The Hartt School Hires Kevin Ramsey as New Director of the Theatre Division
The Hartt School is excited to announce Kevin Ramsey has been hired to serve as the new Director of the Theatre Division. Mr. Ramsey, who will start this August, is an award-winning, multi-disciplinary creative artist; life-long educator; and Broadway veteran of five Tony Award-winning and nominated shows: The Life, Five Guys Named Moe, Oh, Kay!, Black and Blue, and The Lion King (1st Natl. Tour/Los Angeles). In film and television, Mr. Ramsey has guest starred on Emmy-nominated TV shows and films including Cold Case, CSI: Miami, 24, The District, Trial by Jury, Night Falls On Manhattan, Saving Grace, Judging Amy, The Hughley’s, and Charmed. As a voiceover actor he can be heard in Ken Burns’ award-winning documentary films, Civil War and Jazz. As a skilled storyteller, writer, and director for theatre, film, and new media, Mr. Ramsey is the co-author, along with Lee Summers, of the new Broadway-bound musical, I Remember Harlem: A Tap Dance Tale, which is in development, as well as the creator/writer of critically acclaimed commissions and produced works, including: Chasin’ Dem Blues: Untold Story of Paramount Records, Sam Cooke: Forever Mr. Soul,Sirens of Song, Fire On The Bayou, Tap Rap, A Cappella Humana, Election Day, Thirst Trap, and Soultime.
As an educator, Mr. Ramsey continues his strong advocacy for arts education, and presides on several boards aligned with his mission of service. His education has taken him from Dillard University to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts to The New School in Media Management, and he spent the past eighteen-plus years developing curricula for the 21st century performing artist/storyteller, while serving as Senior Faculty member at AMDA College of the Performing Arts, (BFA, Los Angeles), and adjunct faculty at Florida Atlantic University, (MFA/BFA Theatre program).
Mr. Ramsey is a recipient of many honors and citations including the Outer Critic Circle Award, Theatre World and Fred Astaire Awards for Best New Talent on Broadway, the Zoni Award, New York’s Audelco Award, as well as the Barrymore Award for his collaborationwith the Delaware Theatre Company for co-developing arts literacy programming for at-risk youth. He is a recipient of the Tapology Legacy Award for his work in teaching and preserving the art of tap dance.
When asked about his new appointment, Mr. Ramsey stated: “I am thrilled and committed to becoming the newly appointed Theatre Division Director and to being part of an illustrious 100-year history of the Hartt School and its distinguished faculty. I look forward to building upon the twenty-year-plus foundation laid by Malcolm Morrison, the Theatre program’s first division director and one of its founders. The theatre program will continue to push creative boundaries, while cultivating and supplying our multi-talented students with current processes, technology, and tools to become astute, dynamic, and imaginative storytellers; content creators;creative entrepreneurs; technicians; and compassionate global citizens in the 21st century. I am delighted to have this opportunity to pursue my research interests and to continue nurturing and growing community engagement with long-standing, strategic alliances, including Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, and the Drama School of London, and I will expand these unique training and professional experiences offered to our students.”
Dale A. Merrill, Dean of The Hartt School, states, “Mr. Ramsey is going to be a wonderful addition to The Hartt School and will continue our long history of hiring accomplished and seasoned artists to educate our students. Mr. Ramsey’s philosophy of rigorous actor training will be a tremendous addition to the Theatre Division through his commitment to developing a performance season that explores the complexities of our humanity by reimagining classical repertoire, delving into contemporary works of known and new writers, and exploring the vast canon of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ stories.”