EXPOSED

• Identity and Self-Discovery: Confronting who we are beneath the image we present.
• Black Masculinity: Examining expectations of manhood and the pressure to appear strong.
• Mental Health and Vulnerability: Breaking emotional silence and finding the courage to seek support.
• Generational Trauma: Recognizing how unresolved pain passes through families.
• Family Dynamics: Navigating expectations, loyalty, and complicated family bonds.
• Love and Intimacy: Exploring how hidden truths affect connection and trust.
• Secrets and Revelation: Facing what happens when private truths become unavoidable.
• Accountability: Owning harmful choices and their impact on others.
• Forgiveness: Considering what it takes to forgive others and ourselves.
• Healing and Transformation: Breaking destructive patterns and choosing a different future.
• Resilience — The Rose That Grew from Concrete: Understanding the possibility of growth within difficult circumstances through Tupac’s metaphor.

Resilience: The Rose That Grew from Concrete

Tupac’s metaphor offers a powerful way to understand the emotional journey in EXPOSED. The concrete represents unresolved trauma, family expectations, emotional silence, and the pressure to maintain an image of strength. The rose represents the person still capable of growing within those conditions.

As the central character confronts truths he has avoided, his relationships expose old wounds and the ways those wounds influence his choices. Like a rose pushing through a crack, his growth requires vulnerability. This means acknowledging pain, accepting responsibility, and allowing himself to be seen.

The metaphor also raises an essential question: Can we recognize someone’s struggle while still holding them accountable for the harm they cause?

Understanding where a person comes from creates compassion. Becoming whole requires deciding what they will carry forward. EXPOSED invites audiences to see the possibility of growth, even when the conditions that shaped them made that growth difficult.

EXPOSED Performance Dates and Tickets

• Dates: October 29 and 30, 2026
• Time: 7:00 PM each evening
• Venue: Sewell Mill Cultural Center
• Location: Marietta, Georgia
• Written and directed by: Joel PE King
• Executive producing collaboration: Drew Sidora and Joel PE King

Tickets are now available through JPEK.ORG.

Click here to purchase tickets to EXPOSED.

About Joel PE King

Joel P.E. King, known professionally as JPEK, brings the instincts of an actor, the vision of a director, and the language of a poet to a career spanning theatre, screen, music, literature, and education.

Originally from the St. Louis region and based in Atlanta, King creates work that entertains while asking audiences to confront the complexities of family, identity, faith, grief, love, and responsibility.

As founder of JPEK CreativeWorks Theatre and NewWorks Theatre, he has built platforms for original storytelling, artistic collaboration, and emerging performers. Since founding JPEK CreativeWorks in 2006, King has developed a body of work. This work reflects his versatility and commitment to stories rooted in human experience.

His plays include Exposed, A Mother’s Cry, Meeting at the Elder’s Circle, Stand Your Ground, and A Deeper Shade of Blues. He is also the co-writer of Respect My Shoes. Across these works, humor, emotional intensity, lyrical language, and cultural observation help explore what people carry and what it takes to move forward.

About Drew Sidora

Drew Sidora is an American television and film actress, producer, entrepreneur, singer, philanthropist, and reality star. She is best known for her recurring role as Chantel in the Disney Channel original series That’s So Raven; her role as Lucy Avila in Step Up, alongside R&B singer Mario, Jenna Dewan, and Channing Tatum; and her portrayal of Tionne Watkins, also known as T-Boz, in VH1’s biographical film CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story.

She is also known for portraying a fictionalized version of herself on BET’s comedy-drama series The Game.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Sidora completed numerous print advertisements, national voiceovers, and industrial films. She was the youngest member of the Hook Players Theater Ensemble in Hollywood, California. This ensemble was in residence at the Richard Pryor Theater.

At age nine, she appeared in the Fox television movie Divas. She acted alongside Khalil Kain, Lisa Nicole Carson, and Nicole Ari Parker.

Sidora also served as a producer on Blessed and Cursed, starring alongside Deitrick Haddon and Sheryl Lee Ralph. Her television guest appearances include Girlfriends, Without a Trace, and What I Like About You with Amanda Bynes.

Her feature film credits include White Chicks, Never Die Alone, and Preacher’s Son, an adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel by Chris Weber. The film stars Christian Keyes. In addition, there is a sequel titled The Choir Director.

About NewWorks Theatre

NewWorks Theatre is an Atlanta-based theatre company dedicated to original, conscious, and multicultural storytelling. The company develops new theatrical content and creates space for stories that engage audiences through entertainment, reflection, and conversation.

About JPEK CreativeWorks Theatre

Founded by Joel PE King, JPEK CreativeWorks Theatre has produced original and multicultural theatrical work for two decades. Its projects span plays, musicals, performance pieces, and community-centered arts experiences.

---

Head2Toe Store