Guest Artists

Fall 2005

Sekou Sundiata

Sekou Sundiata is a poet who writes for print, performance, music and theater. Born in Harlem, Sundiata came of age as an artist during the Black Arts/Black Aesthetic movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He has been a Sundance Institute Screenwriting Fellow, a Columbia University Revson Fellow, a Master Artist–in–Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (Florida) and the first Writer–in–Residence at the New School University in New York. He was featured in the Bill Moyers' PBS series on poetry, “The Language of Life,” and as part of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on HBO. Sundiata is currently a professor at Eugene Lang College in New York City.

He has written and performed in the highly acclaimed performance theater works — The Circle Unbroken is a Hard Bop, which toured nationally and received three AUDELCO Awards and a BESSIE Award; The Mystery of Love, commissioned and produced by New Voices/New Visions at Aaron Davis Hall in New York City and the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia; and Udu, a music theater work produced by 651 ARTS in Brooklyn and presented by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, the Walker Art Center and Penumbra Theater in Minneapolis, Flynn Center in Burlington, VT, the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and Miami–Dade Community College in Florida.

Sundiata's most recent theatrical piece, blessing the boats, brings the story of five tumultuous years of his life into perspective as it relates his experience with the life threatening illness and recovery of kidney failure and organ transplant. This work opened in November 2002 and continues to tour nationally.

Sundiata has recorded and performed his poetry with a range of musicians, including Craig Harris, David Murray, Nona Hendryx and Vernon Reid. His first recording, The Blue Oneness of Dreams (Mouth Almighty/Mercury), and its successor, longstoryshort (Righteous Babe Records), are both rich with the sounds of blues, funk, jazz and African and Afro–Caribbean percussion. He has toured internationally with his band; in 2001, they performed in 23 cities in the United States and Canada as part of Ani DiFranco's “Rhythm and News Tour.”

Sekou Sundiata is in residence at UT, Austin October 24–29, 2005 in conjuction with the “NEA at 40” Symposium, hosted by the LBJ Library and Museum. His residency was made possible by the LBJ Library and Museum, the Center for African and African American Studies, and the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Donald Holder

Donald Holder is one of the most experienced Lighting Designers in the country. His Broadway projects include: Movin' Out (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), The Lion King (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards), After the Fall, All Shook Up, Gem of The Ocean, La Cage aux Folles, Thoroughly Modern Millie, King Hedley II, Little Shop of Horrors, The Boy From Oz, The Green Bird, Bells Are Ringing, The Violet Hour, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Juan Darien (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Hughie, Eastern Standard and Holiday. Off–Broadway: A Man of No Importance, Observe the Sons of Ulster…(Lortel Award), Jitney, Saturday Night, Three Days of Rain, Chinese Friends, The Last Letter, Strike Up the Band, All My Sons, Communicating Doors, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Drama Desk nomination), Spunk, Jeffrey, Pterodactyls, many others. Opera: The Magic Flute (NYC Metropolitan Opera), Salome (Kirov Opera), The End of the Affair (Houston Grand Opera). Mr. Holder has designed at resident theatres across the U.S.

Kenneth Albers

As part of our 2005–2006 Production Season, the Department will produce Macbeth, directed by guest artist, Kenneth Albers. Mr. Albers' work as an actor and director has been seen in theatres such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Cleveland Play House, Milwaukee Rep, Portland Center Stage, American Players Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Missouri Rep, Indiana Rep, Syracuse Stage, Deaf West Theatre, and the National Theater of the Deaf.

Laurie Carlos

Laurie Carlos (Ten–Minute Plays from the Guthrie Theater: Volume 3 and Zion Science) is an original player in the New York avant–garde performance scene and has developed new characters and new aesthetics for the stage for more than 30 years. Her works include White Chocolate, The Cooking Show, and Organdy Falsetto. She is the co–artistic director, with Marlies Yearby, of Movin' Spirits Dance Theater Company. She is on the board of the Jerome Foundation, and has received numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as a Bush Fellowship.