Clockwise from prime left: India Nicole Burton, Nora Carroll, Tiffany Fulson, Sierra Rosetta, Willow James, and Jamal Howard.
NEW YORK CITY: Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the nationwide group for theatre and the writer of American Theatre, has named the individuals for the 2024 Rising Leaders of Shade (RLC) Program. The cohort of six gifted early-career leaders, all primarily based in Chicago, are advancing their careers in U.S. nonprofit theatre and associated sectors.
The 2024 cohort consists of India Nicole Burton, Nora Carroll, Tiffany Fulson, Jamal Howard, Willow James, and Sierra Rosetta.
“We’re thrilled to welcome this new cohort of Chicago-based theatre leaders to the Rising Leaders of Shade Program,” LaTeshia Ellerson, TCG’s interim chief development officer, stated in an announcement. “We’re grateful to work in partnership with our funders to help the skilled development of those leaders regionally and to attach them nationally to an intergenerational community of friends.”
RLC builds on the learnings and momentum of the Younger Leaders of Shade Program (YLC) and the SPARK Management Applications. RLC expands and re-envisions the group of leaders of colour as a part of a rising nationwide community. The cohort will take part in skilled improvement workshops and occasions in Chicago throughout TCG’s Nationwide Convention this summer season. Moreover, cohort members will probably be supplied particular person mentorship, webinars, and full cohort conferences by June 2025.
India Nicole Burton is a director, playwright, and producer who holds an MFA in inventive writing from the College of Nebraska-Omaha. She beforehand participated within the Nationwide New Play Community’s Producer in Residence program on the Cleveland Public Theatre for 2 years. By her work, Burton strives to empower African American communities by offering platforms to regulate and form their very own tales.
Nora Carroll is a theatre artist and educator who was beforehand an artist in residence at Wisconsin’s Carthage School. She is at present the director of lifelong studying and schooling at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Carroll is invested in curating areas that commemorate intersectionality, tradition, and empathy by theatre.
Tiffany Fulson is an actor, director, producer, and group curator who has served as the primary inventive producer of revolutionary partnerships at TimeLine Theatre Firm since 2021. She can also be the director of the August Wilson New Voices Outreach Program in collaboration with the Goodman Theatre and the League of Chicago Theatres. Fulson is dedicated to reimagining the performing arts by innovation, group therapeutic, and wellness.
Jamal Howard is a director, choreographer, producer, and humanities administrator. He’s the co-founder and co-artistic director of New American People Theatre and is the 2023-24 Michael Maggio Directing Fellow on the Goodman. He beforehand served because the affiliate inventive director of Emerald Metropolis Theatre. Howard works to create theatre with vital empathetic affect on audiences whereas caring for the artists and collaborators concerned within the course of.
Willow James is a contract artist, educator, and sound designer whose work facilities round exploring Black id, new works, and activism. He’s at present the civic engagement director at Definition Theatre, the place he’s additionally an ensemble member. He’s the resident sound designer at Artemisia Theatre and a educating artist on the Court docket Theatre.
Sierra Rosetta is an Indigenous theatre artist and scholar who’s a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa Nation. Her work focuses on Ojibwe efficiency and tales, public humanities, feminism, and anti-colonial dramaturgy. She is at present pursuing a PhD in Theatre and Drama at Northwestern College. She is an alum of Yale College’s Indigenous Performing Arts Program and was beforehand a literary fellow on the Eugene O’Neill Theater Heart.
The 2024 RLC cohort was chosen by a panel of theatre professionals and is funded partially by the Paul M. Angell Household Basis, Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Stay Leisure, and the Joyce Basis.
“TCG’s skilled improvement applications are wanted now greater than ever,” Karena Fiorenza, TCG’s interim chief government officer, stated in an announcement. “As BIPOC theatre leaders, we’ve at all times sought one another out for help and perception in navigating a theatre ecology that too typically nonetheless replicates the racism of our broader tradition. That’s why applications just like the RLC have such a tangible affect on the lives and careers of individuals.”
Based in 1961, TCG leads for a simply and thriving theatre ecology and represents greater than 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations. By its applications and companies, TCG reaches over a million college students, viewers members, and theatre professionals every year.
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