Walter Dallas

Senior Artist-in-Residence
Co-Director of MFA in Performance

301.405.6695
2822 Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
walterdallas@gmail.com

 

Education/Training: MFA Directing, Yale School of Drama, 1971; B.A., Theatre, Morehouse College, 1968; Music and Theology, Harvard University, 1967; Actor in Paul Sill's Improvisational Touring Company, 1970; Theatre in Traditional African Societies and West African Dance, University of Ghana, Legon, 1976; View Points Training, EgoPo Theatre Company, Philadelphia, 2008.

Areas of Specialization/Interest: Acting, Playwriting, Directing, Solo Performance, Mask Characterization Work, Centers Work, Opera, Music, New Play Development

Professional Affiliations: Member of SSDC (Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers) since 1981; AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) since 2007.

Representative Productions:

His gospel opera Lazarus, Unstoned, adaptations of the films Sparkle and Cooley High at Freedom Theatre; a record-breaking Porgy and Bess at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Island Weddin’ at Talawa Theatre Company, London, August Wilson's The Piano Lesson at the Arden Theatre, Paul Robeson at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, his Asafohene at Alliance Theatre, Pudd'nhead Wilson at The Acting Company, Two Trains Running and Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Philadelphia Drama Guild, Blues For An Alabama Sky at Crossroads Theatre, Having Our Say at Mark Taper Forum, Master Harold...and the boys at Westport Country Playhouse, and music director for Gee's Bend at Arden Theatre, Blue Door at African Continuum Theatre Company, Washington, DC.

Honors and Awards:

Creative Genius Awards, National Endowment for the Arts Director Fellowship, New York Audelco Awards, Mayoral Proclamations, the 76ers and Philadelphia Tribune Community Service All-Star Award, the Eleone Dance Theatre Award for Excellence, the Morehouse College Alumni Association's Achievement Award, the Mover and Shaker Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Promotion of South African Arts and Culture. His production of the world premiere of August Wilson's Seven Guitars was named one of the Top Ten Best Theatre Events of 1995 by Time Magazine. His San Francisco production of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye was named one of that city's Top Ten Theatre Events of 2007 by the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2008 he was named Man of the Year by the Institute for the Preservation of African-American Music. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Philadelphia's University of the Arts in 2002. Dallas was lead-writer for Standing in the Shadows of Motown, a documentary featuring Chaka Khan, Hill Harper, and Gerald Levert which won several major awards including Best Non-Fiction Film from the New York Film Critics Circle and four Grammy Awards.