talvin wilks

dramaturg, "in a rhythm"

Talvin Wilks is a playwright, director and dramaturg. His plays include Tod, the boy, Tod, The Trial of Uncle S&M, Bread of Heaven, An American Triptych, JImmy and Lorraine, and As I Remember It with Carmen de Lavallade.  Directorial projects include the world and regional premiere productions of UDU by Sekou Sundiata (651Arts/BAM), The Love Space Demands by Ntozake Shange (Crossroads), No Black Male Show/Pagan Operetta by Carl Hancock Rux (Joe’s Pub/The Kitchen), the Obie Award/AUDELCO Award winning The Shaneequa Chronicles by Stephanie Berry (EST), Relativity by Cassandra Medley (EST – AUDELCO nomination for Best Director 2006), The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza (Penumbra Theatre Company), The Owl Answers by Adrienne Kennedy (Penumbra Theatre Company) and The Peculiar Patriot by Liza Jessie Peterson (National Black Theatre). He has served as co-writer/co-director/ dramaturg for ten productions in Ping Chong’s ongoing series of Undesirable Elements and three productions of Collidescope: Adventures in Pre- and Post-Racial America. He has also served as company dramaturg for six collaborations with the Bebe Miller Company: Going to the Wall; the Bessie Award winning, Verge; Landing/Place, for which he received a 2006 Bessie Award; Necessary Beauty; A History; and In a Rhythm/The Making Room. Recent dramaturgical collaborations include work with Camille A. Brown and Dancers (Mr. TOL E. RaNcE, BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, and ink), Urban Bush Women (Hep Hep Sweet Sweet, Walking with ‘Trane, and SCAT!), baba Israel (The Spinning Wheel) and Ain Gordon (Radicals in Miniature). He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Theatre Arts and Dance Department, University of Minnesota/Twin Cities.