Rajendra Maharaj

Playwright

Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj is a Brooklyn based, multi-disciplinary, American Theater Artist, Administrator, and Advocate. He is currently represented by Michael Moore Agency as a Director, Choreographer, and Playwright. Mr. Maharaj was hailed in The New York Times as one of the most talented directors in New York and his award-winning play Little Rock, which he conceived, wrote, and directed, was recently selected as a New York Times Critics Pick.

As a storyteller, Mr. Maharaj has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at many of our nation’s top Regional Theaters including the Bernard B. Jacobs, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, The Public, Second Stage Theatre, Soho Playhouse, Classical Theater of Harlem, New Federal Theater, New World Stages, Nuyorican Poets Café, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Lark Play Development Center, Theatre Row, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Portland Stage, Actors Theater of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare, Signature Theater, Theater Works, Goodman Theater, The Kennedy Center, Arkansas Repertory Theater, Perseverance, and New Freedom Theater. 

Over the course of his career as an artist, advocate, and administrator, Mr. Maharaj has been honored with many awards for his body of work in the American Theater including the prestigious Woodie King Jr. Award, four Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards, Barrymore Award, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Theatrical Moment of the Year, The New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award, and Theater Communications Group Directors Grant and Playwriting Grant.

Mr. Maharaj’s work has been recognized with numerous nominations including Broadway World Awards, the New York Innovative Theater Award, and SALT Award for the theater director of the year. In addition, he was also a semi-finalist for the prestigious Zelda Fichandler Award presented by The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Festival of New American Plays.

Mr. Maharaj has been featured in numerous articles and interviews in notable industry publications such as The American Theater Magazine, The New York Times, The Yale School of Drama / Repertory Theater Review, The Dramatist, The Uptown Magazine, Playbill, Broadway World, The Daily News, The New York Post, The New York Beacon, The Philadelphia Sun, Time-Out New York, Harlem News, Amsterdam News, and The Stage Directors and Choreographers Journal for his work as a theater practitioner and leader.

As an advocate, activist, and arts administrator Mr. Maharaj has been recognized with the Time Warner Diverse Voices Grant, New York City Council Citation for Outstanding Community Service Leadership, New York State Senate Citation for Outstanding Community Service and Mentoring Leadership, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House of Representatives Citation for Excellence in the Performing Arts, Philadelphia Mayoral Proclamation from Hon. Michael Anthony Nutter, and a Proclamation from Brooklyn Borough President, Eric L. Adams. Mr. Maharaj was recently awarded the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago United Community Association Inc. Award for his outstanding contribution to the Trinidad and Tobago Diaspora as an Artist, Advocate, and Educator in the United States of America.

As a scholar and artist, Mr. Maharaj has had the pleasure of lecturing at Yale University, Columbia University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Howard University, George Washington University, Catholic University, St. John’s University, St. Joseph’s College, Tulane University, and Brooklyn College.

After his graduate studies at Brooklyn College, Mr. Maharaj was awarded a Masters of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in Theater Directing.  Mr. Maharaj is a proud alumnus of the Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Unit, Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab, and Theater Communication Group’s Rising Leaders of Color in the American Theater. He has served as the Artistic Director of the Nations’ oldest African American Theater, New Freedom Theater in Philadelphia as well as the Artistic Director of Rebel Theater, a multi-cultural, Brooklyn based non for profit theater company for several years. Mr. Maharaj founded the Voices at the River, an African and Latino American Playwrights New Works Festival hosted at Arkansas Repertory Theater as well as serve as the Artistic Director for WeFest, an annual festival of new works for emerging playwrights in the Borough of Brooklyn. Mr. Maharaj’s artistic residencies include the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New Orleans Writer’s Residency, Alliance Theater, Arkansas Repertory Theater, Crossroads Theater, Amas Musical Theater and Triskelion Arts.

Mr. Maharaj’s rich cultural tapestry includes Indian, Caribbean, and African lineage. This has shaped him greatly in his work as a storyteller, arts administrator, and as an advocate for diversity, inclusion, and creating safe-spaces to tell stories that have often been overlooked in the American Theater. Mr. Maharaj is currently in the midst of his first term as the Third Vice-President for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for the Borough of Brooklyn as well as the founding Chairman for the Equity in the Arts and Culture Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for the Borough of Brooklyn. The Equity in the Arts and Culture Committee seeks advocacy for artists in the borough of Brooklyn, builds bridges between funders and artists/arts organizations within the borough of Brooklyn, promotes and presents events that celebrate diversity, inclusion, and the core mission values of the NAACP, celebrates artistic freedom for all people, creates educational opportunities that support arts learning, affirms and celebrates diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community.

Highlights

Awards: Woodie King Jr. Award, four Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards, Barrymore Award, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Theatrical Moment of the Year, The New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award, and Theater Communications Group Directors Grant and Playwriting Grant.

Nominations: Broadway World Awards, the New York Innovative Theater Award, and SALT Award for the theater director of the year. In addition, he was also a semi-finalist for the prestigious Zelda Fichandler Award presented by The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Festival of New American Plays.

Featured in: The American Theater Magazine, The New York Times, The Yale School of Drama / Repertory Theater Review, The Dramatist, The Uptown Magazine, Playbill, Broadway World, The Daily News, The New York Post, The New York Beacon, The Philadelphia Sun, Time-Out New York, Harlem News, Amsterdam News, and The Stage Directors and Choreographers Journal

Recipient of: Time Warner Diverse Voices Grant, New York City Council Citation for Outstanding Community Service Leadership, New York State Senate Citation for Outstanding Community Service and Mentoring Leadership, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House of Representatives Citation for Excellence in the Performing Arts, Philadelphia Mayoral Proclamation from Hon. Michael Anthony Nutter, and a Proclamation from Brooklyn Borough President, Eric L. Adams, and the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago United Community Association Inc. Award for his outstanding contribution to the Trinidad and Tobago Diaspora as an Artist, Advocate, and Educator in the United States of America.

Lecturer: Yale University, Columbia University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Howard University, George Washington University, Catholic University, St. John’s University, St. Joseph’s College, Tulane University, and Brooklyn College.