NVF'22

About the Playwright

KAYLIN JONES

Kaylin Jones is a Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival-awarded playwright who has not only been recognized for her works The Gender Reveal and My Own Darling Boy, but she also received the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award for A Beautiful Death on 34th and Fifth. She made a contribution as dramaturg for a production of Passion Play by Zahria Moore. A graduate of the University of Missouri with a BA in English and a minor in Theatre, it was there that Kaylin discovered her love and talent for writing for the stage. During her time in Missouri, Kaylin was an active participant in The Missouri Playwrights Workshop and the Mizzou New Play Series where several of her works were invited as staged readings. She had the recent honor of making her professional and Houston debut with Wordsmyth Theater Company at Main Street Theater where A Beautiful Death on 34th and Fifth was selected for a staged reading. Most of all, she is incredibly honored and incredibly grateful that this show is receiving its first ever production at The Ensemble Theatre.

About the Director

ROSHUNDA JONES-KOUMBA

Roshunda Jones-Koumba graduated from Prairie View A&M with a B.A. in Theatre and a Master of Education in administration. She is the winner of the 2022 Excellence in Theatre Education Award presented by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University. She is the proud recipient of Ebony magazine’s Power 100 and the Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Teacher of the Year Award. Jones was inducted into the Texas Thespians Hall of Fame in 2020, TxETA’s 2017 Educator of the Year and TUTS Leading Ladies inaugural Arts Educator of the Year. As director of the G.W. Carver Magnet High School Panther Players Troupe #6753, the troupe has been successful on the state and national level. Jones currently serves on the board for Texas Thespians, president of the C. Lee Turner’s Black Theatre Educators’ Caucus and UIL OAP Advisory Committee Chair Elect. She has been honored with a proclamation from the City of Houston and Wharton for the work she does in the community. She also works professionally as an actor, director and theatre consultant. Some of her directorial credits include No One Owns Me (AD Players), It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues (2017 Broadway World Houston award for Best Director-Musical), Lady Day @ Emerson’s Bar & Grill (2016 Broadway World Houston award for Best Director- Play), Legend of Mountain Mama (The Ensemble Theatre) and Tobacco Fields (Fade to Black Fest).

About the Dramaturg

KATHRYN ERVIN

Kathryn Ervin is a past president and current consultant for the Black Theatre Network and an artist educator and Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University San Bernardino. She is a graduate of Wayne State University and Illinois State University. She teaches courses in Directing, Acting, Creative Drama and African American Theatre and Film and Culture. She has directed dramas, comedies and musicals. Recent work includes Black Super Hero Magic Mama, Rowing to America, In the Heights, Once on This Island, Keep Hedz Ringin’ and many others. She is the author with Ethel Pitts Walker of An African American Scenebook.