Elizabeth Van Dyke serves as the Artistic Director of Going to the River and The River Crosses River: A Festival of Short Plays by Women of Color.  These programs at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City, support and champion the work of African-American Female playwrights and women playwrights of color. The River Crosses Rivers 2: A Festival of Short Plays By Women of Color is currently running at EST.

Ms. Van Dyke is an award winning Director and Actress.  Her directorial credits include: Gee’s Bend, From Sun to Sun, Great Men of Gospel, Spirit Into Sound (Audelco nomination), A Raisin in the Sun, Waiting to be Invited, The Piano Lesson, Sophisticated Ladies (Onyx Award for Best Director and Best Musical Production of the Year), The Old Settler, Sweet Mama Stringbean, for Colored Girls, Ti Jean and His Brothers, and Remembering Weselves.  She has received an Audelco for Best Actress for her portrayal of Zora Neale Hurston and the Ace & Gold Award for Love to All, Lorraine, a solo piece based on the life of Lorraine Hansberry that she wrote and co-directed.

Elizabeth serves on the Advisory Board of The Passage Theatre, on the Board of Directors of New Federal Theatre and is a member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA, SDC, The Dramatist Guild, The Playwrights Center, and The League of Professional Theatre Women.  She has been commissioned by the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra to write a Libretto for the upcoming Zora Legacy Concert with music composed by the maestro, Dr. A. Hailstork (World Premiere: Nov. 2011).

Ms. Van Dyke has received the Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence in Theatre at Austin Peay State University, The Board of Directors Award from Audelco, The President’s Award from the Black Theatre Network, A Fox Foundation Grant, and a Rockefeller Grant to study the elements of Japanese Theatre.

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