Cycle 4 Winners of Douglas Lyons’ Next Wave Initiative Named

Education News

Cycle 4 Winners of Douglas Lyons’ Next Wave Initiative Named

The Chicken and Biscuits playwright founded the developmental branch of The Directors Company.

Winners for Cycle 4 of The Next Wave Initiative, the developmental branch of The Directors Company that is committed to amplifying future Black voices in the American theatre, have been named!

Aamar-Malik Culbreth of Baldwin Wallace University is this cycle’s Hattie McDaniel Acting Scholarship, with Mo Holmes of Columbia University School of the Arts taking the Lorraine Hansberry Writing Scholarship. Tramaine Raphael Gray of California Institute of the Arts is the Spike Lee Directing Scholarship winner, and Davon Williams of Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama is the Black Excellence Impact Award winner.

Each award includes financial support ranging from $500 to $1,959 towards the winners’ undergraduate or MFA education. Since the program’s launch in 2020, the initiative has raised more than $30,000 towards its scholarships.

Applicants must be of the Black diaspora and pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in writing, dance, directing, or acting. All genders and ages are welcome.

“I cannot articulate how continuously blown away I am by this next generation of change makers,” says Lyons in a statement. ” I am fueled and hopeful to witness how the future of the American theatre will be shifted by their greatness. I celebrate them all with my full heart.”

The Directors Company is a not-for-profit theatre company with a mission to develop and produce groundbreaking new plays and musicals. The Directors Studio offers affordable rehearsal space in midtown.

To donate to the program, visit DirectorsCompany.org.