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Clinton Turner Davis Clinton Turner Davis has been a force in American theater for 30 years, as a director, producer, dramaturg, consultant, advocate, and production and company managerìor, as Davis says, "on all sides of the business, really, from front of house to back of house to boardroom."2 In the fall semester of 2000, Davis will share his talents as a director and educator with the University of Wisconsin-Madison as Artist in Residence in the Departments of Theatre & Drama and Afro-American Studies, under the auspices of the Arts Institute Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program. Davis will teach the class "August Wilson: Playwright/Poet" as well as direct a production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun for the University Theatre. Davis has spent much of his career in both New York and regional theater and was involved with the world-famous Negro Ensemble Company for more than 16 years. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Drama at Colorado College, and Associate Producer for the New Federal Theatre, New York. In 1996, Davis directed the acclaimed revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone at the New Federal Theatre, winner of six AUDELCO awards including Outstanding Production and Direction. His 1994 production of Carlyle Brown's The African Company Presents Richard III (The Acting Company) also earned AUDELCO awards for Outstanding Direction and Ensemble. Davis' other award-winning productions include Athol Fugard's My Children! My Africa at the Dallas Theatre Center (1991), winner of a Dallas Theatre Critics Awards for Outstanding Production; Langston Hughes' Black Nativity at the Freedom Theatre (1995), which earned Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Production, Direction and Choreography; and Fay and Michael Kanin's Rashomon (1999) and Eric Overmyer's On the Verge (2000) at Colorado College, both Regional Finalists at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Davis' numerous premieres include Harold Arlen's Sweet ¬n' Hot in Harlem (Stagewest, world premiere, 1991), Mustapha Matura's Trinidad Sisters (Arena Stage, American premiere, 1992), Carter Lewis' An Asian Jockey in Our Midst (Live Oak Theatre, world premiere, 1994), and Ifa Bayeza's Homer G and the Rhapsodies (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, world premiere, 1996). He has also directed for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Trinity Rep and at Colorado College, The Juilliard School, Dartmouth, Brandeis and Howard University. As a producer, Davis' credits include the Anna Deavere Smith Project (Associate Producer) for Arena Stage (1997); production supervisor for the Atlanta Cultural Olympiad (1996) and Celebrate Africa Festival/ Cultural Olympiad (1994); the national and international tours of Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (1984) and concerts by Phylicia Rashad (1985) and Noel Pointer (1982). In addition, Davis is a co-founder and board member of the Non-Traditional Casting Project, a New York agency that advocates increased employment of ethnic, women and disabled artists in the performing arts. He has guest-lectured at Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia and Berkeley universities, is a Pew Fellow and recipient of NEA/TCG fellowships, has published numerous production scripts and has written widely on African-American theater. - Mary Carbine, Arts Residency Coordinator |