Ozzie Jones

Ozzie Jones’ recent credits include: Directed Hype Man for Interact Theater Company which received 3 Barrymore nominations, Directed My Father’s Daughter by Ursula Rucker, Freedom Theater and the Painted Bride in Philadelphia and La MAMA in New York. Directed Black Nativity by Langston Hughes at Theater Horizon (secured 8 Barrymore nominations, winning for best ensemble in a musical, best musical direction, and best choreography. Directed and wrote South African Nativity performed in at Enon in Cape Town South Africa, directed Breaking Barriers for First Person Arts at the Philadelphia Theater Company starring Black Thought from the Roots, directed Othello for Theater in the X, 2014/15 was a one-season guest Artistic Director for Freedom Theater and directed all 5 productions including writing and directing Kind of Blue, 2014 nominee for The Pew award for excellence in the arts. Other directing highlights include Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, The Meeting by Jeff Stetson, 12 Angry Men, The Last Jimmy (with Dice Raw of The Roots) at Prince Theater, Los Angeles Convention Center, Freedom Theater, the Kimmel Center, and the Democratic national convention. Mr. Jones directed series of short plays written by inmates for the Philadelphia FIGHT organization for inmates’ rights. And Mr. Jones directed My Block is Crazy, a documentary film about violence and youth. The documentary was produced in conjunction with the United States Attorney’s Office. Currently Mr. Jones is developing a large series of plays on Jazz called The Real Book. He has directed staged readings of two of the plays in the Real Book series; Chasin’ the Bird by Ozzie Jones at Penumbra Theater in Saint Paul Minnesota and Kind of Blue by Ozzie Jones for an African Continuum Theater at Arena Stage in Washington, DC and a full production at the Freedom Theater in Philadelphia. Mr. Jones has just completed writing a road gang and cotton field hollers opera called, Gwine Dig a Hole.