Biographies

W. Allen Taylor-Writer/Performer

Mr. Taylor’s theatre career began in 1979 and includes performances in many regional theatres around the country as well as in NYC with such critically acclaimed off-broadway theatres as the Negro Ensemble Company and La Mama E.T.C. He has also been seen on Broadway in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars and has appeared on network television and in feature films. In addition, Mr. Taylor has co-produced off-off Broadway where he co-founded the O’lac Repertory Ensemble, a NY-based Audelco Award nominated theatre company that was dedicated to producing original plays by African-American playwrights. Mr. Taylor received his MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre, and is a Professor Emeritus at the College of Marin (outside of San Francisco), where he taught, directed plays, and served as department chair of the Drama Department for many years.

"In Search Of My Father...Walkin' Talkin' Bill Hawkins" was commissioned by the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, CA, where the first workshop of the play was performed in February of 1999. After several more workshop productions, the play made its professional debut at the Marsh Theatre in Berkeley, CA and won the Best Solo-Performance of 2006 Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. The show has also had successful productions at the AfroSolo Theatre Company of San Francisco, the Cleveland Playhouse (produced by the Dobama Theatre Company) in Cleveland, OH, and at the New Federal Theatre in New York City, where it received an Audelco Award nomination.

Read Mr. Taylor's Artist's Statement

Ellen Sebastian Chang - Director

Ellen Sebastian Chang is a director, writer and a creative consultant. She has been fortunate to work with some of the most interesting artists and projects in the Bay Area and beyond. She recently returned from an East Coast tour of KALI YUGA: The Age of Chaos, her 2006 collaboration with Gamelan Sekar Jaya and Indonesian poet Goenewan Mohammed. Other highlights include: “self/the remix” written and performed by Robert Karimi Jumpstart,Texas; Dante's Divine Comedy with youth poets for the Youth Speaks Living Word Festival; the world premiere of “The Rusalki Cycle: Songs Between Worlds” with Ukraine composer Mariana Sadovska and KITKA; and “Thieves in the Temple: The Reclaiming of Hip Hop”and “Aya deLeon is Running For President” written and performed by spoken word artist Aya de Leon. Ms. Sebastian Chang was a cofounder and artistic director of LIFE ON THE WATER, a national and internationally known presenting and producing organization at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center from 1986 through 1995.