Who we are: CFT Staff
Nailah Harper-Malveaux
Leader of Artistic Curation & Producing

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. She has been a Resident Artist at Crowded Fire for 4 years and is currently the BOLD Rising Director at Woolly Mammoth. She has worked at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Woolly Mammoth, Baltimore Center Stage, Z Space, and Williamstown Theater Festival.
She is also passionate about experimenting with and implementing new models of collaboration in order to create a more sustainable and abundant theatre ecology. Through the Artistic Caucus and the HIVE Project, she was an integral part of the construction of two inter-theater, multi-year programs designed to systematically change their respective practices in audience engagement and new work curation. 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. As the Program Manager of the homegrown HIVE Project, she implemented, launched, and shepherded a two-year-long innovative audience development initiative to cross-pollinate 3 Bay Area theaters – Crowded Fire Theater, Gritty City Repertory and Oakland Theater Project.
Former fellowships include the Bill Foeller Directing Fellowship at Williamstown, the Bret C. Harte Directing Fellowship at Berkeley Rep and the Community Producing fellowship at A.C.T. She received her B.A. in American Studies and Theatre Studies from Yale University.
CFT Credits
Director and Producer: SUBVERiTas: SUBVERTING whiteness as TRUTH/ UNEARTHING the BLACK play
Assistant Director: Church
Former CFT Mentee