Join us virtually on Thursday, October 8th at 5pm eastern when SDCF Trustee Sheldon Epps will continue his conversations on artistic leadership with Gordon Davidson Award recipient Seret Scott. Scott and Epps will discuss her wide-ranging and inspiring achievements and her work with the Free Southern Theatre in the 1960s, her performances as an actress on Broadway and beyond, and her remarkable career as a freelance director across the country.
Registration:
Registration is free, but space is limited. Please click here to RSVP.
If you are unable to attend, please email Dani Cattan at dcattan@sdcfoundation.org, so those on the waitlist can join.
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Sheldon Epps:
Sheldon Epps was Artistic Director of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse for 20 years (1997-2017) and now serves the theatre as Artistic Director Emeritus. Before beginning his tenure at the Playhouse he served as Associate Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre for four years. He was also a co-founder of the Off Broadway theatre, The Production Company. Mr. Epps has directed both plays and musicals at many of the country’s major theatres including the Roundabout, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Guthrie, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, and the Goodman Theatre. He conceived the highly acclaimed musicals Play On! and Blues In the Night, which both received Tony Award nominations. He directed productions of both of those shows on Broadway, in London, and at theatres throughout the world. He co-directed the Broadway production of Baby It’s You!, which had its world premiere at The Pasadena Playhouse. He also has had a busy career as a television director helming episodes of shows such as Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Girlfriends and many others. Mr. Epps received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for his efforts and accomplishments at the Pasadena Playhouse. He served for many years on the SDC Executive Board and was previously also the Chair of the SDCF Board of Trustees.
Seret Scott:
Seret Scott has directed more than 100 professional theater productions since the late 1980s. Her resume spans the entire American regional theater, including a dozen productions alone at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre as an Associate Artist. Her off-Broadway directing credits include New Victory Theatre, Second Stage, Pan Asian Rep, and Playwrights Horizons. Regionally, Scott has directed with more than 25 companies, including Court Theatre in Chicago, Yale Rep, Westport Country Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, South Coast Rep, L.A. Theatre Works, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theater, Two River Theatre, George Street Playhouse, The National Black Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Indiana Rep, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, Atlas Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Crossroads Theatre, PlayMakers Rep, Alliance Theatre, and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, among many others. University directing credits include NYU-Tisch, Juilliard, Fordham, The Acting Company, and University of Maryland.
Scott has been invited to read from her journals, Artist Housing and Owl Attacks, at almost two dozen universities and forums. The narratives chronicle the creative and personal 35-year (and counting) journey of a Black Woman theater director and actress. Scott has participated in playwriting and directing workshops with Sundance Labs, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Roundabout Theatre Company, New Harmony, Pacific Playwright’s Conference, and New York Stage and Film. She received a playwrighting/directing residency at the National Theatre Institute; a playwright’s residency at McCarter Theatre Center; and a directors residency at Sundance Labs in Arles, France. She is a former Director-In-Residence with New Dramatists and a PEW/TCG Artist Residency grantee with Long Wharf Theatre. Scott assistant directed Washington, DC’s Constitution Hall celebration honoring the installation of the MLK Statue on the National Mall.
Seret’s play, Second Line, recalling her experiences in the Free Southern Theater/Civil Rights Movement, 1969, was produced by Passage Theatre in New Jersey and Atlas Theatre in Washington, DC. She is the creator of INSIGHT/SECOND SIGHT, a project that introduces diverse communities to the narratives, back-stories, and life-changing moments of individuals whose lives have been widely acclaimed or perhaps, quietly extraordinary. She’s currently working on the libretto of her light opera, Quarte Face.
As an actress, Scott’s performances include dozens of Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theater credits. She made her Broadway debut in 1974 with My Sister, My Sister, for which she received a Drama Desk Award; she was also part of the original Broadway cast of For Colored Girls. Film credits include Kathleen Collin’s classic film, Losing Ground.
Scott received her Bachelor’s degree from The New School. She’s a former member of the Puffin Foundation Artistic Advisory Board and is currently on the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).
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To read the interview with Christopher Ashley and Seret Scott published in the summer 2016 SDC Journal, please click here.