Nina Simone: Four Women

CHRISTINA HAM

Playwright

plays have been developed and produced both nationally and internationally with the Kennedy Center, The Guthrie, Goodman Theatre and the Tokyo International Arts Festival, among others. Her play Four Little Girls was directed by Phylicia Rashad at the Kennedy Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Christina is a two-time recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting Award and a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Her plays are published by Dramatic Publishing. A graduate of the University of Southern California with an M.F.A. in playwriting from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, Christina is a Core Writer of the Playwrights’ Center and the playwright-in-residence at Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis. www.christinaham.com

TIMOTHY DOUGLAS

Director

directed Disgraced and King Hedley II at Arena Stage. D.C. credits include Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Two Trains Running, The Trip to Bountiful, Permanent Collection and A Lesson Before Dying (Round House); Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (six Helen Hayes nominations) and Insurrection: Holding History (Theater Alliance); The Last Orbit of Billy Mars (Woolly Mammoth); and Much Ado About Nothing (Folger Theatre). Additional credits include the premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s The Lake Effect (Silk Road Rising), Bronte: A Portrait of Charlotte (Off-Broadway) and the world premiere of August Wilson’s Radio Golf (Yale Repertory). He has directed for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (Associate Artist), American Conservatory Theater, The Guthrie, Berkeley Repertory, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Steppenwolf, Portland Center Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival and Milwaukee Repertory. www.timothydouglas.org

DARIUS SMITH

Music Director/Music and Vocal Arrangements

makes his Arena Stage debut. Off-Broadway credits include Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (NY City Center) and Futurity (ArsNova, Soho Rep). D.C.-area credits include Jelly’s Last Jam (Helen Hayes nomination), La Cage aux Folles, Soon (Signature); The Producers, The Little Mermaid and Choir Boy(Studio). Regional credits include His Eye is On the Sparrow (Portland Center Stage) and Choir Boy (Marin Theater Company, JAG Productions). His original works include Marcus Nate is Alive and Great and Still Living in Detroit, The Snowy Day, U.G.L.Y. Awards include 2017 AUDELCO Award nomination for Raisin (Astoria PAC), NY City Center Music Directing Fellowship, San Francisco Theatre Critics Award for Outstanding Music Direction for Choir Boy, and Signature Theatre Young Artist Citation. Upcoming productions include The Wiz (Ford’s Theatre). Twitter/Instagram: @DSmithMusic. www.dariussmithmusic.net

LADY DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI

Choreographer

last appeared at Arena Stage as Lady in Trust Me as part of the Kogod Cradle Series. D.C. credits include Faith in Wig Out! (Studio Theatre) and New York credits include Klytmnestra in Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem (WOW Theater Café). Considered one of the most prolific artists of our time, she is the first TWOC to publish a work of fiction in D.C., and released her 10th book in August. She was the first TWOC to be nominated for a Helen Hayes Award (Outstanding Choreography for Theater Alliance’s Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea.) As an advocate, she is the founder of The Inanna D Initiatives and has created several arts advocacy initiatives to help combat the erasure of TGNC Artist of Color. www.LadyDaneFE.com

TIMOTHY MACKABEE

Set Designer

Broadway credits include The Elephant Man (starring Bradley Cooper) and Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (dir. Spike Lee). West End credits include The Elephant Man. Off-Broadway credits include The Last Match (Roundabout); Guards at the Taj, The Penitent and Our New Girl (Atlantic Theater Company); Vietgone and Important Hats of the Twentieth Century (MTC); Heathers The Musical and Luce (Lincoln Center); Gigantic(Vineyard Theatre); and Much Ado About Nothing (The Public). Regional credits include Center Theatre Group, Steppenwolf, Old Globe, A.C.T., Ford’s Theatre, Seattle Repertory, Center Stage, Denver Center, Portland Center Stage and Cleveland Play House. TV credits include Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo and Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth(HBO), Gotham, Smash and The Today Show. He attended North Carolina School of the Arts and Yale School of Drama. Instagram: @timmackabeedesign. www.timothymackabeedesign.com

KARA HARMON

Costume Designer

Arena Stage credits include Native Gardens. Broadway credits include assistant costume designer for The Crucible, Magic Bird, First Date and Memphis. Regional theater credits include The Legend of Georgia McBride (Marin Theatre); The Mountaintop (Trinity Repertory); Barbecue (Geffen Playhouse); The Rape of Lucretia (Wolf Trap); Ethel and God of Carnage (Alliance Theatre); Seven Guitars (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors (Oregon Shakespeare); Safehouse (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Clybourne Park and The Trip to Bountiful (Hangar Theatre); Dot (Vineyard Theatre); and Seven Guitars and Broke-ology(The Juilliard School).TV credits include assistant costume designer on Netflix’s Daredevil and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Kara received her M.F.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. www.KaraHarmonDesign.com

MICHAEL GILLIAM

Lighting Designer

Broadway credits include Bonnie and Clyde, Brooklyn, Big River and Stand-Up Tragedy. West End credits include Gershwin Alone and Off-Broadway credits include Cagney The Musical, Tappin’ Thru Life, The Best Is Yet to Come, Striking 12, Blue and Menopause the Musical. National tour credits include Looped, Peter Pan, Brooklyn, Guys and Dolls and Big River. Regional theater credits include Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, The Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie, Pasadena Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, the Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Prince Music Theatre, Denver Center and Arizona Theatre Company. Awards include Ovation Awards, Drama-Logue Awards, Garland Awards, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards and the 1999 Career Achievement Award from the LA Drama Critics Circle.

MATTHEW M. NIELSON

Sound Designer

Off-Broadway credits include The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park, Lincoln Center and 59E59. Regional credits include Ford’s Theatre, Round House, Catalyst Theatre, Forum Theatre, Theatre Alliance, Woolly Mammoth, Signature Theatre, Olney, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, Studio Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Barrington Stage Company, Portland Center Stage, Center Stage, Milwaukee Repertory and St. Louis Repertory. Film/TV credits include Those Who Wait, Death in Time, Elbow Grease, Blue, Epix Drive-In, From Hell to Here, The Good Ways of Things and The Long Road. Matthew is a founding member of the audio theater company The Audible Group and creator of Troublesome Gap. He won several Helen Hayes Awards and film festival awards. He runs Sound Lab Studios, a recording studio and production house. Samples can be heard online at www.CuriousMusic.com.

ANNE NESMITH

Wig Designer

returns to Arena Stage where design credits include The Pajama Game, Smart People, A Raisin in the Sun, Watch on the Rhine, Carousel, The Little Foxes, All the Way, Oliver!, Destiny of Desire, Fiddler on the Roof, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Music Man. Recent credits include A Little Night Music (Signature Theatre), La Pietra Del Paragone (Wolf Trap), Le Nozze di Figaro (Nishinomiya, Japan) and Death of a Salesman(Ford’s Theatre). Her designs have been seen at the Kennedy Center, Opera Philadelphia, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington Ballet and Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, Japan. Anne was the resident wig/makeup designer for the Baltimore Opera and has created wigs for Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery programs, Investigation Discovery’s Ice Cold Killers, Maryland Public Television and the U.S. Army’s tour Spirit of America.

CLIFF WILLIAMS III

Fight Consultant

is happy to return for his ninth production at Arena Stage. Cliff is a native Virginian and has been choreographing and directing for the last 12 years, primarily in the D.C. area. Favorite credits include The Shoplifters, Long Day’s Journey into Night and Gem of the Ocean (Arena Stage); As You Like It (Center Stage); Chimerica (Studio Theatre); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Woolly Mammoth); Dracula, The Scene and Six Years(Actors Theatre of Louisville); Angels in America (Forum Theatre); and The Argument and Yentl (Theater J). www.CliffWilliamsIII.net

JOCELYN CLARKE

Dramaturg

is currently Theatre Adviser to the Arts Council of Ireland and dramaturg at American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He has taught dramaturgy at the John Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, Columbia University, NYU Abu Dhabi, and Trinity College Dublin. He was the Commissioning and Literary Manager of the Abbey Theatre for four years, and lead theatre critic with The Sunday Tribune for nine years. He is an associate artist with The Civilians and Theatre Mitu in New York. He has written six plays for Anne Bogart and the SITI Company – Bob, Alice’s Adventures Underground, Room, Score, Antigone and Trojan Women (After Euripides). Chess Game No. 5, his new collaboration with the company, premiered in New York in March.

GEOFF JOSSELSON, CSA

New York Casting

is pleased to continue his association with Arena Stage. Broadway and Off-Broadway productions include The Velocity of Autumn starring Estelle Parsons; Southern Comfort; Yank!; Enter Laughing; Pretty Filthy; John and Jen, Himself and Nora; and Altar Boyz. He has also cast productions for Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arizona Theatre Company, Barrington Stage Company, Bay Street Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Civilians, Cleveland Play House, Denver Center, Marriott Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theatre, San Francisco Symphony and the York Theatre Company. www.geoffjosselson.com

CHRISTI B. SPANN

Stage Manager

returns to Arena after serving as stage manager for A Raisin in the Sun, The Little Foxes and Love in Afghanistan. Christi spent 12 seasons on the stage management staff at the Denver Center Theatre Company, four summer seasons with The Great River Shakespeare Festival and just finished Shakespeare in Love with Virginia Repertory Theatre in Richmond, VA.

MARNE ANDERSON

Assistant Stage Manager

Arena Stage credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Roe, Moby Dick, All the Way, Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, King Hedley II, Five Guys Named Moe, The Mountaintop, Metamorphoses and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies. Additional D.C. credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Folger Theatre); Angels in America: Parts 1 and 2 (Round House); Wig Out! (Studio Theatre) and The Arsonists, You for Me for You and Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play (Woolly Mammoth). She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.