Niegel Smith

Niegel Smith is a Bessie Award winning theatre director and performance artist. He is the Executive Artistic Director of NYC’s Obie Award-winning theatre The Flea and a board member of A.R.T./New York. He has helmed the productions of theatrical concerts by Jon Batiste, Taylor Mac, Suzan-Lori Parks, Lady Rizo and En Vogue; music theater works including “The Hang” and “The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist”; and he has directed the world premieres of new plays and musicals at The Alley, Goodman Theatre, The Flea, HERE Arts Center, Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood, New York Fringe, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Summer Play Festival and Under the Radar.

His participatory walks and performances have been produced by Abrons Arts Center, American Realness, The Brooklyn Museum, Dartmouth College, Elastic City, The Flea, The Invisible Dog, JACK, The New Museum, Prelude Festival, PS 122, the Van Alen Institute and Visual AIDS. He is the recipient of the Black Theater Alliance Award for Best Direction, a Bessie Award, Van Lier Fellowship, Warner Bentley Award, Tucker Fellowship, Arkowitz Prize and the Shoenhut Service Award.