Shauneille Perry

Biography: An American stage director, playwright and educator. She began her professional career in the 1950s as an actress. Despite appearing in a series of Off-Broadway productions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, she became dissatisfied with the limited range of roles available to her and shifted her focus toward directing. In 1969, she staged J. E. Franklin's play, "The Mau Mau Room" with the Negro Ensemble Company in New York City as one of her earliest professional directing assignments. She also worked extensively with the New Federal Theatre, which produced, "Black Girl," another play written by Franklin. Other productions she directed included "Sty of the Blind Pig," "Trouble in Mind," and "Williams & Walker." She also staged her original children's play, "Mio" and a revival of the 1903 musical, "In Dahomey" with a new book written by her (the original book was lost). She also wrote "Sounds of the City," a radio drama, and the television adaptation of John Henry Redwood's play, "The Old Settler." From the early 1960s until her retirement in 2001, she taught at several institutions in the New York City area inspiring a new generations of artists.