Nehprii Amenii

About Nehprii Amenii

I’m an award-winning stage director, playwright, puppeteer, and founder of Khunum Productions — a platform for live arts and creative anthropology.I have a passion for personal narrative, for puppetry, and for grand-scale spectacle. I create experiences that break the wall between performer and audience — that awaken imagination and invite people to see and think in new ways. My work blends ritual, immersive, and experimental theatre, and lives at the meeting place of imagination, memory, and emotional truth. I use art to restore what has been erased or damaged in humanity.My work has been seen on the stages of the Tony Award–winning La MaMa Theatre, New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, Center for Puppetry Arts, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The Public Theater, Penumbra Theatre, Pan Asian Repertory, Virginia Stage Co. and NJPAC. In addition to indoor spaces, I’ve been honored to create public spectacle with Sing for Hope at Lincoln Center, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, and Bread and Puppet’s Circus Field. I also directed the New York\'s public welcoming of Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet representing displaced children — in partnership with NYPL, New Victory Theater, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and Bryant Park. I’m currently a commissioned artist with The Shed at Hudson Yards.My awards include the NEA (3×), Drama League, Jim Henson Foundation, Anonymous Was a Woman, NY Women in Media, Puffin Foundation, and the Lipkin Prize for Playwriting. I’m a NYFA sponsored artist and have held residencies with Chelsea Factory, Dixon Place, and New Victory LabWorks.As an educator, I’ve taught with Fordham University, UConn, The New School, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of the Western Cape. I’ve also worked with NYC DOE, ArtsConnection, and Urban Arts Partnership. I served as Alvin Ailey’s Creative Communication Instructor for eight years before transitioning into the role of Creative Consultant — and later founded Kids Creative Power, Khunum Productions’ arts in education wing.Internationally, I’ve created work in India, Haiti, and South Africa, and served as a U.S. delegate to the Women Playwrights International Conference in Cape Town.Let’s collaborate if you’re seeking:• A bold, imaginative director for live performance• A cultural consultant to lead creative visioning or storytelling workshops• A speaker or panelist on puppetry, ritual, diasporic arts, or arts education• A creative partner to help shape your next unforgettable experience

Experience

1. Creative Consultant

   Ailey

   Jan 2015 — Present · NY, US

   Provide Creative consulting & Special Programming for AileyCamp sites, supporting curriculum development, artistic visioning, and trauma-informed youth programming.

Education

• University of Minnesota

  Bachelor's degree, Fine Arts, Creative Writing, and Visual Journalism

• University of Minnesota

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Creative Communications (Fine Arts, Creative Writing, Journalism)

  1998 — 2002

• Sarah Lawrence College

  MFA, Interdisciplinary Theatre

  2010 — 2013

• International Khepran Institute

  Certificate, Cultural Epistemology & Critical Pedagogy

• University of Minnesota

  Fine Arts, Creative Writing, and Visual Journalism

• Sarah Lawrence College

  Master of Fine Arts - MFA, Theatre/Theater