Sonita Surratt

 Sonita L. Surratt (MFA) is a director in stage, film and opera, a musician, a producer, an actor, a playwright, and a sound designer. Her national accomplishments to name a few include producing, writing, and directing world premiere and premiere productions: Phillis:  The American Revolutionary (Surratt), Flow: A Hip Hop Musical (Will Power), Sins of the Father (Synthia Williams), The Miracle (Joel Potash), Concerning Foster (Dru Smith & Kenya Ann Hall), Comb Your Hair … (Leelee Jackson), the Inheritance: The Musical Concert (Monica Patton & Bobby Daye), Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life (Dr. Suad Khabeer), a resident director for Showfolk, a play series for young audiences, and more.  She has also directed on college stages and artistically sought to challenge and shift the myopic view in homogenous classrooms of emerging K-12 educators.  Amid memorable moments, was the students’ talk back after hearing their guest Griot Storyteller.  Surratt is also an award-winning opera singer who subsequently founded Opera in the Hood, opera with a twist, and later the Redd Opera Co. (ROC), a place for young voices to learn the craft.  Striving continuously to expand and share her gifts, Surratt is the Paul Robeson Performing Company Executive Artistic Director, a Lincoln Center Director Lab alumna, and a member of the Stage Directors’ and Choreographer Society and the Black Theatre Network.  She is ecstatic to join the Purdue University Theatre Department and as well continue her residency with the Black Cultural Center (BCC).