Brava! for Women in the Arts is very pleased to welcome our new Artistic Director, Raelle Myrick-Hodges.

Raelle is the Co-Founder of Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia now in its tenth year. After attending Ealing College of Humanities in London, Raelle received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California. While in San Francisco, she began producing plays independently leading her to pursue production at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Seattle Repertory Theater, and the Arden Theater Company in Philadelphia. Raelle moved to Philadelphia and co-founded Azuka Theatre Collective (now known as Azuka Theater) creating/producing diverse, non-tradtional theatre pieces which encouraged the integration of artists from many artistic disciplines, ethnicities and cultures. Shortly after, Raelle was awarded a two-year grant, the NEA/TCG Career Development Award for Directing.

As an awardee of the two-year grant had the opportunity to work with tony award winners George C. Wolfe and Doug Hughes allowing Ms. Myrick-Hodges to cultivate a new understanding of contemporary theater. During this time, she worked with theater companies such as NYSF/The Public Theater, Philadelphia Theater Company, McCarter Theater, and, Azuka Theatre.

As an Independence Foundation Awardee, she created a new work, “An Artist’s Workshop.” She was (with creator Alden Moore) was nominated for ‘Outstanding New Play” for this work. Raelle has also directed the works of Naomi Iizuka (Polaroid Stories) and Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog; In the Blood), Kirsten Greenidge, Lori Woodall, Ryan Templeton, Charlayne Woodard, Rachel Parks, James Baldwin and Steven Berkoff.

Prior to her appointiment as Artistic Director of Brava! for Women in the Arts, Raelle has worked with such artists and designers as Geoffrey Arend, Jeffrey Wright, Mos Def, Keith David, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Tony Kushner, Jeanine Tesori, Justin Townsend, Harold Perrineau, Larry Gilliard Jr., Nikkole Salter, Amanda Schoonover, Ephraim Lopez, Regina Garcia, , Glenn Fleshler,Alexandria Wailes, Kevin Kline, Austin Pendelton, Michael Izquierdo, Jenifer Lewis, Waleed F. Zuaiter, Ato Essandoh,Jade Wu, Jack Noseworthy, Brittany Underwood, Dan Moses Schreier, Marina Draghici, Peter Callender, Matt M. Murphy among others. 

Aside from participating in the creation of Azuka Theatre, Raelle Myrick-Hodges has also worked at Seattle Repertory Theater, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, American Conservatory Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, McCarter Theater, Arden Theatre Company, Magic Theater, Aurora Theater, AlterTheater, Mark Taper Forum, Playmakers Repertory, MudBone Theatre Collective, Goethe Institute (Cologne, DE), and Questors Theater (Ealing London).

"Raelle is deeply passionate about her craft, extraordinarily professional and a smart creative innovator.” - George C. Wolfe

PAST PRODUCTION HIGHLIGHTS

Top Dog/Underdog National Tour

“Deceptive simplicity is the revolving platform to which Topdog/Underdog spins and director George C. Wolfe and assistant director Raelle Myrick-Hodges knows exactly how much to turn this tightly structured work.” – Los Angeles Times

Philadelphia Premiere - Polaroid Stories

“Director Raelle Myrick-Hodges has a gift for theatrical gesture…also has a way with actors and is working with a talented cast…” David Anthony Fox, City Paper

 

“Azuka Theatre Collective stakes its claim as a major player on the Philadelphia alternative theatre scene..” J.Cooper Robb

"Myrick-Hodges' brings Ovid's themes of the gods, love and transformation into the 21st century with this bracing and vital re-imagining." –Philadelphia Weekly

 

Artist's Workshop- Nominee for Outstanding New Play

 

"In An Artist's Workshop, Raelle Myrick-Hodges sets up a parallel between the travails of a black experimental filmmaker and an artist imprisoned in a concentration camp and for two hours she executes it magnificently... .Workshop is a boldly theatrical new play that has the power to simultaneously thrill and enlighten...Myrick-Hodges uses layers of movement to create stage pictures of tremendous depth and complexity." -Philadelphia Weekly

"...Creates a personal connection to this admirably ambitious, visually striking and thoroughly original theatrical production." - Courier Post, New Jersey

IN THE BLOOD Set Design Notes

After assisting George C. Wolfe on Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks asked me to direct a west coast production of In the Blood for CalArts in Los Angeles. The production was produced in the cavernous main stage theatre with its 35-foot ceilings. In the Blood is a play about a woman struggling with her children (the piece inspired by The Scarlet Letter). I believed that the space needed to be filled with 'outside society' to create the intimacy of the family. The set design included a 17-foot electrical tower, a live Jacob's ladder, seven feet high video screens that advertised diamonds, food, (etc.) which loomed above the audience. There were also video surveillance cameras used to view selected moments of the play on all six screens as action took place in the playing space. There was also a hydraulic lift used to create ‘church’ which came out of the floor.