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About Project 1 Voice

who we are

History and Mission

Project1VOICE, Inc. (P1V) is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit performing arts service organization based in New York City.  Its mission is to support and promote the American theater specifically the narrative of and by people of African descent.

P1V was formed during the economic downturn in 2009 to create awareness and support for the many community-building African American theaters whose doors were closing with no hope of re-opening. P1V’s core activity is the coordination of an international, same-day staged reading series that revives and re-introduces forgotten seminal works by playwrights from the African Diaspora, a critical thread in the tapestry of the American theater. This annual event is called Project1VOICE One Play One Day and takes place on the third Monday in June, each year.

The success of One Play One Day has resulted in full productions—Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress (2011), The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe (2016) and Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith (2017)—and other programs in African American and LORT theaters across the nation. Other P1V programs include P1V 2.0—an Online Book Club, P1V Conversations with Pioneers, P1V Workshops–networking and knowledge-building opportunities, and P1V Honors—recognizing contributions in the arts.

P1V has expanded its reach and influence by partnering with nationally and internationally recognized organizations like Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Howard University, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS (NBLCA), Temple University and Theater for Young Audiences/USA (TYA/USA). To date other United States organizations, include League of Resident Theatres (LORT) members, African American theater companies including Billie Holiday Theatre, Ebony Repertory Theatre, Congo Square Theatre and Ensemble Theater Houston as well as, other diverse educational, artistic and social institutions.  P1V’s network also includes theater companies in Africa.

Through its robust programs and innovative partnerships, P1V works to provide significant support, accessibility and adequate representation for African American theater,  an integral sector of the English-speaking theater.

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Board Members

The Team

Erich McMillan-McCall

Executive/Artistic Producer

Erich McMillan-McCall is founder/CEO of Project1VOICE (P1V) Incorporated. From as early as kindergarten creative expression has always been an integral part of his life.

Yvette Jones-Smedley

Treasurer

Yvette Jones-Smedley recently took a position as Director of Cultural Affairs at the City of Montgomery. Previously, she was the Performing Arts Program Manager at Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Gina M. Jackson, M.A., M.Ed.

Gina M. Jackson is an Adjunct Professor and Secondary Educator in San Diego, CA. She is Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Cultural Noire Performing Arts Company.

KB Saine

kb saine is a director, educator, and theatre historian based in west virginia. she has been using theatre as a vehicle for social and racial justice & equity -both on and off stage- for over two decades.

Halle Morse

Halle Morse is a former Broadway actress and management consultant. Having worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tour, and Regional Theater, credits include Lisa in Mamma Mia, Mimi in Rent, Little Inez in Hairspray, and Eponine in Les Miserables.

Marcia Pendelton

Marcia Pendelton (Marketing Specialist) is the founder and president of Walk Tall Girl Productions, a boutique marketing, audience development and group sales agency for the performing arts with a special emphasis placed on the theater.

k zaheerah sultan

Treasurer

K. Zaheerah Sultan is an arts educator, consultant, youth, arts, and community activist, and a philanthropist. She is the founder and executive director of Mind Your Business Art (M.Y.B.A), a performing arts business consulting agency.

Advisory Board

The Team

Patrick A. Bradford

General Counsel

Patrick A. Bradford, New York City, NY, is a practicing attorney specializing in complex commercial litigation. He is a founding partner of Bradford Edwards & Varlack LLP. His practice areas include antitrust, securities, employment, environmental and qui tam (whistleblower) actions. He also handles government and corporate investigations, including international FCPA matters.

Dr. Indira Etwaroo

First Executive Director of the Center for Arts and Culture (CAC)...

In 2003, Dr. Etwaroo took her Fulbright Scholarship to Ethiopia to work with refugee Somali women and children, for which she received the Emerging Doctoral Scholar Award and the Graduate Research Award from the National Congress on Research in Dance.

Wren Brown

Co-Founder/Artistic Director of Ebony Repertory Theater, the first African American professional theater company in Los Angeles history.

As an actor, Mr. Brown has appeared in such films as Waiting To Exhale, Hollywood Shuffle, and Edmond, and on TV in shows like The West Wing, The Practice, Star Trek, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Grey's Anatomy.

Shay Wafer

She/Her/Hers Executive Director WACO Theater Center. Los Angeles, CA

Shay Wafer, has demonstrated a stalwart dedication to the arts and community development through many years of service to the field. Her passionate vision is balanced with pragmatic experience, as she has held senior level positions at a number of non-profit arts organizations with a focus on African Diasporic programming and community engagement.

Anthony Sias

President and CEO of Karamu House

Former director of arts education for the 50,000 strong Cleveland Metropolitan School District (the 2nd largest district in Ohio) and artistic director of the Cleveland School of the Arts, Mr. Sias has both acted in and directed many Karamu productions

Eileen J. Morris

Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Houston

Ms. Morris has produced over 80 plays, including 4 world premieres, and directed more than 20 productions for The Ensemble Theatre. She co-founded the Young Performer's Program to train 6 to 17 year olds in both art and life skills.

Denise Saunders-Thompson

President and CEO of The International Association of Blacks In Dance.

Denise Saunders Thompson has extensive experience in non-profit and for-profit, established or start-up organizations. She has advised organizations on administrative, programmatic and fundraising issues including strategic plans, policy and procedures, communications programs, budgeting and contracts.

Erich McMillan-McCall

Executive/Artistic Producer

Erich McMillan-McCall is founder/CEO of Project1VOICE (P1V) Incorporated. From as early as kindergarten creative expression has always been an integral part of his life. He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and graduate from Birmingham-Southern College. He began his New York City career in editorial fashion working at Conde Nast Publications’ Glamour, Gourmet, GQ, Mademoiselle, Self, Vanity Fair, and Vogue magazines. After leaving his position as assistant to Andre Leon Talley, then-Vogue magazine’s Creative Director, he performed on Broadway in Chicago and The Who’s Tommy and toured nationally performing in Chicago, Dirty Dancin’, Dreamgirls, Jelly’s Last Jam, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Ragtime, Sunset Boulevard among others.

 

Since 2009, he has lead the not-for-profit service organization, P1V.  Armed with nothing but a dream and tenacity, he formed  the organization immediately after the devastating economic downturn.  Under his leadership P1V  has beaten the odds and sustained itself.  It has grown to include over 40 organization in its worldwide network including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.  P1V is committed to presenting programs and initiatives that promote and support the American theater.   It has played a vital role in making theater accessible to communities, connecting with a widely diverse spectrum of artists, teens, and families through its robust educational initiatives and public programs which have prompted cross-cultural conversations for diverse audiences.

 

To date, P1V has presented staged readings of Trouble in Mind, The Amen Corner, A Soldier’s Play, Four Little Girls: Birmingham 1963, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Home, and The Colored Museum, respectively.

The founding members of P1V are Gwen Gilliam, Erich McMillan-McCall, Marcia Pendelton, and Charles Randolph-Wright. Through its innovative programming P1V connects and reconnects communities, artists and arts patrons proving that when theater is executed at its best, it successfully defines how and why we should care about each other and the world we live in.  What began as a grassroots organization for survival for black theater companies has now developed into an international initiative with an unwavering commitment to keeping all aspects of the American theater strong, vital, alive and most importantly funded.

Yvette Jones-Smedley

Treasurer

Yvette Jones-Smedley recently took a position as Director of Cultural Affairs at the City of Montgomery. Previously, she was the Performing Arts Program Manager at Alabama State Council on the Arts.

 

She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre management and arts administration from the University of Alabama and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Alpha Psi Omega National Honorary Theatre Society, Delta Omicron International Honors Music Fraternity and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

 

Ms. Jones-Smedley has over 25 years of service to the Alabama arts community performing in various capacities including instructor, actor, director, producer and administrator. Yvette worked as an instructor of theatre and theatre management and production at Alabama State University. She taught acting at Auburn University at Montgomery and visual & performing arts for the Archdiocese of Mobile Catholic Schools System where she also worked as technology resource coordinator.

 

Her professional stage credits as actor/director include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, and the Ensemble Theatre of Houston, Texas. Some of her most noted roles include Gower in Pericles, Prince of Tyre and Berniece Charles in The Piano Lesson both at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Film and Television credits include Blue Skies, Perfect Harmony and In the Heat of the Night. Yvette is an experienced theatre arts clinician including an engagement with the Alabama Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology (AGSAT) and she was an Artist-in-Residence with the State Arts Council.

 

Ms. Jones-Smedley was employed as the first artistic director & branch manager of the Montgomery YMCA Cultural Arts & Education Center, artistic director and project coordinator for the Academy of the Fine Arts, Inc., and was cofounder and artistic/managing director of the Aldridge Repertory Theatre, Inc., of Birmingham, AL.

GINA M. JACKSON, M.A., M.ED.

Gina M. Jackson is an Adjunct Professor and Secondary Educator in San Diego, CA. She is Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Cultural Noire Performing Arts Company. Jackson is also an Arts Commissioner for the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. She has a B.A. in Speech Communication/English and Theatre Performance minors from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; man M.A. in African-American Studies/Literature-Theatre from Clark Atlanta University; and an M.Ed. and Preliminary Administrative Services Credential from National University. She has completed the Museum Studies Professional Studies Program at Northwestern University as well as Global Humanities programs at the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California Berkeley.

 

Always active in The Arts and Civic Engagement, Jackson serves on the boards of the City of San Diego Horton Plaza Theatres Foundation and the County of San Diego Community Action Board. She is also a Board Member of the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival and the San Diego Performing Arts League, including being a Theatre Ambassador for SDPAL’s Theatre Alliance. Jackson is a 32-year member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.; a Life Member of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., and a Geo Coordinator for the San Diego Women’s Foundation.

kb saine

kb saine is a director, author, educator, and theatre historian. she has over two decades of experience of using

 theatre as a vehicle for social and racial justice & equity -both on and off stage. in the professional theatre world, kb served for six years

 as the producing artistic director of sycamore rouge in petersburg, va.; she has worked with greenbrier valley theatre, vintage theatre company, and buckhannon community theatre in west virginia; with the richmond triangle players, theatre iv/theatre gym,

 the barksdale theatre, firehouse theatre project, theatrevirginia, dogwood dell, yellow house productions, theatremachine and sparc in virginia; and the dallas theatre center in texas. favorite past productions under her direction include

the glass menagerie,

orlando,

everybody,

topdog/underdog,

the altruists, stop

 kiss, the odyssey,

fair and tender ladies, the

 crucible,

picasso at the lapin agile, tartuffe, santaland

 diaries and

season’s greetings, steal

 away, and

stories i ain’t told nobody yet,

 among many others. academically, she has taught at wesleyan college in macon, georgia; virginia commonwealth university in richmond, va; west virginia wesleyan college in buckhannon, wv; and davis & elkins college in elkins, wv. saine is the current director

 of the contemporary theatre studies program- a proudly anti-racist, pro-feminist, queer-affirming theatre program

at shepherd university. her accomplishments

 as a playwright include adaptations of the velveteen rabbit, (a

 play with music with original blues & boogie-woogie music by roddy barnes) rumpelstiltskin, and

 the original works appalachian blackface,

 which tells a minstrel show/coal camp mashup tale in southern wv, and read·y for right,

 a play about the first civil rights protest in the city of petersburg, va. her recently produced short works include

seeds and

c.o.r.i. meeting, 2nd floor.

 saine’s academic writing includes issues of race and the representation of marginalized groups, with a particular focus on black theatre history and 19th and early 20th century blackface minstrel performance. her professional service includes workshops, panels,

 and publications with south eastern theatre conference and theatre symposium, west virginia thespians, west virginia

 theatre association, virginia theatre association, southside virginia council for the arts, virginians for the arts, btnews, and extensive work with the black theatre network (the national organization of black theatre professionals, academics and practitioners),

 where she is proud to serve as a past president for the national executive

 board. saine is also the host of the black theatre history podcast, which can be found on audible, apple podcasts & at

www.blacktheatrehistory.com.



Halle Morse

Halle Morse is a former Broadway actress and management consultant. Having worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tour, and Regional Theater, credits include Lisa in Mamma Mia, Mimi in Rent, Little Inez in Hairspray, and Eponine in Les Miserables. Halle is also a theater producer and administrator. She served as the Producing Director at T. Schreiber Theatre, Associate Producer at 3-Legged Dog, and Line Producer at The Public Theater, where she worked with the Mobile Unit to present live theater in prisons, homeless shelters and community centers. Halle has had the esteemed privilege of working on Hamilton alongside show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and served as Assistant Director to Tony Award winner Diane Paulus on the world premiere productions of The White Card and Jagged Little Pill. She has supported numerous Project1Voice performances over the years and is thrilled to join the board for the next phase of its artistic development. Halle’s journey from Broadway to Business has led her to earn an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was nationally recognized as one of the “Ten Remarkable Women MBAs to Watch” by Poets & Quants. She has worked in Strategy for the OWN Network, BET, and The Weather Channel. She is the founder of Broadway for Biden and currently an M&A Consultant with Ernst & Young. Social: @Hallemorse

MARCIA PENDELTON

Marketing Specialis

Marcia Pendelton (Marketing Specialist) is the founder and president of Walk Tall Girl Productions, a boutique marketing, audience development and group sales agency for the performing arts with a special emphasis placed on the theater. The mission of the New York-based company is to make the arts accessible to the widest possible audience.

WTGP has been immersed in assisting commercial theater producers and nonprofit theatre institutions with developing diverse audiences since 2000. The company specializes in bringing communities from the African diaspora into performance spaces.

  • For over 20 years WTGP has been an audience diversity expert because of
    In-depth knowledge of Black history and culture
  • Expansive experience in communicating with different communities
  • Significant contacts with community-based organizations; arts, education and culture institutions; faith-based, civic, social and professional groups, and influencers
  • Innovative approaches to building new audiences
  • A deeply-rooted belief that the arts are essential

Recent WTGP marketing clients on Broadway include Thoughts Of A Colored Man, Choir Boy, Saint Joan,
August Wilson’s Jitney, and Sweat as well as providing significant group sales support for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. Additionally, WTGP has
served as an audience development consultant for multiple productions at The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Apollo Theater, MCC Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, Signature
Theatre, Keen Company, Classic Stage Company, Vineyard Theatre, The Billie Holiday Theatre, and The
Transport Group.


Because of its commitment to making productions that center Black narratives accessible to multicultural, multigenerational and multiracial audiences, WTGP produces A Black Theatre Preview (BTP). Hosted by four-time Tony Award-winning producer Ron Simons, BTP brings attention to and celebrates the presence of Black artists on stage on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and beyond through an evening of conversations, panels, and performances. The event also includes a theater marketplace that offers production details and discounts, as well as information from Black Theater service organizations and conferences. BTP producing partners have included AUDELCO, Inc.,

Project1Voice, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and The Kumble Theatre/LIU Brooklyn. The company also publishes a weekly e-newsletter (Walk Tall Girl Productions presents Black Theater Online Weekly) that features interviews, reviews, special events and news from the Black Theater community.

 

About WTGP Founder/President Born and reared in Philadelphia, PA, Marcia Pendelton received a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from St Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA) and earned an MFA in Theatre Management from the University of Maryland (College Park). She serves on the Board of Directors of the Black Theatre Network and the Black Public Relations Society – New York. She is also a member of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and the Harlem Arts Alliance. Her work in audience development has been featured in Ebony Magazine, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Daily News, ABC.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Our Time Press. She has been honored by the Ladies Auxiliary of the National Action Network, the Black Theatre Network, the AUDELCO Awards, What’s the 411, BOLD/AEA Black History Month Honors, Riant Theatre Company Trailblazer Award, and Emmanuel Baptist

k zaheerah sultan

K. Zaheerah Sultan is an arts educator, consultant, youth, arts, and community activist,  and a philanthropist. She is the founder and executive director of Mind Your Business Art (M.Y.B.A), a performing arts business consulting agency. Zaheerah is the former executive director of Magnifying Urban Realities and Affecting Lives (M.U.R.A.L) – formerly the Lupe Fiasco Foundation, a Chicago based youth performing arts organization designed to promote global citizenship through international youth arts exchange programs.

 

She is the newly elected vice-president of the Black Theatre Network and has been published in the Routledge Companion to African American Theatre. Her awards include recognition by the Chicago Association of Fundraising Professionals, Chicago Women in Philanthropy, the City of Toledo, and the University of Toledo. Zaheerah holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Family Life Education from the University of Spring  Arbor, a Master of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts degree from Wayne State University, a Master of Arts Management degree from Columbia College Chicago and has studied the Psychological Effects of Slavery at the University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

Patrick A. Bradford

General Counsel

Patrick A. Bradford, New York City, NY, is a practicing attorney specializing in complex commercial litigation. He is a founding partner of Bradford Edwards & Varlack LLP. His practice areas include antitrust, securities, employment, environmental and qui tam (whistleblower) actions. He also handles government and corporate investigations, including international FCPA matters. He represents clients in federal and state courts throughout the country, and before government regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. He has taught “Antitrust Law” as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School, and “Law & Technology” at Columbia University. Patrick is an honors graduate of Harvard College (1986) and the New York University School of Law (1989). He is a former President of the NYU Law School’s Law Alumni of Color Association. He currently serves as a Senior Director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a member of the Diversity Corporate Committee of the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, interim Board Chairman of the Classical Theater of Harlem, and Trustee of the Lighthouse Opera Company. He has previously served as Board Chairman of the New Professional Theater, and as Trustee of the Negro Ensemble Company, Theater Development Fund, Theater Communications Group, and the Shakespeare Society. Patrick has regularly attended OSF for over a decade.

Dr. Indira Etwaroo

First Executive Director of the Center for Arts and Culture (CAC), Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, encompassing the Billie Holiday Theatre, Skylight Gallery, Youths Arts Academy, and Restoration Plaza.

In 2003, Dr. Etwaroo took her Fulbright Scholarship to Ethiopia to work with refugee Somali women and children, for which she received the Emerging Doctoral Scholar Award and the Graduate Research Award from the National Congress on Research in Dance. She oversaw education and humanities programs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, receiving BAM’s Dance Africa Award for Outstanding Service; the Education and Community Heritage Award from Bed-ford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp.; and various other awards, grants and fellowships. In 2006 she became the Founding Executive Producer of The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at National Public Radio in New York. There, in 2012, on the 75th anniversary of the publication of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she produced a radio adaptation that starred Phylicia Rashad, Leslie Uggams and Chuck Coooper.

Wren Brown

Co-Founder/Artistic Director of Ebony Repertory Theater, the first African American professional theater company in Los Angeles history.

As an actor, Mr. Brown has appeared in such films as Waiting To Exhale, Hollywood Shuffle, and Edmond, and on TV in shows like The West Wing, The Practice, Star Trek, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Grey’s Anatomy. Since producing the acclaimed 1999 film, Boesman and Lena (Danny Glover and Angela Bassett), he has since brought to life theater and ballet, as well as short films by emerging directors.

Shay Wafer

She/Her/Hers Executive Director WACO Theater Center. Los Angeles, CA

Shay Wafer, has demonstrated a stalwart dedication to the arts and community development through many years of service to the field. Her passionate vision is balanced with pragmatic experience, as she has held senior level positions at a number of non-profit arts organizations with a focus on African Diasporic programming and community engagement. Currently the Executive Director of WACO Theater Center in Los Angeles, Shay was the Executive Director of 651 ARTS in Brooklyn and the founding VP of Programs for the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, a multi-disciplinary center and museum in downtown Pittsburgh. Prior to that, she served as the managing director of Cornerstone Theater Company, LA Theatreworks and the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. She also was a founding partner of Marla Gibb’s Crossroads Arts Academy and Theatre. Ms. Wafer has engaged in additional community and volunteer activities throughout her career including serving on the Board of Directors of National Performance Network (currently the Board Chair), Theatre Communications Group and as a New England Foundation for the Arts National Theatre Project and National Dance Project Advisor. Wafer has served as a peer panelist for The National Endowment for the ARTS, MAP Fund, Doris Duke, Mellon, Kresge and Bush Foundations, among others.  She holds a BS from Howard University in Early Childhood Education and a MFA from the Yale School of Drama, Theatre Management program.

Anthony Sias

President and CEO of Karamu House

Former director of arts education for the 50,000 strong Cleveland Metropolitan School District (the 2nd largest district in Ohio) and artistic director of the Cleveland School of the Arts, Mr. Sias has both acted in and directed many Karamu productions. Charged with re-invigorating Karamu’s leadership, education and excellence, Mr. Sias hopes to turn it into “the citadel of African American cultural arts in this country.

Eileen J. Morris

Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Houston

Ms. Morris has produced over 80 plays, including 4 world premieres, and directed more than 20 productions for The Ensemble Theatre. She co-founded the Young Performer’s Program to train 6 to 17 year olds in both art and life skills. From 1994-2004 she was secretary, vice-president, and president of the national Black Theater Network, and has served on panels with the Cultural Arts Council of Houston, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Multi-Cultural Arts Council of Pittsburgh, The National Endowment for the Arts, etc. The recipient of the 2011 National Black Theater Festival’s Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award, Ms. Morris is the only American woman to have directed 8 of the 10 plays in August Wilson’s Cycle.

 

Denise Saunders-Thompson

President and CEO of The International Association of Blacks In Dance.

Denise Saunders Thompson has extensive experience in non-profit and for-profit, established or start-up organizations. She has advised organizations on administrative, programmatic and fundraising issues including strategic plans, policy and procedures, communications programs, budgeting and contracts. Currently, Denise is the President and Chief Executive Officer for the International Association of Blacks in Dance, a non-profit service organization and D.d.Saunders & Associates, Inc., a comprehensive fine arts advisory firm offering artist management/ representation, arts producing, consulting, and production services. She recently held the position of Professorial Lecturer at American University in the Graduate Arts Management Degree Program. In April 2015, Denise completed 17 years of service at Howard University in the capacities of Professor, Theatre Manager/ Producing Artistic Director for the Department of Theatre Arts and Manager of Cramton Auditorium. She is Co-Founder of PlayRight Performing Arts Center, Inc., a non-profit arts organization in Atlanta, Georgia, and former Business Manager for The Malone Group, Inc. a non-profit arts organization in Washington, D.C. that co-produced Black Nativity at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for six years. Denise currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Dance/USA, Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Friends of Theatre and Dance at Howard University, is a Member of Actors Equity Association (AEA) and Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA).

Freelancing in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and across the nation in production and arts management, Mrs. Thompson has held positions at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Alliance Theatre Company, National Black Arts Festival, 1996 Olympic Arts Festival, 1996 Olympics, Lincoln Theatre, Several Dancers Core, the Atlanta Dance Initiative, the Mark Taper Forum, the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger, Harrah’s Marina Hotel Casino as well as other numerous positions. In addition, she is a grant recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the St. Paul Companies. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in Arts Producing and Management, and a B.F.A. from Howard University in Theatre Arts Administration. Denise is the proud mother of Kellen, stepmom to Darrin, Jr., and happily married to Darrin, Sr.