Who we are: CFT Leadership
Nailah Harper-Malveaux
Co-Executive Director ∙ Artistic & Connectivity
Nailah Unole didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux (she/her) is a queer multiracial theatre director and generative artist focused on transformative new work that creates space for radical community imagination. She facilitates and curates artistic engagements that center and celebrate the beauty, complexity, resilience, healing, and joy of those living in the margins. Directing highlights include Dipika Guha’s world premiere of Getting There (NCTC), The Real Sappho (Cutting Ball), The Light (Shotgun Players), SUBVERiTas (Crowded Fire), Here We Go (A.C.T. MFA program) and numerous A.C.T. MFA SkyFestival productions, including Sunset Baby, Belleville, and Next to Normal. Along with being a member of the Shared Leadership Team at Crowded Fire, she is also the BOLD Rising Director at Woolly Mammoth. She was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Artistic Caucus, a group of 4 freelance artists designed to initiate curatorial disruption and advocate for new artists at Woolly Mammoth, Baltimore Center Stage, the Rep of St. Louis and Long Wharf. She has worked at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Woolly Mammoth, Baltimore Center Stage, Z Space, and Williamstown Theater Festival. She received her B.A. in American Studies and Theatre Studies from Yale University.
To reach Nailah directly, email NailahHM (at) crowdedfire.org
CFT Credits
Co-Executive Director: 2025 – Present
Leader of Artistic Creation and Producing: 2022 – 2024
Artistic Facilitator: Shipping & Handling (2024)
Director: Edit Annie (with Leigh Rondon-Davis, 2023), The Last of the Love Letters, 2025
Director and Producer: SUBVERiTas: SUBVERTING whiteness as TRUTH/ UNEARTHING the BLACK play (2019), The Hive Project
Assistant Director: Church (2018)
Former CFT Mentee
Crowded Fire was the first place that gave me permission to take an artistic risk in a professional setting. They said, ‘Yes!’ to a young ambitious artist wanting to make transformative art that reflects the beautiful messiness of our moment and pulls no punches. In 2019, as a Resident Artist, mentee, and emerging director, I was offered space and support to investigate a burning question with a team of collaborators of my choosing. What a gift! And my story is not unique. It is the path of so many other artists who have found fertile ground here at Crowded Fire to experiment boldly, uncover deep human truths, water their courage and pursue artistic inquiry and excellence. I am honored to continue to tend this soil, so that the next generation of artist-activists has a place to play, risk, and practice.
