{"id":137109,"date":"2026-01-30T02:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137109\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T02:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:51:09","slug":"tampa-actor-lance-markeith-felton-is-incapable-of-making-a-false-move-on-stage-at-the-mic-or-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137109\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa actor Lance Markeith Felton is incapable of making a false move\u2014on stage, at the mic, or in the classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ALance Markeith Felton at Dave Decker Photography in Ybor City, Florida on Jan. 12, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay\u2019s spring arts issue features more than a dozen artists to watch this year and beyond. Meet Lance Markeith Felton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His first professional gig: Erica Sutherlin\u2019s production of \u201cPass Over\u201d at The Studio@620 four years ago. As Kitch, a young Black man contemplating escape to a better life, his performance was indelible\u2014utterly natural, effortless, true.<\/p>\n

Where you\u2019ve seen him lately: As the fierce young civil rights warrior Dasher in Stageworks\u2019 \u201cWhen the Righteous Triumph.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coming up this spring: Stageworks\u2019 \u201cThe Meeting\u201d (in which he\u2019ll play Malcolm X) and American Stage\u2019s \u201cThe Hot Wing King.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where he got schooled: Howard W. Blake High School and Florida State Universrity, where he got a BFA\u00a0 in Human Rights & Film. Before high school, he performed in Black history plays produced by Hillsborough County educator Dr. Phyllis Tucker-Wicks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been rapping since he was five (and hasn\u2019t stopped since): He\u2019s a recorded hip-hop artist and a curator of theatrical poetry events. He\u2019s also a playwright; he has performed Black History They Don\u2019t Want You to Know at Stageworks and in American Stage\u2019s Beyond the Stage series.<\/p>\n

Which ties in nicely to his day job: He teaches sixth grade history at Academy Prep in Tampa. \u201cIt could be cool to have millions of people know your name as a rapper,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it feels very good that a solid 77 know what \u2018Mr. Felton\u2019 means. The school was very adamant about me continuing my acting, and to have that as a backdrop to a classroom for history, it just feels like my mission. It feels right on cue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This article appears in Jan. 29 \u2013 Feb. 04<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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