Nabra Nelson

Artist Statement / Bio

Nabra Nelson is a multi-disciplinary theater maker from Nubia, Egypt, and California. As a playwright, director, dramaturg, consultant, administrator, and teaching artist, she works with theaters, universities, and community organizations across the nation to strengthen community and amplify under-heard voices. She is the Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, the first US theatre dedicated to the Middle East; a dancer with Dancing Earth; a founding company member and grant writer for the Seattle-based MENA theater company, Dunya Productions; a founding company member of the Milwaukee-based womxn-of-color performance troupe Heard Space Arts Collective; leads the Nubian Foundation for Preserving a Cultural Heritage; and is the co-host of the Kunafa & Shay Theater Podcast (produced by HowlRound Theatre Commons). Her plays have been produced and developed in Seattle, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Minneapolis. As an independent scholar, she has been published by Routledge, Bloomsbury, the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal, and The Gemsbok. Awards and recognitions include the New England Foundation for the Arts National Theatre Project, Dramatists Guild Foundation National Playwriting Fellowship, New Arab American Theater Works’ Inaugural Playwriting Cohort, 4Culture Project Grant, Map Fund Artist Award, Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce Nonprofit Partner of the Year, and Agenda Communicating the Arts 30 Under 30.

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