Valerie Curtis-Newton

Professor in Acting and Directing and Head of Directing, Valerie oversees the Hansberry Project, a professional African American theatre lab. She has directed projects for professional companies, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Childrens Theatre, Northwest Asian American Theatre, and Capitol Repertory Theatre. Valerie has participated in new play development for the New York Theatre Workshop, The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, The Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and at the ACT/Hedgebrook and Seattle Rep/Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festivals, working with playwrights including Kia Corthron, Caridad Svich, Gina Gionfriddo, Laurie Carols, and Valetta Anderson. In addition, she has served as Artistic Director for The Performing Ensemble of Hartford and the Ethnic Cultural Theatre at the UW and was a participant in the 1997-98 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors assisting Tina Landau, Douglas Hughes, Lisa Peterson, Gordon Edelstein, and Sharon Ott. Valerie is a recent recipient of both the Stage Directors and Choregraphers Foundation's Sir John Gielgud Directing Fellowship and a UW Presidential Faculty Development Fellowship and is an alumna of Holy Cross College and the University of Washington (MFA). Professor Curtis-Newton is also a Donald E. Petersen Fellow.