As an activist, administrator, director and playwright, Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj is no stranger to the stage. Not only has the New York native used his voice both on Broadway and off, he’s also captivated audiences in some of most celebrated regional theatres across the nation.
The openly LGBTQ storyteller is now doing so as the producing artistic director of American Stage, leading Tampa Bay’s longest-running professional theatre company. It’s sought to tell meaningful, compelling stories with integrity since 1977 and welcomed him to guide that mission in July.
American Stage shared the news after a national, eight-month search to replace its former CEO Stephanie Gularte. The company’s board of trustees enthusiastically welcomed Maharaj, calling him “a powerful artistic leader who will inspire the theatre’s next era.”
“We are confident that Rajendra will thrive in our rapidly growing and evolving community, continuing American Stage’s commitment to excellence while expanding the theatre’s regional and national footprint,” 2021-22 Board Chair Anastasia C. Hiotis shared at the time.
“I am committed to ensuring American Stage upholds its mission and values as it enters a dynamic new chapter,” Maharaj added. “During a time when there has been significant loss and pain for the theatre industry and the world, I look forward to charting a course for the future that positions American Stage as an institution that inspires meaningful civic change in its community and across the nation.”
Maharaj also promised to bring an ambitious and innovative body of work to the region, featuring “transformative, diverse artists and theatre-makers” while finding “continued opportunities for theatre-practitioners from across the country to develop their work at American Stage.” That’s exactly what he’s done in the months since.
American Stage announced that nonbinary artist Paul Edward Wilt would serve as the organization’s newly created associate artistic producer in August. The position works closely with Maharaj to “ensure the highest quality productions, creation of bold new works and support the professional reputation” of the company. The two had previously worked together in New York.
In September, Maharaj also updated American Stage’s 2021-22 mainstage season. In light of the ongoing pandemic, its “For the Love of Theatre” theme was designed to remind audiences “of the unique power of live theater to bring us together [and] to encourage everyone in our community to join in the life-affirming experience of live storytelling.”
The season officially began Oct. 27 with “The Odd Couple,” Maharaj’s replacement for “Around the World in 80 Days.” “Dutchman” will replace “The Tempest” next year.
“To create a season that’s as encompassing as the city we live in, I’ve decided to update our upcoming season by offering two new productions,” Maharaj explained. “Laughter is something we can all use more of, so to lift the spirits of everyone ‘The Odd Couple’ will be our new opening play featuring multicultural casting.
“Then, in the summer, we are staging the prolific classic ‘Dutchman,’” he continued. “This timeless masterpiece about race and identity in America focuses on the political and psychological struggle between African Americans and White Americans … a story that is more timely now than ever before.”
“The Odd Couple,” presented “for the love of a classic,” played through Nov. 21. The celebrated Neil Simon comedy retained its classic premise but was brought to life through a new lens.
“Oscar is a slob. Felix is neat,” the production was described. “Oscar loves his bachelorhood, and Felix is newly divorced. When the two decide to live together in the same apartment, how will they reconcile their differences?”
Modernizing the piece, particularly since American Stage’s audiences have traditionally enjoyed Simon’s work, was especially appealing to Maharaj. “One of the things that’s always inspired me about the theater is how we can use beloved American plays – that when they were introduced, didn’t reflect America in its fullest capacity – without changing the lines,” he says.
“If Neil Simon wrote ‘The Odd Couple’ today, certainly there would be queer people … there would be BIPOC representation,” he continues. “I knew that was a conversation that I wanted to have at American Stage.”
Presented “for the love of gratitude and redemption,” American Stage’s holiday add-on “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” follows Dec. 8-Jan. 2, 2022. Tom Mula’s play adapts the Charles Dickens classic to detail Scrooge’s long-lost business associate.
“How did his haunting afterlife begin?” its synopsis asks. “In his version of the carol, Marley is escorted by a spritely creature along the pathway to redeeming his soul – by helping to save the one man on earth who was more greedy and sour than himself. We come to find that self-sacrifice can make a difference in the end.”
The production is set in the Punk era and will feel like a rock concert, Maharaj teases. He says the production will appeal to new and younger audiences as well as any fan of the classic Christmas tale.
“For the love of new stories,” American Stage will also hold its 21st Century Voices: New Play Festival Jan. 7-9 and 14-16. The company is seeking submissions of new multicultural work.
“Revivals have a place in the theater, classics have a place, but the bloodline – how we grow – is new play development,” Maharaj says. “We’re looking for great American stories that uplift the moment we live in, that acknowledge the past and the present so that we can create a bright future.”
The Jocelyn Bioh-penned “School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play” follows Feb. 2-27, presented “for the love of laughter and growing pains.” It takes place in an all-girls school in Ghana where “there’s a new girl in town, an American, who challenges the reigning queen bee.”
The production features parallels to the movie and musical “Mean Girls,” though it isn’t a direct adaptation. “In Africa and in the African American community today, people still wrestle with what is beautiful. There is a misnomer in the world that if you have lighter skin, straighter hair and a thinner nose, that is true beauty … I think it’s really going to speak to young Black girls and young Black boys.”
American Stage in the Park will then present “Footloose” April 6-May 8, 2022. The iconic rock-n-roll musical will welcome audiences for an outdoor production, which American Stage has done since 1986. In addition to presenting the classic in a new light, the organization will spotlight the love of dance through on-site lessons in ballet, hip hop and more.
“Dutchman” closes out the season June 29-July 31, 2022, directed by Maharaj. It’s billed as a “provocative story [that] challenges us to think about the part we all play in America’s problems with race.”
“We could not come back after the Black Lives Matter movement and all the lives lost – particularly here in Florida, not too far from where it started with the death of Trayvon Martin – without acknowledging the conversations that are happening around kitchen tables and water coolers,” Maharaj says. The production will examine race, identity, sexuality, politics and more.
Maharaj notes that having those conversations are more important than ever, and the perfect fit for American Stage.
“As producing artistic director, and particularly at this moment in the theater’s history, I see my job as a curator of storytellers,” he says. “The artists that work here, all of the staff, we are in the business of telling stories that celebrate the power of the human spirit, that celebrate diversity and move us toward being a more inclusive environment.
“I walk into a building that’s called ‘American Stage,’” Maharaj continues. “So that gives us the opportunity and more importantly the responsibility to really celebrate all of America. It’s a great time to remind folks that you can bend but you won’t break, and that the theater can help us heal.”
American Stage’s 2021-22 season is underway. To learn more about each production, the theatre and Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, visit AmericanStage.org.
