early days
First theatre directing/writing experience
While attending Yale School of Drama I started my journey as director and producer. I wrote and directed my play Muddled Images at the Yale Cabaret when I was a second year student. That same year, I produced the Black History month reading series.
First short film directing/producing experience
After attending ABFF in 1999, I was bitten by the film directing bug. Thanks to the encouragement of actor/director/writer Jackie Alexander I was inspired to shoot my first short film. The cast included Phynuar, Rob Morgan and Keith Tisdell, and Adenrele Ojo.
First play festival production
While living in Los Angeles in 2004, I executive produced my first one-act play festival in collaboration with Juliette Jeffers, Adenrele Ojo, Shawna Waterman, and Allison Davis. We presented four plays: In the Fun written by S. Vasanti Saxena directed by Armando Molina, starring Donna DuPlantier, Marisela Ochoa, Magaly Colimon; Butterscotch and Hot Fudge written by Magaly Colimon, directed by Chris Cherot starring Juliette Jeffers, Cheryl Francis Harrington (who won the NAACP Theater Award for Best Support Female for her role in the play) and Montae Russell; Couple Wanted written by Veona Thomas directed by Magaly Colimon starring Elisa Perry and Tammi Cubilette; and Legacy of Love by Juliette Jeffers and M.B. Montague, directed by Andi Chapman and performed by Adenrele Ojo, Patricia Belcher and Elayn J. Taylor.
producing Artistic director
Conch Shell Productions
In 2018, I founded Conch Shell Productions.
At Conch Shell Productions (CSP), our mission is to infuse new Caribbean-American and Caribbean Diaspora voices into the American theater and film industry. To do so, we create a space to develop, workshop and produce new plays and screenplays.
We believe that art can and should provoke social change. Our productions create an opportunity for diverse audiences to explore and celebrate the unique culturally diverse voices of our community of artists.
Our seasons include both readings and full productions of new short and full-length plays. Our presentations include Hear Her Call Caribbean-American Women's Theater Festival, Conch Shell New Works Series, Reset Series and #Bluelightseries.
Conch Shell Productions is a Queens, New York-based, fiscally sponsored organization, and a member of the Alliance of Residence Theatres/NY.
Reset Theatre Coalition
In response to the killing of George Floyd in 2020, I was inspired to form a coalition with like minded theaters who represent the voices of underrepresented artist with the aim of affecting a RESET in American. In 2020, the members of the Reset Theatre Coalition were Conch Shell Productions, Kumu Kahua Theatre (a Hawaii-based theatre producing new plays by Hawaiian playwrights), and Braata Productions (a NY-Based theatre presenting new works by Jamaican and Jamaican Diaspora writers) and we presented Reset Series 2020 - works that address oppression and systemic racism in America. In 2021, we will be collaborating with Kumu Kahua Theatre presenting new plays by Caribbean Diaspora and Hawaiian writers that give a voice to sheros.
We published a selection of the plays featured in Reset 2020 in a collection WE'RE NOT NEUTRAL: RESET SERIES 2020 COLLECTED SHORT PLAYS
Conch Shell International Film Fest
Conch Shell International Film Fest is an online festival that showcases the creative, bold voices of indie and student film artists of the Caribbean Diaspora and the Caribbean.
It is CSIFF's goal to infuse unique, bold voices into the American film industry. To do so we create a space to bring together diverse film lovers, industry experts and artist to dialogue, learn, share and celebrate films that inspire social change and challenge preconceptions about diverse, multicultural people.
AFTERSHOCKS: A Tetralogy of Our Times
Special thanks to CAC2021 and Queens Council on the Arts.
Thanks to their support I financed the production of Aftershocks: A Tetralogy of Our Times.
City Artist Corps grant for NYC-based working artists disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The program is presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) and Queens Theatre.
This project was also made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
AFTERSHOCKS - produced Conch Shell Productions - explores love and life in Caribbean American communities in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic.
CONCH SHELL PRESS
Conch Shell Productions published WE'RE NOT NEUTRAL under the banner of Conch Shell Press. Check out the featured playwrights.