Elizabeth Van Dyke
DIRECTOR
Elizabeth Van Dyke
Is an award winning Director and Actress.
Her directorial credits include:
Best Director
From Sun to Sun
Great Men of Gospel: SPIRIT INTO SOUND
AUDELCO NOMINATION
Best Director
A Raisin in the Sun
The Piano Lesson
Sophisticated Ladies
ONYX AWARD BEST DIRECTOR
& BEST MUSICAL PRODUCTION
OF THE YEAR
The Old Settler
For Colored Girls
Ti Jean and His Brother
Remembering Weselves: THE BLACK RENAISSANCE.
Elizabeth has received an AUDELCO for Best Actress for her portrayal of Zora Neale Hurston and the Ace & Gold Award for Love to All, Lorraine a solo piece based on the life of Lorraine Hansberry that she wrote and co-directed.
Elizabeth originated the roles of Fannie Mae Dove in Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage, Mattie in No…N, No Jews, & No Dogs by the late John Henry Redwood and Annie Talbot in A DANCE ON WIDOW'S ROW By Samm Art Williams.
Ms. Van Dyke serves as the Producing Artistic Director of Going to the River and The River Crosses River: A Festival of Short Plays by Women of Color. These programs support and champion the work of African-American Female playwrights and women playwrights of color. The artistic home-base for these programs is the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City.
Elizabeth serves on the Advisory Board of The Passage Theatre, on the Board of Directors of New Federal Theatre and is a member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA, SDC, The Dramatist Guild, The Playwrights Center, and The League of Professional Theatre Women.
In 2010 the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned Ms. Van Dyke to write a Libretto for the Zora Legacy Concert with music composed by the maestro, Dr. A. Hailstork. (World Premiere: Nov. 2011)
Ms. Van Dyke has received the Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence in Theatre at Austin Peay State University, The Board of Directors Award from AUDELCO, The President’s Award from the Black Theatre Network, A Fox Foundation Grant, and a Rockefeller Grant to study the elements of Japanese Theatre.