KIMILLE HOWARD
DIRECTOR
BIOGRAPHY
Kimille Howard is a New York based director, deviser, writer and filmmaker. Currently, she leads as the appointed Artistic Director of the Lucille Lortel Theatre’s NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship, a co-founder of the Black Classical Music Archive, and the new co-captain of Programming and Production for The Fled Collective. Kimille was awarded Best Director at the 2016 Thespis Festival for It’s All About Lorrie by Joseph Krawczyk (Hudson Theater) which received a commercial run at The American Theater of Actors in 2017. She is a current member of The New Georges’ Jam, a participant in New York Stage and Film’s inaugural NYSAF NEXUS project, and a former Resident Director at the Flea Theater. She was the Series Producer for American Opera Project’s first season of Music As the Message.
This season is shaping up to be Howard’s most rigorous and exciting year yet. Engagements include heading the New Works Collective over multiple periods with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Sanctuary Road with Virginia Opera, The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson with Pittsburgh Opera, and the world premiere of Two Corners, a new opera from composer B.E. Boykin, commissioned and presented by Finger Lakes Opera. Future engagements include a world premiere in 2025 for Cincinnati Opera. [read more...]
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... a fine eye for comic flair..." – Tulsa World
L’italiana in Algeri– “Director Kimille Howard stages the action with a fine eye for comic flair, allowing the buffoonery to build up slowly to the cartoonish finale. She also kept the action on stage in almost constant motion — a bit like Rossini’s music — with the chorus and extras reacting to the silliness on stage”
__________
“... Howard’s skillful management…” – DC Theater Arts
The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson – “It is director Howard’s skillful management of the performances, set-sound-and-light cues, and staging that keeps all those disparate pieces of the scaffold balanced.”
__________
"... Howard’s forthright concept…” – Seen and Heard International
The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson – “Due to Kimille Howard’s forthright concept, careful placement of the stage and the high-powered performances by the cast, it really worked. There was nothing make-do about this performance whatsoever.”
__________
"... masterful direction..." – Splash Magazines
B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching – “The movement is exceptional—at times slinky, sensual, and visceral, always realistic—likely reflecting superb work by intimacy coach Marie C. Percy along with masterful direction by Kimille Howard. In an interview, newcomer playwright Tara L. Wilson Noth explains that Howard took pains to assemble a predominantly BIPOC creative team. Her efforts have paid off in the sterling execution of this arresting theatrical exploration of finding the space to delve into one’s true feelings and address unresolved trauma along with the concept of being seen.”
__________
"presided over a visually clear and attractive staging" – Hyde Park Herald
Quamino's Map – “Director Kimille Howard presided over a visually clear and attractive staging, even when the Studebaker Theater boards were packed with principals and chorus.”
__________
"Kimille Howard directed a[n]...effective production." – Washington Classical Review
L’Amant Anonyme – "Kimille Howard directed a minimal but effective production. Technicolor costumes situated the action in the 18th century, with some of the character dynamics further fleshed out by a zany dumbshow staged during the overture."
__________
"...a testament to the power of clear vision." – I care if you listen
Death by Life – "Based on original writings by incarcerated authors and their families, Death by Life is a testament to the power of clear vision. The 90-minute live digital opera is the latest production from White Snake Projects, an activist opera company committed to transmedia work and partnerships with non-musical activist communities. Using a custom software Tutti Remote, engineers Jon Robertson and Paul Deziel mixed live feeds of four singers located in California, Nebraska, Illinois, and New York and integrated Unreal Engine’s 3D environments into a live YouTube stream. At the May 20, 2021 premiere, singers Aaron Blake, Lucia Bradford, Nicholas Davis, and Tiana Sorenson were impressively synced, tuned, and compelling."
__________
"Strip away the remarkable visuals and technological wizardry, and Death by Life is the stuff of which opera is made. " – Seen and Heard International
Death by Life – "Strip away the remarkable visuals and technological wizardry, and Death by Life is the stuff of which opera is made. Death by Life is great theater with an activist edge that brings to mind Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart or Jonathan Larson’s Rent. Just as those authors made AIDS real for audiences with no personal experience of the disease, Death by Life does it for the twin evils of systemic racism and mass incarceration. And, like the other two plays, Death by Life left me with tears in my eyes, as well as the unsettling realization that Orange Crush is not just a soft drink."