Nigel Semaj
they/them
Playwright, Director, Dramaturg, Educator, Deviser, Dance/Movement Choreographer, Fight Choreographer, Casting (DEIB) Consultant
Black or African American, Non-Binary, Queer
Baltimore
My name is Nigel Semaj. I attended Garrett Community College, then Lycoming College, and later pursued graduate studies at The New School.
My hobbies include cooking, writing, dancing, and caring for plants—both maintenance and gardening. I have a deep passion for research and adaptation, particularly reimagining classical works through the lens of marginalized identities. I am also deeply engaged in the intersection of queerness and horror, exploring how the genre reflects and challenges societal fears.
My personal mission is to establish a movement collective for physical theatre that prioritizes physical devising and movement techniques with dance. I believe in storytelling through the body and creating spaces that amplify underrepresented voices through innovative, movement-driven performance.
Credits
Director
The Colored Museum (Columbia University, 2024), anon(ymous) (CCBC, Fall 2024), “Collective Empathy Formation…” (DUAF, 2024), Slime (UMBC, 2024), Bloodshot (A.R.T./N.Y. Mezzanine, 2023), We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, formerly Known as Southwest Africa, from the German Sudwestafrika between the Years 1884-1915 (Muhlenberg College, 2022), a curious thing: or superheroes k’aint fly (AADA, 2019), wolfchildren runslowly through a bruegel landscape, 1559 (The New School, 2019), 448 Psychosis (The New School, 2018), Hell Is Normal (The New School, 2017), columbinus (Lycoming College, 2017)
Director/Writer
the serpent under’t (a Macbeth adaptation) (UMBC, Spring 2026), in the darkest forest (UMBC, Spring 2025)
Director/Adaptor
Call Me By Any Other Name (Just As Sweet) A Queer Deconstruction of Shakespeare’s R+J (Muhlenberg College, 2021), 10,000 Moor (An Adaptation of Titus Andronicus) (The New School, 2019)
Director/Choreographer
Spell No. 7 (The New School, 2020), “For Hylas; a playlist” (The New School, 2019), The Baltimore Waltz (Lycoming College, 2016), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (Lycoming College, 2015)
Co-Director
Voices from a Pandemic (Notch Theatre Co, 2021)
Associate Director
La Bohème (Mannes Opera, 2020)
Staged Readings – Director
Someone Else’s Bullet (The Civilians, 2022), Lyon’s Den (Lycoming College, 2021), a case for Black girls setting central park on fire (Lycoming College, 2021), Collective Empathy Formation (Lycoming College, 2021), “The Good Cop” (Conch Shell Productions, 2021)
Movement Director
SALTY (Truepenny, 2025), Stupid Fucking Bird (UMBC, 2024), Fidelio (Heartbeat Opera, 2022)
Choreographer
Shakespeare in Harlem (UMBC/CSC, 2025), shOUT: A Queer Theatre Project (UMBC, 2023), Agamemnon (Columbia University, 2022), Ah Sweeter Lyme (The New School, 2018)
Fight Director
Not Him – Horror Short Film (PCB Media Group, 2021), Minding My Business – Short Film (The New School, 2021), As You Like It (The New School, 2019)
Fight Choreographer
Be A Man – Short Film (PCB Media Group, 2019)
Movement Coach
Hal (The New School, 2019)
Assistant Choreographer
Passing Strange (Wilma Theater, 2018)
Spell #7 by Ntozake Shange. The New School for Drama 2020. Photo by Joe Loeper