Kent state and the roe green visiting director series
Established in 2003, The Roe Green Visiting Director Series has invited guest directors from across the country to work in residency with students through directing a main stage production here at Kent State. With funding from Ms. Green and her generosity, students get the opportunity of a lifetime to work with professionals from the industry. This year, Much Ado About Nothing is graciously fortunate to have JaMeeka Holloway as this years recipient of The Roe Green Visiting Director Series.
2021-22 VISITING DIRECTOR RECIPIENT
JaMeeka Holloway (she/her/hers) is a freelance director and independent producer passionate about the advancement of more Equity, Access, and Inclusivity in American Theatre. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Black Ops Theatre Company, lead curator for the Bull City Black Theatre Festival in Durham, NC, and a founding company member of Bulldog Ensemble Theatre. A 2018 Indy Arts Award winner, JaMeeka is a 2019-20 grant recipient from both the Manbites Dog Theater Fund and from the Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists program. In February 2019, Holloway was honored by the African American Heritage Commission and Governor Roy Cooper for her contributions to the arts and culture landscape of North Carolina. She also served as a 2019 theatre panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and for the North Carolina Arts Council. An alumnus of The Lark Play Development Center and Cape May Stage Apprenticeship program, JaMeeka has been an Assistant Director with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Merry Wives of Windsor directed by Dawn Monique Williams) and Playmakers Repertory (Detroit '67 directed Lisa Rothe/ Leaving Eden directed Vivienne Benesch), and more recently, an Associate Director with Duke Performances at Duke University. Currently, she is producing a new virtual reading series, Blk Girls Luv the Bard, which reimagines, reframes, and examines plays by William Shakespeare through the lens of Black and IPOC women/femme-identifying artists. Her directing work has appeared at Northern Stage in Vermont (CITRUS by Celeste Jennings, a world premiere), Shakespeare in Detroit (Twelfth Night), Classic Stage in NYC (Twelfth Night), Durham Performing Arts Center, and Manbites Dog Theatre in Durham (The Typographer's Dream by Adam Bock), The Department of Theatre at Dartmouth College (CITRUS by Celeste Jennings, a senior thesis project), Duke University’s Department of Theatre Studies (Fuddy Meers/ CITIZEN: An American Lyric), the National Black Theatre Festival (Don't forget Yeye by Nsangu Njikam) and most recently The National Women's Theatre Fest (OTHELLO by WS in a modern-verse translation by Mfoniso Udofia). JaMeeka is a published contributor in the 2018 Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance. She is Associate Director and co-writer on the piece DREAMING which will premiere in NYC Fall '21 at La Mama Experimental Theatre. www.jdhdirectedit.com
past roe green visiting directors
