Avery Brooks is an accomplished actor, director, musician and teacher. He recently completed performing the title role in the Shakespeare Theater production of Tamburlaine at the Harman Center for the Arts in DC. He appeared in the title role in the Shakespeare Theater production of The Oedipus Trilogy performed in Athens, Greece and in the title role of the Yale Repertory Theater production of Lear.  He performed the title role in Shakespeare’s Othello at the Folger Theater in Washington, DC.  He was seen as Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s play, Fences, at the St. Louis Repertory Theater. He appeared as Bernard in the Crossroads Theater Company production of Richard Wesley’s Talented Tenth.  He has performed to critical acclaim the title role in the Phillip Hayes Dean play, Paul Robeson, since 1982   including performances in New York on Broadway, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in Los Angeles at the Westwood Playhouse and at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia.  In New York audiences have seen his portrayal of Robeson in Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been? both on and off-Broadway and his performance as Martin in The Offering with the Negro Ensemble Company. 

Mr. Brooks has acted extensively for the New York Shakespeare Festival where he performed in Ntozake Shange’s Spell #7 and A Photograph.  He played Theseus and Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and starred in the American premiere of Derek Walcott’s Pantomime, both at Washington’s Arena Stage. Beginning this November he can be seen in the title role of Tamburlaine for the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production at the Harmon Center for the Arts in DC. Mr. Brooks sang the role of Malcolm in the American Music Theater Festival production of Anthony Davis’ opera, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X and the role of Cinque in the Anthony Davis opera, Tania. 

Most recently, in Warsaw, Poland he performed in the opera, The Temptations of St. Anthony, adapted by Bernice Reagon and directed by Robert Wilson. He performed vocals in the Pushkin project with David Murray, jazz saxophonist, in Paris at the Banlieues Bleues Festival in February 2005 and in Catania, Sicily in 2006. and did vocals for the Blues Rock Coalition’s Tribute to Ray Charles at Symphony Space in NYC in April 2005.  He has performed with jazz artists including Joseph Jarman, Lester Bowie, Henry Threadgill and Jon Hendricks and recorded on James Spaulding’s album, Legacy of Duke Ellington.

Mr. Brooks has done extensive work with the Smithsonian Institute’s Program in Black American Culture.  He was seen in the title role in the film, Solomon Northrup’s Odyssey, directed by Gordon Parks for PBS’ American Playhouse series and was nominated for an ACE award for his portrayal of Uncle Tom in Showtime’s television production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  His film credits include New Line Cinema’s American History: X, Fifteen Minutes and Sony Picture’s The Big Hit. 

Mr. Brooks has hosted several documentaries including the recent PBS/BBC production, Bible Mysteries.  Others include Mandela: A Man of Vision; Marian Anderson, A Passion for Faith; Trackdown: Growing Up and the award winning The Musical Legacy of Roland Hayes.  He has done work on documentaries for NASA, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and NOVA and can be heard on the IMAX films, Africa’s Elephant Kingdom, Greatest Places and Oceans in Space. He recently completed narration of the Roots audio book for the 30th anniversary of the Alex Haley book release.

Mr. Brooks directed Ntozake Shange’s Boogie Woogie Landscapes at the Kennedy Center and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf in London’s West End.  He starred as Hawk on the Warner Bros./ABC series, A Man Called Hawk, and co-starred for three seasons as Hawk in Spenser: for Hire reprising the role for Lifetime movies – Ceremony, Pale Kings and Princes and Judas Goat.  He starred as Captain Sisko in Paramount Studio’s Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine.  Mr. Brooks served as Artistic Director of the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia from 1993 through 1996.  In 1994 he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theater.  For thirty-four years Mr. Brooks has been affiliated with Rutgers University.  He was the first black MFA graduate in acting and directing and is currently a tenured professor of theater at the Mason Gross School of the Arts.  He has taught at Oberlin College and Case Western University and is the recipient of honorary degrees from Oberlin College, Buffalo State College – SUNY, Tougaloo College and Indiana University.