Niegel Smith

Niegel Smith is a theater director and performance artist. He is the Artistic Director of NYC’s Obie-Award winning theater, The Flea; Associate Artistic Director of Elastic City; and ringleader of Willing Participant an artistic activist organization that whips up urgent poetic responses to crazy shit that happens. His theater work has been produced by The Alley Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, The Flea Theater, HERE Arts Center, Hip Hop Theatre Festival, The Invisible Dog, Luna Stage, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood, New York Fringe Festival, New York Live Arts, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Playwrights Horizons, Pomegranate Arts, The Public Theater, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Summer Play Festival, Todd Theatre and Under the Radar, and his participatory walks and performances have been produced by Abrons Arts Center, American Realness, Dartmouth College, Elastic City, The Invisible Dog, Jack, The New Museum, Prelude Festival, PS 122, the Van Alen Institute and Visual AIDS. Before surviving high school in Detroit, Niegel grew up in the North Carolina piedmont, fishing with his dad, shopping with his mom and inventing tall-tale fantasies with his two younger brothers. For more information, visit Niegel’s personal website.