Director Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe and Designer Andre Harrington discuss staging and design in Black Theatre. Explore how the analysis of the play, the historical context, and the black aesthetic all inform pre-production conversations between director and designer.
March 9, 2021
4:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Free
Black Theatre Initiative’s Webinar Series 2020–2021
Our Guest Artists and Scholars
Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe is an accomplished actor, director, writer, working in the Bay Area for almost 40 years. She is the founding artistic director of the award-winning ensemble Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience (BACCE), with whom she has directed and produced 10 critically acclaimed productions. A former member of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Edris has both directed and acted in productions for the collective. She has directed locally and nationally at Trinity Rep, Capitol Rep, Southern Rep, Carpetbag Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, WaterTower Theatre, Curious Theater, Sf Playhouse, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, and the Lorraine Hansberry. Her plays, Adventures of A Black Girl In Search of Academic Clarity and Inclusion and There are Women Waiting are published in the anthologies, solo/black/woman and Black Medea, respectively. She holds an MFA in Theater from the University of Iowa.
Andre Harrington currently is a Professor of Design at California State University, San Bernardino. Mr. Harrington holds a M.F.A. from the University of Iowa, in addition to earlier costume design training from the University of Maryland at College Park. Mr. Harrington hails from the east coast, and was a freelance designer in Philadelphia, PA. He has designed costumes for many professional theatre companies, including The Alliance Theatre, TheatreWorks USA, The Court Theatre, Theatre Virginia, Freedom Theatre, St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre, and Crossroads Theatre. Mr. Harrington currently serves on the 2018/2020 executive board of the Black Theatre Network as President. He also holds membership with United State Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT), Phi Beta Delta Honor Society and a part of CSUSB organizational membership of TCG. Mr. Harrington is a member of the United Scenic Artists Union 829.
Our Webinar Moderator
Kathryn Ervin
Professor & Founding Member of The Black Theatre Network