Creativist

“In the World through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself”

Frantz Fanon

I consider myself a Creativist: poet, theatre artist, novelist, short story writer, playwright, filmmaker, critic, educator, father, husband, gardener, dialogist, administrator, and cook. I believe that every day needs to be created anew. That is a goal I fail at every day, but to which I nonetheless aspire.

Holding an MFA in Directing and a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies, I co-founded The Sanctuary Theatre in 1983. Its transcultural, multiracial, multiethnic productions, from Derek Walcott’s Ti-Jean and his Brothers to David Hare’s adaptation of William Hinton’s Fanshen, left an indelible mark on DC’s theatre scene during the 1980s. The theatre’s production of Egyptian playwright Tawfiq al-Hakim’s The Tree Climber earned Sanctuary national recognition. 

Later, Sanctuary’s The Performing Knowledge Project introduced audiences to original performance pieces, from Elizabeth Bruce’s performed short stories, Legal Tender, to my poetry-in-performance one-person shows, Embodying PoeThe Whitman Project: Song of Myself, and HOWL in the Time of Trump. All three shows garnered critical acclaim for me as a performer and storyteller. I was also honored to portray Orson Welles in Auroville, India, in Richard France’s Obediently Yours, Orson Wells.

In addition to my solo work, my plays have been produced throughout the DC area, most notably, his musical adaptation of George MacDonald’s Wise WomanSheepeaters, done in collaboration with the late South African poet/playwright/performer Mphela Makgoba; and Ekalavya, an adaptation of a story from the Mahabharata, developed in collaboration with a  D.C. Hindi theatre company. My plays have also received many staged readings over the years. 

Throughout the last 40 years, I have engaged in a variety of educational opportunities. From high school and university students to older adults and seniors, I have taught a gambit of topics: for high schoolers, courses such as A People’s History, Freud and Jung in Literature, and the Theatre of the Oppressed; for university students, dramatic analysis to Professional Writing; for adults, Writers on the Green Line, Acting for Writers, and Performetry; and for seniors, Mementos, poetry writing residences in DC senior centers. 

Currently, I am marketing my first novel, “The Green Man and the White House,” and Thais, a long-form TV drama that I have developed with several co-creators. I am also putting together the final touches on a book of poetry. 

Additionally, Elizabeth Bruce, my wife and life partner, will happily be having her third book published in 2024, Universally Adored and Other One Dollar Stories. They have two wonderful adult children, Maya and Dylan. Finally, my urban garden, which I have planted faithfully for 40 years, supplies the family with tomatoes, peppers, basil, and more.