Virtual Event — Conversation with a Theater Maker: Liesl Tommy with Shariffa Ali
Event Overview
Dates
June 12, 2020
Hours
4:45-5:30 PM (EDT)
Location
Admission
FREE and open to public
Since late March, Program in Theater Director Jane Cox has invited special guests to join her students for informal conversations about theater-making and the creative process. The broader community is invited to join these virtual conversations on Zoom. We ask — what inspires these significant theater artists? What does community mean to them? How do they think about audiences, casting, design, arts education?
One June 12 and 19, we’re turning the mic over to lecturer in theater Shariffa Ali to interview guests of her choosing.
On June 12, Tony Award-nominated director Liesl Tommy, currently directing the Aretha Franklin film Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson, joins Shariffa Ali in conversation.
Each virtual event features 20 minutes of conversation, followed by 20 minutes of Q&A with the audience.
Tony Award-nominated director LIESL TOMMY, currently directing the Aretha Franklin film Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson. Liesl’s credits include productions of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed (Broadway and The Public Theater), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Appropriate (Signature Theatre), Tracey Scott Wilson’s The Good Negro, UNIVERSES’ Party People, and A. Zell Williams’s Urban Retreat (The Public Theater), Hamlet (California Shakespeare Theater), The Piano Lesson (Yale Repertory Theatre), and John Kander/Greg Pierce’s musical Kid Victory. Ms. Tommy is the recipient of an Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Pioneer of the Arts Award, Lillian Hellman Award, Lee Reynolds Award, Alan Schneider Award, NEA/TCG Directors Grant, New York Theatre Workshop Casting/Directing Fellowship, and the inaugural Susan Stroman Award from the Vineyard Theatre. Ms. Tommy facilitated the inaugural Sundance East Africa Theatre Director’s Lab and is a member of the board of the Sundance Institute. Ms. Tommy serves as a program associate at Sundance Institute Theatre Program.
Photo by Jeremy Tauriac
SHARIFFA ALI is a creative leader committed to working with an open-heart at the intersection of the performing arts and humanitarianism.
Shariffa has worked at the Public Theater in New York since 2013 where she has served in numerous capacities often piloting new roles that serve her interest in curating radical spaces of hospitality, equity, inclusion, diversity and promoting anti-racism throughout the institution.
As a theater director, Shariffa moves her audiences to engage with timely issues touching upon Black, Afropolitan, and African-American identities. Shariffa has directed and lectured at colleges where her productions have brought many “firsts” to campuses: “first all-female cast and creative team” for her production of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed at Princeton University;“first all-black ensemble with a director of color” for her production of Dominique Morriseau’s Detroit67; “best attended show” for her production of We are Proud to Present at Yale University.
Shariffa has served as Assistant Director to mentor Cynthia Nixon for Rasheeda Speaking, Steve (The New Group, NY) and Motherstruck! (Culture Project, NY). Shariffa is a member of Black History Museum, a collective of interdisciplinary artists brought together by Here Arts and Smoke & Mirrors Collective.
Shariffa is on advisory committee of Africa’sOut! Founded by renowned visual artist Wangechi Mutu, an initiative geared towards advancing radical change through the power of art and activism, particularly supporting artists, initiatives and institutions from Africa and its Diaspora that celebrate freedom of creative expression.
Shariffa is a graduate of the University of Cape Town’s select Theater and Performance division and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree. And perhaps the thing that she is most proud of, is that she was featured in the New York Times Gentleman’s style section for her great taste in fashion.
