Raelle Myrick-Hodges is the artistic director of the Brava Theater for Women in the Arts, located in San Francisco’s Mission District. She was born in North Carolina and grew up in Washington D.C. She attended Ealing College of Humanities in London and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California, where she cultivated her love and passion for theater. Despite not having enough money to attend a top-tier theater school, she dedicated herself to her dreams and started her own theater company in Philadelphia, The Azuka Theater. She started the company along with several colleagues and put on her first show with just $54. Eventually, she was awarded the NEA/TCG Career Development Award for Directing and was nominated for ‘Outstanding New Play”.
As Raelle’s career in theater progressed, she was able to work with many well known artists, including: Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Mos Def, Harold Perrineau from Lost, Kevin Kline, Geoffrey Arend, George C. Wolfe, Suzan-Lori Parks (Pulitzer Winner), Tony Kushner (Pulitzer Winner), and many more.
Raelle has worked at theaters such as the Seattle Repertory Theater, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, American Conservatory Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, McCarter Theater, Arden Theatre Company, Magic Theater, Aurora Theater, AlterTheater, Mark Taper Forum, Playmakers Repertory, MudBone Theatre Collective, Goethe Institute (Cologne, DE), and Questors Theater (Ealing London).
In a serendipitous moment in 2007, Raelle was contacted by four different friends who each recommended that she look into a job opening at the Brava Theater in San Francisco. She initially thought she was under-qualified but was delighted when she got the job. As the Artistic Director, she oversees all programing for plays and community events, does grant writing, cultivates the emerging theater company, deals with national and international artists, oversees training programs for women and people of color, and strives to further the Brave mission of producing live art celebrating the intersection of feminism and multiculturalism.
Check out our interview with Raelle:
The Dream Share Project