ARTISTIC ADVISORY BOARD

Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE is an award-winning British playwright, director, actor, and broadcaster. At Center Stage he has directed One Night in Miami…, Amadeus, dance of the holy ghosts (City Paper Top Ten Productions, 2013); The Mountaintop; An Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man, for which he was named Best Director; and Naomi Wallace’s Things of Dry Hours. In 2014, Kwame was named Best Director in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore, and he was nominated for SDC’s Zelda Fichandler Award for Best Theater Director.

Among his works as playwright are Elmina’s Kitchen and Let There Be Love as well as A Bitter Herb, Statement of Regret, and Seize the Day. His latest play, Beneatha’s Place, debuted at Center Stage in 2013 as part of the groundbreaking Raisin Cycle. His other directorial credits include Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew at the Lark Play Development Center in New York, New York’s Public Theater’s production of Much Ado About Nothing, the World Premiere of Detroit ’67 (nominated for Best Director) at New York’s Public Theater, and the World Premiere of The Liquid Plain at Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

He has served on the boards of The National Theatre and The Tricycle Theatre, both in London, and as Artistic Director for the World Arts Festival in Senegal. He was named the Chancellor of the University of the Arts London, and in 2012 was named an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Kwame was first introduced to Opening Act when he directed its 2014 Play Reading of Marcus Gardley’s dance of the holy ghosts: a play on memory.

Meet Kenny.