The New Jomandi

From Andrea Frye, Artistic Director

 **Ms. Frye will be directing our season's next show, Black Nativity!**

With the departure of founding Artistic Directors Tom Jones and Marsha Jackson, Jomandi finds itself seeking definition and renewal. Examining its past, there is much to be proud of. There is also much to repair. Any arts institution with a twenty-year history by it's very existence has much to commend it. Tens of thousands of local and national audiences have experienced top quality productions by America's leading black playwrights. Hundreds of established as well as new and emerging African-American artists have been employed by Jomandi. The voices and stories of the African-American community have been shared with the community at large. Jomandi has filled a void that no other theatre in the southeast can claim. 

My wish is to restore the dream that was Jomandi...to bring world highly diversified theatre grounded in an ever evolving African-American aesthetic to a broad audience base.

My association with Jomandi has been an enduring and profitable one. I served as Marsha's replacement when she took a leave to perform in "Checkmates" on Broadway. This was considered by many to be Jomandi's "Glory Season". Through one of our strongest marketing programs and artistic seasons, the company won critical praise and a significant increase in box-office and community support. Our touring program was strong and profitable, bolstered principally by "Do Lord Remember Me" (which I directed) and "Sisters" (in which I co-starred). With Marsha's return, I assumed the position of associate and marketing director until a schism developed between Tom Jones and myself. At the time of my departure, I had the complete support of staff and was rehired in less than three months to direct Valetta Anderson's "She'll Find Her Way Home" which was another strong and profitable touring production.

The productions which I have directed have been consistently profitable and critically well received. There is a standard of excellence that is expected from productions that I have been responsible for not only at Jomandi, but at the Alliance, Seven Stages, The Horizon, Georgia Ensemble Theatre, Theatre Emory, and other theatres across the country. My work is nationally respected and my voice is heard. Having worked at a number of theatres, I have had the opportunity to learn much about the inner workings of those institutions and what succeeds and what fails, both artistically and administratively.

I know the Atlanta market. I know the Atlanta community and that market and community knows my work and me. It will be my goal to restore Jomandi to its "Glory Days" of the past and to position it as a viable and continuing artistic voice which articulates the stories and dreams of my community.