DCBTAF & One Act Battle Winner - Zuhairah McGill:

Zuhairah originally hails from New York, NY, where she trained and studied under Ossie Davis, Barbara Ann Teer and Uta Hagen. She is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of First World Theatre Ensemble, under which she has produced 25 plays and 5 world premieres, including Marsha Norman’s ‘Night Mother’ featuring an all black cast. She is also the Creative Artistic Director for the Master Griot Project, and was the Director in Residence at the Prince Music Theatre.

Directing:

“Hairspray”, “West Side Story”, “Wade in the Water: A Katrina Drama”, “Say He Had More Than A Dream”, “For Colored Girls”, “Black Girl”, “From Ancient To Hip-Hop: The African Continuum”, “Eubie”, “Ain’t Misbehavin”, “The Cooling Board”, “Long Time Since Yesterday”, “Ushers”, “Day Of Absence”, “Before It Hits Home”, “Jena 1”, “My Name Is Sapphire…Damnit”, “First Breeze Of Summer”, “Night Mother”, “Blues For An Alabama Sky”, “Sister Sonja”, “Sisters Under The Rainbow”, “Tell Martha Not To Moan”, “Julius Caesar”, “He Calls Me Rib”, “Midsummer Night Dream”, “Ceremonies Of Old Dark Men”, “The Owl Killer”

Awards:

-Barrymore Nomination for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Play for her one-woman performance in “Sojourner”.

-The Black Arts for Social Change Award,

-2012 Most Distinguished Director Award,

-D.C. Black Theatre Festival Excellence in Theatre Award. (3x)

-The 2015 Image Award

Zuhairah’s current projects include:

-“Race to the Stage” - a documentary film focusing on issues dealing with racism in theatre around people of color.

-“Castration of a Dark-Skin Woman” - a new piece which takes a look at genital mutilations on women in Africa and other countries.

-“State of Black Theatre” - a documentary film

-“The Burden” - a screenplay which deals with police brutality, with her new film company “Hands up Films”