Soul Series L.A.B.

Soul Directing Residency

 THE SOUL SERIES L.A.B. (Liberating Artistic Bravery) is a contemporary laboratory for accelerating and creating innovative new work by cutting-edge artists rooted in NBT’s pedagogy.

Overview

Launched in 2018, the Soul Directing Residency Program is a rigorous yet creative playground for Black directors to gain exposure, New York City credentials and, most importantly, technical skills under the guidance of the LAB program staff. Piloted in fellowship with the inaugural Directing Resident, Ebony Noelle Golden, this program provides a home for one director for a minimum of 18 months who will focus on mounting an NBT main-stage production of an existing play. 

In addition to arming emerging directors with focused training and professional mentorship, the program seeks to radically shift accessibility dynamics that have historically disadvantaged directors of color. Residents gain experience at a reputable New York City theater and expand their collaborative network. Each resident is provided a stipend, dramaturgical and developmental resources, a full production team, and three 29-hour workshops. 

With Soul Directing Residency Program, NBT seeks to foster mutually-beneficial relationships between Black institutions and creatives in order to reestablish historically Black theatrical institutions as the foremost supporters and producers of Black artistry.   

DEADLINES & IMPORTANT DATES

Application Release - May 1, 2024

Application Deadline - June 3, 2024

Finalists Notifications - June 28, 2024

Recipient Notification - July 19, 2024

Residency dates - Sept 4, 2024

For questions and inquiries contact Belynda M’Baye, belynda@nationalblacktheatre.org

Current Resident

JaMario Stills, 2023 Resident

JaMario Stills is a transdisciplinary artist from Jacksonville, Florida (Duval). His creative praxis intertwines playwriting, acting, digital media, music, and movement. The scope of JaMario’s projects center and highlight Southern Black Futurity as a form of protest and liberation, and is in direct opposition to normative storytelling practices which often conflate the lives and experiences of those of the Afro-diasporic. Directorily, JaMario’s work includes immersive experiences, solo-shows, classical works ranging from Black folklore to the European cannon, multimedia works, and dance theater. His work as a writer have been produced at Brown University/Trinity Rep (Soul Tapes) and The Wilbury Group (22|16 The Remix of a Global Experiment.) With an active career as a performer, Stills has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The McCarter Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. JaMario’s residencies and fellowships have been with The National Black Theater, The Mercury Store, Williamstown Theater Festival, Brown Arts Initiative, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville.As an educator, Stills is a professor of practice at the Brown Arts Initiative (BAI) and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he has innovated and implemented new course curriculums. Holding BFA in acting from The Juilliard School, and a MFA in Theatre Directing from Brown/Trinity Rep– JaMario has studied screenwriting and scenography at the Rhode Island School of Design, and weaves these skills into his creative practice and artistic mission.

abigail jean-baptiste, 2022 Resident

abigail jean-baptiste (any pronouns) is a theater maker, director, and writer born & based in New York City with familial roots in Haiti and the American South. Her work intersects with critical race theory to reimagine understandings of the past. Guided by questions about blackness and femininity and kinship, her work uses images, fragmented language, repeatable gestures, and tangible objects in a constant search to build unconventional ways of being.  Past Directing Projects Include:  The Story of A Circle by David Ryan Smith, A Case for Black Girls. Setting Central Park On Fire by Kori Alston, Escapegoat by May Treuhaft-Ali, Black Girl Joy by Phanésia Pharel and the salt women by Audley Puglisi. Currently a part of the Roundabout Director’s Group, Classic Stage Company Associate Board and The New Georges Jam. Previously: Project Number One Artist at Soho Repertory Theater, Bushwick Starr Reading Series, Resident Lead Artist at The Mercury Store. abigail has also worked as associate/assistant director to Lileana Blain-Cruz, Saheem Ali, Diane Paulus, Sam Gold, and John Doyle. In 2020, she was named one of the “Powerhouse Women Directors Theatre Fans and Industry Pros Alike Need to Know” by Playbill. Most recently, she directed The House That Will Not Stand at Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans. A Proud Lilly Award Winner. B.A. Princeton University. www.abigailjeanbaptiste.org.

Legacy

 2020 Resident

2019 Resident

  • Dominique Rider (Beauty in the Abyss)

2018 Resident

  • Ebony Noelle Golden (125th & FREEdom)